Yemen: Houthis Shell Civilians in Southern City

[Sally]

They are still at it in Yemen with more civilians killed.


Yemen: Houthis Shell Civilians in Southern City
Human Rights Watch - Wed, 21 Oct 2015 03:00 GMT
Author: Human Rights Watch




Mortars, Rockets Repeatedly Strike Taizz Neighborhoods
(Beirut) – Houthi forces and allied forces loyal to the country's former president have repeatedly fired mortar shells and artillery rockets indiscriminately into populated neighborhoods in the southern Yemeni city of Taizz. The attacks violate the laws of war. Share Houthi forces and allied forces loyal to the country's former president have repeatedly fired mortar shells and artillery rockets indiscriminately into populated neighborhoods in the southern Yemeni city of Taizz. The attacks violate the laws of war. In addition, since October 2015, the Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, have unlawfully confiscated food and medical supplies from civilians in the city. The pro-Houthi forces should take all possible steps to minimize harm to civilians, end the unlawful confiscation of essential goods from civilians, and hold accountable commanders responsible for unlawful attacks.

"Pro-Houthi forces have been shelling Taizz without regard for the safety of its residents," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director. "The Houthis should stop firing heavy explosive weapons into populated areas of the city." Expand

Street in Taizz that has been damaged by shelling since March 2015.

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Yemen: Houthis Shell Civilians in Southern City?

 

[aris2chat]

and it continues....................

 

[waltky]

Child casualty of war in Yemen...

'Don't bury me': Dying boy's words bring Yemen's forgotten war back into focus
Thu October 22, 2015 - "Don't bury me." 6-year-old Fareed Shawky cries as doctors treat his many shrapnel wounds.

He is just a child. But more than six months of war in his country, Yemen, had taught him the bitter realities of conflict. People die, then they are buried. "Don't bury me," Fareed says again through tears. His young father stands across from him and smiles as if to dismiss his child's fears. "I was trying to calm him down and at the same time my tears are falling, but I did not want him to feel it," al-Thamry Shawky says, "I told him, 'Don't be afraid, my son. You will get better.'"

The interaction was filmed this month by Ahmed Basha, a local photographer who recounted the story to CNN. "I thought he was just injured," Basha says from his home in Taiz, Yemen's third-largest city. "I wasn't even sure I had been recording when he said this. I was more concerned with my still photography."

[video][/video]

Four days later, Fareed died of wounds to his head. The boy was buried, hurriedly, by relatives. His own father could not bring himself to break his promise to his son. "I didn't bury him. I couldn't bury him." The father told Basha through tears, "I stood far away as they put him in the ground."

When Basha got word of the child's death, he began sifting through his footage. He published the video of the boy begging to live and began telling the world his story. It was quickly picked up by social media at a time when little else on Yemen's war seems to gain much attention. It is the war the world forgot, activists say, and little Fareed is reminding us.

A 'human catastrophe'

 

[irosie91]

for the record-----the "HOUTHIS" are a minority sect in Yemen which is mostly
a sunni type sect-----albeit all kiinds of "tribes" with slightly differing approaches
to reality. The Houthis are generally despised and tend to be impoverished and,
thus angry. -------and very much SHIITE------Iran has enlisted them in a fight to
"TAKE OVER" the country and has added Hezbollah reinforcements and extensively armed them both. Keep in mind that this is a primitive land in which minor disputes
are routinely solved with large daggers and swords and pistols------there are constant FEUDS lasting centuries. ------a very VULNERABLE target for Iran which
is LIGHT YEARS ahead of that country technologically. I know things about Yemen-----not from propaganda but from the experience of relatives-----my own husband was born there. Naturally he has a kind of special rapport with muslims
in the USA who are Yemenis------with relatives still back there------the situation fomented by Iran is HORRENDOUS. Even Hubby is horrified for the fate of the
lousy country in which he was born

 

[waltky]

Rebels in Yemen kill defenseless nuns, retirement home residents...

4 Catholic nuns, 12 others killed in Yemen retirement home
March 4, 2016 — Gunmen in southern Yemen on Friday stormed a retirement home run by a charity established by Mother Teresa, killing 16 people, including four Catholic nuns, officials and witnesses said.

The killing spree began with two gunmen who first surrounded the home for the elderly in Aden. Meanwhile, four others entered the building on the pretext they wanted to visit their mothers at the facility, according to the charity, Yemeni security officials and witnesses. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The gunmen then moved from room to room, handcuffing the victims before shooting them in the head. A nun who survived and was rescued by locals said that she hid inside a fridge in a storeroom after hearing a Yemeni guard shouting, "Run, run."

Khaled Haidar told The Associated Press that he counted 16 bodies, including that of his brother, Radwan. All had been shot in the head and were handcuffed. He said that in addition to the four nuns, one Yemeni cook, and Yemeni guards were among those killed. He said that his family was the first to arrive at the house and that he spoke to the surviving nun, who was crying and shaking. Haidar said that his family later handed her over to a group of southern fighters in charge of security in the local Aden district of Sheikh Osman.

Sunita Kumar, a spokeswoman for the Missionaries of Charity in the Indian city of Kolkata, said the members of the charity were "absolutely stunned" at the killing. "The Sisters were to come back but they opted to stay on to serve people" in Yemen, she added. She also said that two of the killed nuns were from Rwanda and the other two were from India and Kenya. Earlier, Yemeni and Indian officials reported that all four killed nuns were Indian but such conflicting information on casualties is not unusual in the chaos of Yemen's civil war. India's foreign ministry had initially cited information it got from its embassy in Yemen.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Yemeni rebels kidnap Indian priest...

Pope Mourns Nuns Slain in Yemen: Victims of Their Killers, And of ‘Indifference’
March 6, 2016 – Pope Francis said Sunday that four nuns from the Missionaries of Charity were who were murdered in war-torn Yemen on Friday were victims not just of their killers but also of global “indifference.”

Delivering his weekly Angelus address in St. Peter’s Square, the pope said the slain nuns, wh belonged to the order founded by the late Mother Theresa, had given their lives for the church. The pontiff said he was praying for them, and for others killed in Friday’s attack on a home for the elderly in the southern port of Aden, and for their families. “These are today’s martyrs,” he said. “They are not on the front pages of the newspapers – they are not news. They give their blood for the church.” Pope Francis asked Mother Teresa to accompany her “martyr daughters of charity” in paradise.

The nuns were among 16 people killed when unidentified gunmen got access to the home by pretending to be visiting their mothers. The attackers reportedly handcuffed victims before shooting them at close range. A statement from the Kolkata-based Missionaries of Charity said the gunmen, who had been wearing a bluish uniform, also destroyed statues and a crucifix in the chapel. The Abu Dhabi-based Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia, which covers Yemen, the UAE and Oman, named the nuns as Sister Anselm from India, Sister Judith from Kenya, and Sisters Margarita and Reginette from Rwanda.

It said the other victims were volunteers – including at least five Ethiopians – rather than residents of the center, which is home to about 80 elderly residents, as well as disabled children. The vicariate also said the whereabouts of a Catholic priest – the last one left behind in Aden – were unknown since the attack. Indian media reports named him as Father Tom Uzhunnalil, an Indian Salesian priest aged 56 or 57. He had reportedly been staying at the home since his church was torched last fall.

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See also:

Indian priest kidnapped in Yemen retirement home attack - officials
6 Mar 2016 - Gunmen have kidnapped an Indian priest from an old people's home they attacked last week in southern Yemen killing at least 15 people, local government and security officials said on Sunday.

The Indian Foreign Minister announced on her twitter account an Indian national identified as Father Tom Uzhunnalil had been "abducted by terrorists in Yemen". The minister, Sushma Swaraj, added that officials in neighbouring Djibouti were trying to ascertain the whereabouts of Father Uzhunnalil "so that we can secure his release". Officials in the local government of Aden confirmed that the priest had been kidnapped and said authorities were investigating the attack.

No one claimed responsibility for Friday's assault in which four gunmen posing as relatives of one of the guests at the home burst inside, killing four Indian nuns, two Yemeni female staff members, eight elderly residents and a guard.

The motive for the attack was not immediately clear, the official said. "These terrorist acts have continued and have touched the innocent, the peaceful, the unarmed and religious figures," state news agency Saba said, quoting a source in the Aden office of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Their aim was to "create chaos", it added.

Aden had been racked by lawlessness since Hadi supporters, backed by Gulf Arab military forces, drove fighters from Yemen's Iran-allied Houthi group from the city in July last year. The Yemeni government has repeatedly vowed to restore security to the city but so far had had little success.

Indian priest kidnapped in Yemen retirement home attack - officials

 

[irosie91]

I cannot imagine why an "INDIAN PRIEST" was in Yemen------does "indian priest" mean BRAHMAN-----or-----an indian man who was a catholic and went to Yemen---for ONLY GOD KNOWS WHAT REASON