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Yemeni naval forces target, torch Saudi military vessel in western Yemen

This photo provided by Yemen’s Joint Operations Command purportedly shows Saudi al-Madinah warship in waters off the coast of Hudaydah city, Yemen, on January 30, 2017. Yemeni naval forces, backed by fighters from allied Popular Committees, have targeted and torched a Saudi military vessel in a missile attack off the coast of the country’s western province of Hudaydah, military says. Yemen's official Saba news agency, citing an unnamed military source in the Navy, reported that the destruction of the Saudi-led coalition’s gunboat occurred on Monday, when Yemeni forces hit the intruding vessel with a missile. The military official further asserted that the Saudi vessel was carrying out radar jamming and deception against Yemeni army when it was targeted. On January 30, Yemeni army forces fired a guided missile at Saudi Arabia’s al-Madinah battleship in waters near the city of Hudaydah, and on June 25, another Saudi war boat was hit and destroyed by Yemeni forces on Yemen of...

UK to continue Saudi arms sales despite funeral bombing in Yemen

A new report reveals that British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson had urged the UK government to continue arms sales to Saudi Arabia even after Riyadh bombed a funeral in Yemen last October that killed over 140 people and sparked global condemnation. In a letter dated one month after the Saudi bombing, Johnson pressed Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox to continue sending weapons to Saudi Arabia, according to The Guardian newspaper. "I am aware you have deferred a decision on four export license applications to supply the Royal Saudi Air Force with equipment which could be used in the conflict in Yemen," Johnson wrote. "The issue is extremely finely balanced, but I judge at present the Saudis appear committed both to improving processes and to taking action to address failures/individual incidents," the foreign secretary wrote. Fox delayed signing off on further weapons exports to the Saudi air force following the strike but agreed to continue a...

Trump lashes out at McCain for criticizing deadly Yemen raid

US Republican Senator John McCain President Donald Trump has lashed out at Republican Senator John McCain for criticizing the recent US raid in Yemen in which an American special forces trooper died. The White House has characterized the January 28 strike on purported al-Qaeda targets in the central Yemeni province of Bayda as a “huge success," despite the death of multiple civilians and children in an hour-long gunfight in which Navy SEALs and troops from the United Arab Emirates clashed with well-entrenched al-Qaeda militants. McCain told NBC News on Wednesday that he cannot call it a success "when you lose a $75 million airplane and, more importantly, an American life is lost." McCain, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, who was briefed on the raid, called the mission a failure because one US soldier died and one military aircraft crashed, not because of the death of civilians. In a series of tweets on Thursday, Trump said that the Arizona senator’s ne...

Yemen Withdraws Permission for U.S. Antiterror Ground Missions

Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, at the White House on Tuesday. Mr. Spicer denied reports that the purpose of the attack in Yemen was to capture or kill any specific Qaeda leader. WASHINGTON — Angry at the civilian casualties incurred last month in the  first commando raid authorized by President Trump ,  Yemen  has withdrawn permission for the United States to run Special Operations ground missions against suspected terrorist groups in the country, according to American officials. Grisly photographs of children apparently killed in the crossfire of a 50-minute firefight during the raid caused outrage in Yemen. A member of the Navy’s SEAL Team 6, Chief Petty Officer William Owens, was also killed in the operation. While the White House continues to insist that the attack was a “success” — a characterization it repeated on Tuesday — the suspension of commando operations is a setback for Mr. Trump, who has made it clear h...

Russia capable of halting US surrogate war in Yemen: Analyst

Saudi Arabia has pounded the port of Hudaydah in Yemen to stop the shipping of humanitarian aids into the war-ravaged country. Saudi forces have also prevented ships from entering the Yemeni port for over 20 days. The United Nations has voiced concern about the severe consequences of a long-term Saudi-imposed blockade on Yemen, which is facing a humanitarian crisis. Senior editor of Veterans Today from Ohio, Gordon Duff, believes that Russia is the power that can stand against the US-Saudi agenda in Yemen and stop the crippling war against the impoverished Arab state. “This is the war that is never going to end” unless the United Nations Security Council and one of its five permanent members, especially Russia, steps in to open the ports in Yemen, control humanitarian aid and bring about a reasonable ceasefire, Duff told Press TV. “There is a huge amount of silent complicity in the war on Yemen, which has been fought as a war against the people,” but Moscow has the capability to interv...

Yemen Al Qaeda leader says U.S. raid on Yemen a blow to Trump

The leader of Al Qaeda's Yemen branch said in a recorded speech released on Friday that the U.S. raid carried out last week had failed and was a blow to President Donald Trump. Qassim al-Raymi, who became leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in 2015, said that two U.S. helicopters had been downed in the incident and tens of U.S soldiers were injured. "The fool of the White House has received a painful blow at the beginning of his journey through your hands," al-Raymi said, addressing the people of Yemen. The raid on al Qaeda in southern Yemen that took place last week was the first such operation authorized by President Trump as commander-in-chief. U.S. Navy SEAL William "Ryan" Owens was killed in the raid, which the Pentagon said also killed 14 militants. Medics at the scene said about 30 people, including 10 women and children, also died. Al-Raymi said that 14 men had been killed 11 women and children were killed in the raid.