Saudi-led coalition batters Yemen with intense raids
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ADEN: Warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition battered southern Yemen overnight in the most intense strikes since the launch of a campaign against Iran-backed rebels last month, residents and officials said Friday.
“In Aden, the raids began at around 10:00 pm on Thursday and were the most violent since the start of 'Operation Decisive Storm',” a resident of the southern city told AFP.
The air strikes lasted well into the night, said other residents of Aden, especially the municipal headquarters of Dar Saad at the city's northern entrance.
They were carried out a few hours after Houthi rebels and renegade army soldiers loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh arrived at the building, according to the residents.
Coalition aircraft also targeted other positions, including a stadium in the centre of the city and checkpoints manned by the rebel forces.
There was no way to immediately verify the reports.
“Extremely violent” air raids also targeted Ataq, the capital of Shabwa province east of Aden which was seized by Saleh's forces on Thursday, an official said.
Strikes were launched against a missile base near the town and an arms depot at a base in Morra, to the west of Ataq, said another official.
Rebel positions were been targeted around the city of Lahj, north of Aden, according to residents.
The Saudi-led coalition launched the air strikes against the Houthi rebels on March 26 in support of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi after they seized the capital and forced him to flee to Aden.
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Comments (42) Closed
Apr 10, 2015 02:29pm
... And Shock and Awe begins...
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Apr 10, 2015 02:30pm
Please continue till the time the foreign agents run away from Yemen.
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Apr 10, 2015 02:31pm
When Yemen has been pounded enough , USA & Co. would decide it's about time they helped the victims of Yemen. Of course , that would mean a long term presence of USA in Yemen . Iraq , Egypt , Palestine , Libya , Afghanistan , Pakistan , Iran etc are already done with or are on fire . Kingdom of Saudi Israel might be subjected to a bloodless victory as it has probably the worst professional Armed forces in the world.
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Apr 10, 2015 02:37pm
Pakistan,Turkey should play their role to diffuse this situation otherwise this fire could take whole middle east into its flames.
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Apr 10, 2015 02:48pm
SA, one of the worst regimes in the world, is the agressor in this case. The House of Saud is part of the US-Israel nexus that is why you dont see them utter a word against persecution of Palestinians. Yet, they are quick to bombard the poorest country in the region.
But if history teaches us that Yemen will be a quagmire for SA and her allies.
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Apr 10, 2015 02:51pm
Down with Saudi Imperialism.
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Apr 10, 2015 02:56pm
Air raids never win the battle. It is criminal to destroy the historical sites of Yemen which are Islamic. Its architect represents the Arab Culture which is unique in the world and under UNESCO's list to preserve.
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Apr 10, 2015 03:07pm
The feudal states trying to impose democracy on Yemen.What a joke?
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Apr 10, 2015 03:22pm
It is obvious that SA is creating serious problems for itself by indulging in a mayhem in the civil conflict in Yemen
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Apr 10, 2015 03:24pm
Peace can never be achieved by war, all it is bringing destruction, anarchy, and more enmity between Shia Houthis and the Saudis.
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Apr 10, 2015 03:33pm
My God- please save Middle East from more chaos.
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Apr 10, 2015 03:38pm
islam means peace. there is no concept of attack in islam as for as i studied. islam always encourges to finght in defence, rather attacking anyone, beucase in attack many innocent people could be murdered and vectimised. and in islam a murder of a single person is consider as the murder of whole universe. Thus, being proclaimed as champion of islam, its Sauidi and its allies prerogative to perserve and complaince with islamic vertues.
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Apr 10, 2015 03:54pm
This is strong enough evidence that Pakistan should not be party
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Apr 10, 2015 04:11pm
Surprisingly everybody is involved in Syrian, Lebenese, Yemeni and Iraqi conflicts, including western countries but no body knows why they are fighting and for whom?
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Apr 10, 2015 04:20pm
Irani meddling in middle east is disturbing peace
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Apr 10, 2015 04:30pm
Air raids mean nothing. They only serve some false self congratulatory steps. The rebels are all in their hideouts with their weapons in the mountainous terrains. Bombs do not reach there. Eventually the fight will get down to boots on the ground and at that time the real test will be there. Who has got what mettle.
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Apr 10, 2015 04:45pm
Saudi Arab is striving to bring back a coward leader who has left his people in extreme mess and enjoying princely life in Riyadh"........now when Pak has also said no to Saudis, therefore, this utter non sense must be immediately stopped and every one must sit and decide for a solution that is in the interest of Yemeni citizens
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Apr 10, 2015 04:49pm
@Ali Yes,petrol is easily available there.
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Apr 10, 2015 04:57pm
@shakeelshahhussaini@gmail.com Every religion promotes peace and humanity. Only some hijack and misuse it.
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Apr 10, 2015 04:57pm
A place of peace is engaged in attacks. What message it send to the ummah that it is a state which shed blood of muslims instead of making them strong and peaceful. Saudi Arabia is responsible for downfall of Saddam, Gadaffi And sorry state of Palestinians. Iraq was better placed in era of Saddam Hussain. Saudi have no space programme, industrialisation, production of arms, and stand no where if not protected by Egypt or pakistan.
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Apr 10, 2015 05:29pm
Show me one country which has won a war by air raids alone. By themselves they are insignificant. Will Saudis put their soldiers on Yemeni soil? I doubt it. Golda Meir, former prime minister of Israel, once mentioned that she needed only one battalion to conquer Saudi Arabia... of her female soldiers.
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Apr 10, 2015 05:40pm
This has got to stop. Utmost effort needs to be put in negotiating a sustainable ceasefire. No more senseless killing, please!
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Apr 10, 2015 05:41pm
@Ali
This tribal violence is genetic. Half of the Middle East might as well be Black Africa. Tribalism is an evolutionary dead end.
The Arab world is about to self destruct. Tribal alliances are meaningless in a geopolitical world.
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Apr 10, 2015 05:47pm
@riz I do not see Iran but it is clear that Saudi's are interfering in the internal matter of Yemen.
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Apr 10, 2015 06:16pm
I blame only one country for this chaos in ME, that's KSA. First they ignite Syria by sponsoring rebels now they are pounding Yemen. USA & Israel are playing from both sides. Isreal backing IS to kill Muslims in Syria and US backs Saudi to kill Muslims in Yemen. The most disgusting thing is Muslims are playing puppets in the hands of US & Isreal as if they lost all the sense in themselves.
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Apr 10, 2015 06:55pm
No one is condemning this massacre. Saudi's are pretty coward. This is called extremism. Saudi's are forcing their brand of Islam on other countries. Pro Israeli Saudi's are fighting against anti Israeli forces. No one has to destroy Muslim. Their infighting is enough to finish them.
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Apr 10, 2015 06:57pm
@Ragu
I wish if prayers can bring peace on this earth.
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Apr 10, 2015 07:10pm
Saudis can support alqaeda and daisy but Iran cannot support anyone.
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Apr 10, 2015 07:15pm
And what is the fault of the innocent civilians dying in this region. I am sick of hearing Iran backed rebels.. if Iran was forthcoming in this war, they would have sent their war planes or Russians who support them would have done something.
KSA is throwing dust in the eyes of people around the world. Yemen is one of the poorest nations in the world. The people who live there in majority, their only crime is that they do not follow Saudi agenda and the later wants to do a show of power at the expense of a power nation that cannot defend itself. This is an outrage.
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Apr 10, 2015 07:16pm
When countries have systems that do not allow for change peacefully, when force is the language used in politics, when societies are not mature, this is the outcome. All over the Middle East the status quo is force, not democratic means of change, societies are still very medieval, tribal. Pakistan has to learn a lesson by not getting involved. We don't know anything about the Arabs, their culture, their values, their customs, their way of life, most unfortunate.
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Apr 10, 2015 08:09pm
@Sami Qureshi so u r worried about historic sites more than human beings...
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Apr 10, 2015 08:10pm
Saudis want to save their dynasty at the cost of whole muslim land. Syria, iraq, lybia, egypt and now yeman... Al e saud should be dethroned and hanged for their crimes against humanity and muslim world. Pakistan must remember they are friends to people of Hijaz and muslim ummah not to a criminal, brutal al e saud dynasty. These 100k dynasty members brought a down fall to whole middle east and got millions of muslims killed in last 10 years to save their dynasty.. And in the end they plan to beg isreal to spare their lives for their loyalty to isreali state.. Time would tell if they spare them or kill every child of saud dynasty.
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Apr 10, 2015 08:39pm
Wonder how the millions of Yemenis working in SA are faring with their loyalty for their homeland being bombarded by SA..
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Apr 10, 2015 09:05pm
Imagine ... the undeniable fact is that now the USA is backing the Saudis who are backing Al-Qaida who are out to murder Shias. Let there be a ceasefire, followed by an election. What is happening in Yemen is genocide. Can any sane person deny this?
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Apr 10, 2015 09:08pm
If you have a strong enemy whom you cannot defeat then fight against your own weaker brother and label him as your new enemy. This is exactly what is happening now. Additionally the ulterior motive is to disrupt oil shipping lines so that oil prices go up and all this without Saudi reducing its production output and hence its market share. In a way all this points to cheap politics and economics.
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Apr 10, 2015 10:03pm
@riz No dear no. It is exactly the other way. It is not Iran but in fact Saudis who are interfering with sole purpose to install their puppets. Why elections due in Feb were not held ? And how this naked aggression and large scale destruction in Yemen of life and property / infra structure can be termed as justified ? Who is benefiting from this destruction in a Muslim country except Israel and anti Islam forces ? The US and Israel support to this naked Saudi aggression says it all. Try to understand this conspiracy against Muslim ummah...sooner the better.
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Apr 10, 2015 10:04pm
I think Saudi has started a war the end of which might not be in their hands. A counter offensive by Yemenis from the south of Saudi Arabia and from the east Bahraini border can create huge problem for Saudi Arabia. It shall get back to table and stop this nonsense of talking about democracy in Yemen when itself it has dictatorship.
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Apr 10, 2015 10:16pm
Majority of Pakistan's based newspapers are not writing truth.
This report did not mention the reports of UNICEF and UN aid agencies and other neutral organizations collecting evidence against aggression and protecting humanity by mentioning the widespread disaster and killing of civilians and children in Yemen by Saudi strikes. The major reason of such partial reporting by Pakistan's newspapers is that they are only copying AFP or Reuters or Al Jazeera etc reports. All those news agencies are either serving interests of Nato or US or are Saudi funded hence on ground brutality is eliminated from report.
Pakistani news agencies must improve their canvas and must evaluate independent news information outlets in order to be fair, transparent and honest in their reports. Otherwise such biased reporting is only harming humanity and serving the interests of tyrants of this world. By the end of the day PAKISTANIS would also be among victims if they chose to remain silent over injustice.
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Apr 10, 2015 10:47pm
Camel riders trying to fly planes!!! No wonder so many innocent people are being killed in Yemen.
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Apr 11, 2015 12:55am
Imagine the situation after two years... Yemen will be in extremely bad.... Why so..
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Apr 11, 2015 05:48am
It is already way too late for Pakistan to p[lay its role and the only role to condemn this naked aggression against a brotherly Muslim country whose unarmed and poor people are getting killed in hundreds by the savage bombing of Saudi Arabia. Not only that Saudis are annihilating Yemenis for no crime but they are also naval blockading this Muslim nation by forcing them to starvation as ships, carrying tens of thousands of tonnes of wheat for Yemeni people, are being blockaded in International seas from entry into Yemen by SAUDI ARABIA. For God's sake, Pakistan stop this barbarity; appeal to U.N to intervene and save the poor Yemenis from this wholesale massacre.
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Apr 11, 2015 07:11am
@saz
Too bad for you that the UN and UNICEF news reports blame BOTH the Saudis AND the Hothis for the Civilian casualties in Yemen, and both point out that rise of children killed is directly attributed to the recruitment of child soldiers by the tribal societies involved!
A tribal "child" carrying an AK-47 into combat can hardly be termed "innocent" by anyone the child is shooting at!
Please try to give us some "unbiased" news sources!
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