the limping messenger

Originally published on 6/4/2015 by Tjebbe van tijen on his Flickr News-tableau pages; republished om 5/12/2017 on the Limping Messenger. [picture is Creative Commons: name the author and make a link to this original post]

GROUND ZERO YEMEN: my news-tableau based on a Reuter Press release and two pictures of a series of 10 taken on April 3 or 4 2015 by the photographer Mohamed Al-Sayaghi + overlay of Eu-fighter of Saudi Royal Airforce & text and statistical graphics:

People dig graves for the victims of an air strike in Okash village near Sanaa April 4, 2015. REUTERS/MOHAMED AL-SAYAGHI (photographer)

Link to original message and photo series: in.reuters.com/article/2015/04/05/yemen-security-idINKBN0…

The belligerents and those that bomb – be it from the air, using missiles, artillery, car bombs or bomb-belts – are many, not just the Saudis. It is the Saudi’s, though, that have the greatest military power, thus making the actual confrontation into what is called ‘asymmetrical warfare’. (1)

What will be the result of this ‘overkill capacity’ of the state of Saudi Arabia in the Yemen context, as one of the best equiped nations in military sense in the region, are described in a recent study of the International Red Cross in these terms:

Recent and current con!icts have been distinguished by mismatches of opposing capabilities among belligerents.31 This asymmetry can increase the appeal of populated areas as environments in which to launch attacks and then hide among civilians, or environments to dominate because control of the population is a strategic objective. Yet if explosive weapons are used, the higher the population density or concentration of civilians or civilian objects in a place, the more people and civilian infrastructure are likely to be within the blast and fragmentation radius of an explosion. Despite this, con!icts in Vietnam, Chechnya, Gaza, theWest Bank, Afghanistan, and Iraq have all shown that belligerents do operate out of populated areas, including locating military bases and other facilities there, thereby exacerbating the risks to civilians of being affected by hostilities. Demographic shifts from the countryside to urban environments this century are likely to continue or even exacerbate such phenomena. ‘Because resources, power, and people are concentrated in and around them, cities are by de”nition vulnerable entities’, in which the use of explosive weapons not only runs the risk of killing and injuring civilians but also damages physical infrastructure and disrupts essential civilian services.

[John Borrie and Maya Brehm; Enhancing civilian protection from use of explosive weapons in populated areas: building a policy and research agenda; International Review of the Red Cross; vol.93 no.883; September 2011; p.809-836: online PDF version: www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/review/2011/irrc-883-borrie… ; p. 814. ]

The historical complexities of the power struggle in and around yemen are recognised by many from different camps. Each simplification lays the basis for simple solutions in a complex situation and of subsequent violence with this example -out of many – proving the point.

In our times where the old notion of military battle fields does not exists any more, it is civilians that bare the brunt.

The sad thing is that such a powerful and super rich nation like Saudi Arabia can come up with no other measures than copy-cat of the failure of USA strategy: enforcing peace by aerial bombardment.

This is GROUND ZERO in some small village for some unknown reason… is this ‘collateral damage’, or is so that all those who die in such an unplanned way, are by definition put in the category of ‘enemies ‘ or ‘terrorists’ by the army press-officers briefing the international press?

Early sources (starting fromApril 4th, the alleged date of the air attack was April 3) state this:

Residents near Okash village, which is near an air force camp on Jebel al-Nabi Shouieb mountain, said the air strike was on Friday night and killed nine people. Saba said the family consisted of two men, a woman and six children. It posted a picture on its website showing three children lying next to each other with pieces of papers with the date April 3, 2015 written on them. Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of photo. (2)

www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/1.650467

This news-tableau is only depicting one case, whereas there are many. One of the important non-partisan sources on human suffering is the United Nation Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which has an emergency section for Yemen. There we can read that the 9 death depicted here are just a pin point on a map that totals up to an estimate of 500 fatalities since the beginning of the intensification of the actual conlfict (Yemen Military Intervention 2015):

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), violence has killed 550 people and injured 1,746 – including many civilians – since 19 March. Casualty reports are often underestimates of true number of casualties, as people may not have the means to seek treatment in hospitals, and families may bury their dead before reports are collected. Displacement is also rising. Overall displacement estimates could not be verified

[Yemen: Escalating conflict Situation Report No. 2 (as of 3 April 2015) This report is produced by OCHA Yemen in collaboration with humanitarian partners. It was issued by OCHA Yemen. It covers the period from 31 March to 3 April. / Full report available on-line: reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/OCHA%20… ; p. 1. ]

To keep updated on the humanitarian side of the conflict reliefweb.int is a reliable source and they have a country page on Yemen, with links to news-flahes also like this one taken on monday April the 6th 19 hrs Amsterdam time:

In the last 24 hours, air strikes hit Aden, Al Dhale’e, Sana’a, Sa’ada, Al Hudaydah and Hajjah Governorates. According to local sources, one strike in Sa’ada killed eight civilians in the Al Anad area; impact reports from air strikes in other areas were unclear as of 10.00. Armed clashes also continued in the south. In Aden, fighting intensified and was spreading towards residential areas of Al Ma’ala and Tawahi Districts. Clashes involved bombardment of residential districts; four residential buildings in Ma’ala were reportedly destroyed. Bridges connecting two major roads from Aden to neighbouring areas have also been damaged. In Abyan, clashes were reported in Lawder and Zinjibar Districts.

In Al Dhale’e, a party to the conflict has reportedly seized three hospitals and evicted patients; snipers are reportedly firing from the building. According to international humanitarian law, all parties to conflict must refrain from targeting civilian infrastructure. Commandeering civilian infrastructure for military purposes is also prohibited.

reliefweb.int/report/yemen/ocha-yemen-escalating-conflict…

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(1) Asymmetric warfare can describe a conflict in which the resources of two belligerents differ in essence and in the struggle, interact and attempt to exploit each other’s characteristic weaknesses. Such struggles often involve strategies and tactics of unconventional warfare, the weaker combatants attempting to use strategy to offset deficiencies in quantity or quality. Such strategies may not necessarily be militarized. This is in contrast to symmetric warfare, where two powers have similar military power and resources and rely on tactics that are similar overall, differing only in details and execution.
The term is also frequently used to describe what is also called “guerrilla warfare”, “insurgency”, “terrorism”, “counterinsurgency”, and “counterterrorism”, essentially violent conflict between a formal military and an informal, less equipped and supported, undermanned but resilient opponent.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asymmetric_warfare

(2) In it’s later despatches Reuter and media all over the world that follow it, do show and quote these photographs without further reference on their authenticity. Curious remains that Yemen state news agency SABA which is quoted as a source by Reuter does not (in its English language version) give any report, when I double checked on Monday April 6. I still think there is not enough good reason for disbelieve, even when the name of the village – Okash – does not show up in the regular geographical/mapping on-line services. The mountain range mentioned does show. I may be because of transliteration of the Arabic name (?).

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See also my news-tableau of 30/3/2015: “USA to Saudi Arabia: “Your turn” to bomb the world into safety”
www.flickr.com/photos/7141213@N04/16769282077/