Iraq PM Says Yemen Could Engulf Region In War, Slams Saudi Operations
Source: Reuters
By Phil Stewart
WASHINGTON, April 15 (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi said on Wednesday the fighting in Yemen could engulf the region in war, and suggested after talks in Washington that U.S. leaders shared his concerns and "want to stop this conflict as soon as possible."
Abadi, who met with U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday, also said that convincing Iraq's neighbor Saudi Arabia to halt its offensive in Yemen could be difficult.
Saudi Arabia is engaged in a three-week-old campaign of air strikes against Yemen's Houthi rebels, who are allied with Iran and have taken over the capital and forced the president to take refuge in Riyadh.
Asked about Iranian efforts to broker a peace deal for Yemen, Abadi said: "From what I understand from the (Obama) administration, the Saudis are not helpful on this. They don't want a cease-fire now."
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/15/iraq-pm-yemen-war_n_7072496.html
Saudi Ambassador To U.S. Rejects Un Criticism On Yemen Casualties
By Jonathan S. Landay
McClatchy Washington BureauApril 15, 2015 Updated 8 hours ago
WASHINGTON — The Saudi envoy to the United States denied Wednesday that the Saudi-led bombing campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen had caused an unusually high number of civilian casualties and brushed off calls by U.N. officials and human rights groups for greater care in targeting.
Saudi-led pilots are working hard to “avoid and minimize civilian casualties,” Ambassador Adel al Jubeir said during a briefing on the 3-week-old air offensive aimed at reversing a Houthi takeover of much of the impoverished country of 25 million at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.
Jubeir also asserted that the U.S.-backed Saudi-led coalition was trying to speed up the delivery of food and other humanitarian aid to Yemen, where a humanitarian crisis has been intensifying amid growing shortages of bread, medicines, fuel and other basic goods.
The envoy’s comments came as at least five ships carrying food and other assistance reportedly sat off Yemen’s coast, blocked from entering the country’s waters while Saudi-led coalition warships searched them for weapons.
“We have to ascertain that any ships do not contain weapons,” Jubeir said.
Jubeir spoke a day after United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein added his voice to those of other U.N. officials and international human rights groups expressing concern over the growing civilian casualty toll from airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition of nine Sunni Muslim-dominated Arab states.
At least 364 civilians have reportedly been killed since March 26, including 84 children and 25 women. More than 680 other civilians have been injured, although both totals are widely believed to be higher.
Read more here:
http://www.sunherald.com/2015/04/15/6177604/saudi-ambassador-to-us-rejects.html#storylink=cpy
= new reply since forum marked as read
