"Grand Ayatollah Ali Safi Golpaygani has announced that the silence of the Organization of the Islamic Conference toward a brutal suppression of Yemeni Shias by the country’s army is unacceptable.
'We ask the Organization of the Islamic conference why is it silent toward war and fratricide in Yemen and does not take an action?' the ayatollah asked in a statement which was released by his office on Wednesday.
. . . .
The ayatollah added, 'With great sorrow certain neighboring countries [Saudi Arabia] are cooperating with them (Yemeni armed forces) in these coldblooded crimes'.
He also denounced the silence of the so-called international human rights organizations in the face of the ongoing brutalities in Yemen and asked the OIC to break its silence and strongly protest the behavior of Yemeni rulers against their country’s Shias and condemn their acts."
http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=207758
A massacre of Shiites in Yemen by the Yemeni and Saudi armies that is being ignored by international human rights organizations? Civilian casualties? Tens of thousands of refugees? A Saudi naval blockade? Indeed, where are the human rights organizations and where is the news media?
While writing this blog entry, I searched the web homepages of The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe and CNN, but found no mention of the war. The Washington Post website provides a link to the following report near the bottom of its homepage:
"The Yemeni government on Wednesday lashed out against what it described as Iranian 'interference' in its affairs, escalating tensions in a civil conflict pitting Yemen's army against Shiite rebels that has drawn in Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer, and raised fears of a regional proxy war.
. . . .
The comments came a day after Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki publicly warned that countries in the region should not intervene in Yemen's internal affairs. 'Those who pour oil on the fire must know that they will not be spared from the smoke that billows,' Mottaki declared in what many viewed as a veiled threat by the Shiite theocracy to Saudi Arabia's Sunni rulers."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/11/AR2009111126674.html?hpid%3Dsec-world&sub=AR
Roger Cohen informed us less than two months ago in a New York Times op-ed entitled "The Miracle of Dullness":
"The demon of instability, German-prodded, moved to the Middle East, where another modern nation state, Israel, in turn upended the order of things."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/opinion/24iht-edcohen.html
Cohen has again been proven wrong. Much of the chaos in the Middle East continues to spring from the Sunni/Shiite conflict, originating in 632 A.D. from Mohammed's death without a heir or proclaimed successor. The current tensions between Israel and Iran's proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah, are also part and parcel of Iran's effort to establish regional Muslim leadership.
Should the U.S. government ignore the problem in much the same way as the world's media and human rights organizations? Answer: Saudi Arabia's oil fields are only some 600 miles distant from the Yemeni border.
From the NYTimes:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/06/world/middleeast/06yemen.html?scp=2&sq=Yemen&st=cse
"Saudi warplanes bombed a group of Yemeni rebels late Wednesday on the countries’ remote border, a day after the rebels overran a strategic hilltop and killed a Saudi border guard.
The airstrikes appeared to signal an expansion of the war against the Houthi rebels, who have been fighting the Yemeni government intermittently for more than five years. In August, the Yemeni government began a renewed offensive against the Houthis, and thousands have been killed in the fighting. The Saudis struck on Wednesday after evacuating several villages along the border...The Houthis’ media bureau issued its own statement saying that the rebels had taken control of the Jebel Dukhan area and justified their action by saying the Saudis had been allowing Yemeni forces to attack them from Saudi territory".
And here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/world/middleeast/10yemen.html?scp=5&sq=Yemen&st=cse
And here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/world/middleeast/25yemen.html?scp=6&sq=Yemen&st=cse
It may be a usual Middle Eastern conflict of government with its own tribes. But why would these rebels want to fight with Saudis? Whole thing does not make sense, does not matter how you look at it.
I do believe US government has and should have nothing to do with it.
From what I have seen, the NYT is covering the story, but not on its online homepage, and in its print version it is buried, unlike coverage given to the Israeli operation in Gaza. See at the bottom of its online coverage, which you can find by entering "Yemen" in "search", the following language:
ReplyDelete"A version of this article appeared in print on November 11, 2009, on page A16 of the New York edition."
"A version of this article appeared in print on November 10, 2009, on page A14 of the New York edition."
"A version of this article appeared in print on November 13, 2009, on page A4 of the New York edition."
"A version of this article appeared in print on November 6, 2009, on page A12 of the New York edition."
This is not the usual Middle Eastern "tribal" squabble, but rather a battle between Saudi and Iranian proxies.
The U.S. should stay away, but keep a close watch as Iran creates new hotspots in its efforts to achieve Middle East hegemony.