US ends refuelling support in Yemen

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WASHINGTON/CAIRO, Nov 10, (Agencies): Saudi Arabia and the United States have agreed to end US refuelling of aircraft of the Saudi-led coalition battling Houthi insurgents in Yemen, halting a divisive aspect of US support to a war that has pushed Yemen to the brink of famine.

The move, announced by the coalition on Saturday and confirmed by Washington, comes at a time when Riyadh, already under scrutiny for civilian deaths in Yemen air strikes, is facing global furore and potential sanctions over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at its Istanbul consulate on Oct 2.

The United States and Britain late last month called for a ceasefire in Yemen to support UN-led efforts to end the nearly four-year long war that has killed more than 10,000 people and triggered the world’s most urgent humanitarian crisis. “Recently, the Kingdom and the Coalition increased its capability to independently conduct inflight refuelling in Yemen. As a result, in consultation with the United States, the Coalition has requested the cessation of inflight refuelling support for its operations in Yemen,” it said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia has a fleet of 23 planes for refuelling operations, including six Airbus 330 MRTT used for Yemen, while the United Arab Emirates has six of the Airbus planes, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya al-Hadath channel reported on Saturday. Riyadh also has nine KC-130 Hercules aircraft that can be used, it added.

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the US government was consulted on the decision and that Washington supported the move while continuing to work with the alliance to minimise civilian casualties and expand humanitarian efforts. Any co-ordinated decision by Washington and Riyadh could be an attempt to forestall action threatened in Congress next week by lawmakers over refuelling operations.

However, a halt to refuelling could have little practical effect on the conflict, seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Only a fifth of coalition aircraft require in-air refuelling from the United States, US officials said. The Sunni Muslim alliance led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE has recently stepped up military operations against the Iranian-aligned Houthi movement, including in the main port city of Hodeidah, which is a lifeline for millions of Yemenis.

“The continued escalation of attacks … by the US-Saudi-Emirati coalition confirms that the American calls for a cease-fire are nothing but empty talk,” Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of the group’s supreme revolutionary committee, wrote in a column published by the Washington Post on Friday. He said the ceasefire call was an attempt “to save face after the humiliation” caused by the murder of Washington Post columnist Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi policy, that has strained Riyadh’s relationship with the West. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called for an immediate end to the military escalation in Yemen.

“The Saudi-led Coalition and pro-Hadi forces, the Houthi forces – and those who supply arms or other support to the parties to the conflict – all have the power or the influence to stop the starvation and killing of civilians, to give some reprieve to the people of Yemen,” Bachelet said in a statement on Saturday.

The statement also said there is concern over 900 detainees in the central prison in Hodeidah and six pre-trial detention facilities after it was hit on Monday by two mortar shells, injuring five and cutting off power and water to the prison. Hodeidah has become a key battleground in the war in which the coalition intervened in 2015 to restore the internationally recognised government ousted by the Houthis. UN bodies warn that an all-out attack on the Red Sea port, an entry point for 80 percent of Yemen’s food imports and aid relief, could trigger a famine in the impoverished country.

The World Food Programme said on Thursday it planned to double food assistance for Yemen, aiming to reach up to 14 million people “to avert mass starvation”. Air strikes by the coalition, which relies on Western arms and intelligence, have often hit schools, hospitals and markets, killing thousands of Yemeni civilians. UN special envoy Martin Griffiths hopes to convene Yemen’s warring parties for peace talks by the end of the year.

Expressed
The coalition expressed hope in its statement that his efforts would lead to a negotiated settlement, including an end to Houthi missile attacks that have targeted Saudi cities and vessels off the port of Hodeidah. Mattis said all parties support Griffiths’ efforts.

“The US and the Coalition are planning to collaborate on building up legitimate Yemeni forces to defend the Yemeni people, secure their country’s borders, and contribute to counter al- Qaeda and ISIS efforts in Yemen and the region,” he said in a statement. The last round of peace talks in Geneva in September collapsed when the Houthis failed to show up, saying their delegation had been prevented from traveling.

The Yemeni government blamed the group for trying to sabotage the talks. Yemeni government forces pressed further into the strategic port city of Hodeidah, seizing its main hospital in heavy fighting Saturday, as their Saudiled coalition backers put a brave face on an end to US refuelling support. A loyalist official said mortar rounds were “falling like rain” in the streets as troops weathered rebel-laid mines and snipers to take control of the main hospital in the city of some 600,000 people.

The rebels have put up fierce resistance to the loyalist advance towards the city’s vital docks, which are the point of entry for 80 percent of Yemen’s commercial imports and nearly all UN-supervised humanitarian aid. The suspension of US assistance to re-fuel coalition aircraft comes as Washington’s backing of the war effort faces increased scrutiny following international outrage over Khashoggi’s murder last month in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. US Democrats, buoyed by victories in this week’s midterm elections, have sought to curtail Washington’s military support to Saudi Arabia and demanded greater oversight of a conflict the UN has labelled the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The grinding Saudi-led war in Yemen has caused growing international unease after high-profile coalition air strikes that have killed scores of civilians, many of them children. The intensified coalition-backed push into Hodeidah, which has claimed the lives of 382 combatants this month, comes despite aid agency warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe in the event of a protracted battle for the city. Some 14 million Yemenis are at risk of famine and many more are dependent on international aid, according to UN agency figures, making it vital that Hodeidah’s port remains open and undamaged. Yemeni officials said Saturday that pro-government forces had captured the May 22 Hospital. Amnesty International had accused the Houthis of “deliberate militarisation” of the facility after they posted snipers on its roof.

Fierce
Two days after loyalist troops entered residential neighbourhoods of Hodeidah for the first time, fierce battles raged in the city’s east as loyalist forces backed by air strikes and helicopters sought to push deeper into the city. “The battles here are turning into street fighting,” one loyalist official said, adding that pro-government forces had advanced around a kilometre along a major highway into the city on Saturday. Hodeidah resident Lubna, who asked not to be fully named for fear of repercussions, said “the noise of Apache helicopters, artillery and gunfire” was incessant.

Houthi forces were using artillery to pound advancing loyalist forces, at times firing from residential areas, she said, fearing this “could mean that civilians pay the highest price.” “This attack is more intense than the previous on (in June) but a lot of residents are refusing to leave,” she said. “I don’t know whether it’s because they’re hoping things will improve or it’s just an expression of despair.” Save the Children field coordinator Mariam Aldogani spoke of intense coalition air strikes.

“In the last 30 minutes there were more than 15 air strikes … This is the worst time for Hodeidah children,” she said. In an apparent face-saving move, Saudi Arabia sought to project the decision to end in-flight refuelling as its own, not Washington’s. The Pentagon had been providing refuelling capabilities for about 20 percent of coalition planes flying sorties over Yemen. Saudi-controlled media suggested the coalition had the capacity to make up the shortfall.

Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya Al-Hadath television reported that the Kingdom has 23 planes of its own for refuelling operations devoted to Yemen operations, while the UAE has six. But analysts said the US move would limit the coalition’s ability to conduct bombing missions.

Andreas Krieg, a professor at the School of Security Studies at King’s College in London, said the decision was “significant” as refuelling had been Washington’s most important operational role in the war. An Istanbul conference under the aegis of Nobel laureate Tawakkol Karman on Friday called for concrete measures to end the war in her native Yemen and an international court to judge those charged with crimes during the conflict.

The conference, which was organised by Karman’s foundation, urged international players including the United Nations to take “deliberate and responsible actions to end the war and restore peace in Yemen”.

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