US Strategy: Bombing Yemen Back to the 19th Century

by Stephen Lendman

On March 26, US-orchestrated/Saudi-led terror-bombing began - supplemented by imported takfiri death squad attacks.

Civilians are prime targets. Obama is systematically destroying Yemen - the way Washington ravaged Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria.

US strategy is total dirty war without mercy - including deliberately targeting civilian neighborhoods, schools, hospitals, power facilities, refugee camps, food depositories, vital infrastructure and other nonmilitary targets.

Riyadh's so-called 5-day ceasefire (beginning Tuesday) continues being punctuated by terror-bombings and ground attacks.

According to Shiite News, Houthi Ansarullah Brig. General Sharaf Luqman warned against further violations. Saying they'll be met with strong "determination."

"We the armed forces, and the popular committees, and Ansarullah, announce our commitment to this ceasefire," Luqman stressed.

Minutes after it began, "acts of aggression after aggression" followed.

"Right now you (can hear) the anti-aircraft firing and the Saudi firing in the sky over the capital (Sanaa) and in all of the provinces," Luqman explained.

On Thursday, a Saudi helicopter gunship struck a truck in northern Yemen, killing nine people.

Riyadh, complicit with Washington, willfully breached ceasefire terms. Ansarullah fighters are blamed for their crimes.

In normal times, Yemenis endure enormous hardships. Now they're catastrophic.

On orders from Washington, Yemen is being terror-bombed to rubble. It's economy is being systematically destroyed.

The Middle East Eye (MEE) is a UK-based independent online news service. It calls its agenda "led by events, not political leanings."

It published a new report on Yemeni crisis conditions titled "Paint thinner and donkey carts: Resource scarcity in war-torn Yemen."

Saying Yemenis seek alternative ways to survive. They're "(u)sing phone lines to power lamps, paint-thinner to run motorbikes, and donkey carts" for transportation.

Power cuts, food and water shortages, as well as lack of fuel and medical supplies create horrific conditions.

Survival depends on improvising any way possible. "Majed al-Sharjabi, a 42-year-old doctor, had been using petrol to run a generator in his home until the coalition’s naval blockade, which prevents fuel ships from docking, sent petrol prices soaring," said MEE.

He switched to propane until its price tripled. He gave up his generator and bought a Chinese-made solar panel.

It's "not the best but it works for me," he said. "I can charge my computer and the cell phones of my neighbors."

"If it's a bright day, I can power the television for an hour and find out about how much of my country has been destroyed."

Nasri Abobaker uses a 1.5 volt battery to charge his phone. It cost . He built an adapter, he said. "Now I can power one lamp from it and it's free."

Ayman al-Dhobhani earns a day transporting people around Sanaa. He can't afford fuel. He uses paint thinner instead.

In the last week, the price of 1.5 liters of paint thinner quadrupled - from to .

Cooking gas is unavailable. Um Naif, a mother of three, uses cardboard and firewood - "foraged from trees and garbage around her house."

"Time has toughened us," she said. Life is hard for all Yemenis. Hani Bakhtan can't afford propane.

She uses an improvised stove metal bucket "crammed with sawdust and overlaid with clay." One bottle of sawdust cost and lasts a week, she said.

Aid organizations use donkeys to distribute supplies. National center for freedoms and development manager Salah al-Homaidi said "(w)e're going back a century" - maybe two before Obama's aggression ends.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.