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Jefferson23

(30,099 posts)
Sun Nov 29, 2015, 10:12 AM Nov 2015

Starvation in Yemen: 'We are hoping just to survive'



As war rages, millions of people are struggling to access basic necessities such as food, water and fuel.

Megan O'Toole, Ali Aboluhom | 29 Nov 2015



Abdullah al-Osaimi worries every day about how to put food on the table for his wife and four children.

The family fled several months ago from their home in Yemen's Noqm neighbourhood, east of the capital Sanaa, amid ongoing air strikes by the Saudi-led Arab coalition battling the country's Houthi rebels. They eventually resettled in a school housing internally displaced persons in the heart of Sanaa.
Houthi fighters accused of blocking aid in Yemen

"The problem of being homeless has been solved, but we are unable to find a solution for the most critical problem we face: accessing food and clean water," Osaimi, a 45-year-old unemployed salesperson, told Al Jazeera. When his family fled Noqm, they left behind their home, his small shop, and almost everything inside.

Osaimi has since eked out a living by selling bottles of water to pedestrians in Sanaa, quickly burning through his small savings of around 10,000 Yemeni rials ($50).

"I have become unable to provide food to my family - even the basic needs, such as plain bread and water," Osaimi said.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/11/starvation-yemen-hoping-survive-151129070729907.html
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Starvation in Yemen: 'We are hoping just to survive' (Original Post) Jefferson23 Nov 2015 OP
Saudi Mercenaries and the Starvation of Yemen think Nov 2015 #1
 

think

(11,641 posts)
1. Saudi Mercenaries and the Starvation of Yemen
Sun Nov 29, 2015, 10:40 AM
Nov 2015
Saudi Mercenaries and the Starvation of Yemen

by Thomas C. Mountain - Wed, 04/15/2015 - 00:54

Saudi Arabia buys tens of billions in high-tech arms from the United States and Europe. However, the rich Saudis don’t like to serve in the military. Consequently, their armed forces are made up largely of foreigners, including huge numbers of soldiers from Yemen, whose usefulness against their impoverished homeland is questionable. The Saudis may use starvation as a weapon “to bring Yemen to its knees.”

The Saudi military is almost entirely staffed by mercenaries. The Saudi jets bombing an air defenseless Yemen are piloted by Pakistanis. Its mid and low level officers are mainly from Jordan and, most ominously for its ability to actually launch a ground invasion, its rank and file soldiers are almost entirely from Yemen.

That's right, the Saudi army is packed full of Yemeni cannon fodder, which helps explains its ignominious failure in its war with Yemen’s Houthi’s in 2009.

Does anyone really believe that the Yemeni soldiers for hire in the Saudi army are going to willingly, never mind effectively, invade their own country, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake, all the while killing, and being killed by, their Yemeni brothers and sisters?

This may explain the reluctance of the Saudi leadership to launch their promised invasion, especially while the Houthi militia’s are still an effective fighting force on the ground.


http://blackagendareport.com/tcmountain-saudi-mercs-starvation-yemen
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