This map provides a general look at the current military situation in Yemen. Despite peace talks between the warring parties in Sweden, clashes are ongoing on the ground.
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Military Situation In Yemen On December 11, 2018 (Map Update)
The trouble in Sweden is that all the waring parties are not represented. The Houthis are negotiating with the barely-on-life-support Hadi government (hated by most Yemenis) but backed by the Saudis. The UAE doesn’t like Hadi or the Saudi-backed left-over ‘internationally-recognized Yemeni government’ in Aden and secretly schemes to weaken it with well-financed southern militias.
The CIA/neocons/Israeli-firster psychopath cabal in the U.S are in bed with the UAE on their anti-Saudi, anti-Hadi ‘project’. MbS wants the war to end with overall control of Yemen – partially for oil/pipelines, partially for border security – via puppet Hadi and his rump governent, The UAE and CIA/neocon/Israeli-firsters want the war to end but are almost exclusively focused on controlling the ports regardless of any Yemeni government. The UAE government-owned Dubai Ports Worldwide being the obvious candidate for ‘managing’ the occupied Yemeni ports for the immense profits – in a large part from all manner of their usual drugs/arms/people-trafficking clownfuckery.
The Houthis and anti-Hadi forces – half the population – have nobody to talk to in Sweden but the Hadi rump government that merely conveys Saudi demands. The UAE is buying up the south and all the ports, and doesn’t care about the Houthis (except that they’re in the way in Hodeidah and Saleef). In the end, a weakened, divided Yemen will be slowly picked apart by the Wahhabi al-Qaeda nutjobs.
I do not see the talks achieving anything since SA coalition has not even declared a ceasefire. No way Houthis should give up Hudaydah without a fight. Does UN have a plan to take over port operations only, and not the city? So I guess the battle for the port will go on. Go Houthis ! :)
The UN and WFP seem obsessed with running the port for the sole purpose of bringing in humanitarian aid, which necessarily means excluding commercial cargoes. It’s almost like they’re looking forward to a famine and humanitarian catastrophe and want to make sure the world sees their heroic efforts in Hodeidah. The thing is, Hodeidah as an aid-only port would simply guarantee a Houthi famine AND prolong the suffering.
1. There is no way on earth WFP can possibly bring in enough food for 10 million people through Hodeidah – it’s physically impossible. Using food vouchers as well only works if there is food to be purchased, and there will NOT be if the North Yemen economy continues to be strangled. Crops failed in the north because farmers couldn’t find or afford seed, fertilizer or fuel for irrigation. Yemen was dirt poor, but it HAD a somewhat functional economy. The WFP monopolizing Hodeidah for aid will never be a solution, but when the Saudis and UAE are its biggest donors, well… maybe some Houthis are going to have to die.
2. Years of blockading North Yemen via the sea ports, air ports and check points into government-held areas AND the international community exclusively ‘recognizing’ Hadi’s rump government/central bank in Aden has absolutely destroyed the Yemeni economy. Blockading commercial activity at Hodeida was part of that – and exactly why the Saudis (under CENTCOM direction) bombed the large container port cranes there. USAID ‘donated’ smaller mobile cranes to the port, but for the primary purpose of unloading aid. They are only allowed to be used for commercial cargoes when not unloading aid. So the Saudi/US plan back then was to choke ‘the Houthis’ economy off by restricting commercial activity while still claiming to be aid-monkey humanitarians. Some cargo make it into Aden and the other southern ports, but not nearly enough to sustain an economy of 28 million – an little of that finds its way north. In fact, the governorates around Aden are also experiencing near-famine conditions.