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. FEB. 7, 2017 WASHINGTON — Angry at the civilian casualties incurred last month in the first commando raid authorized by President Trump [ https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/01/world/middleeast/donald-trump-yemen-commando-raid-questions.html ], Yemen [ http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/yemen/index.html ] has withdrawn permission for the United States to run Special Operations ground missions against suspected terrorist groups in the country, according to American officials.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 he plans to take a far more aggressive approach against Islamic militants. It also calls into question whether the Pentagon will receive permission from the president for far more autonomy in selecting and executing its counterterrorism missions in Yemen, which it sought, unsuccessfully, from President Barack Obama in the last months of his term. [...] Specialists in Yemeni culture and politics have cautioned that Al Qaeda would seize on the raid to whip up anti-American feelings and attract more followers. “The use of U.S. soldiers, high civilian casualties and disregard for local tribal and political dynamics,” the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said in a report released last Thursday, “plays into AQAP’s narrative of defending Muslims against the West and could increase anti-U.S. sentiment and with it AQAP’s pool of recruits.” https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/07/world/middleeast/yemen-special-operations-missions.html
Yemen war: Houthi withdrawal from Hudaydah met by mistrust
--- "Yemen Aftermath: Trump's First Military Raid Continues To Raise Questions "U.S. military officials told Reuters that Trump approved his first covert counterterrorism operation without sufficient intelligence, ground support or adequate backup preparations." February 2, 2017 5:15 PM ET " ---
11 May 2019
Yemen crisis
VIDEO - Video footage appears to show Yemen's Houthi forces in trucks leaving a key port
Yemen's Houthi rebels have begun withdrawing from a key strategic port, in the first major step since a ceasefire agreement signed in December.
Both the Houthis and government forces agreed to withdraw from Hudaydah port to allow in vital humanitarian aid.
Video footage obtained by the BBC shows Houthi forces setting off in trucks. The redeployment is expected to take four days in total.
But Yemen's government has accused the rebels of staging a "ploy".
At least 6,800 civilians have died in Yemen's four-year civil war. Some 10,700 more have been injured in the fighting, according to the United Nations, and many thousands more have died from preventable causes such as malnutrition, disease and poor health.
What's been said on the pullout?
AFP news agency quoted UN spokesman Farhan Haq as confirming that the withdrawal had begun.
The process has been described by the UN's special envoy for Yemen as a "first step".
"I'm hopeful, but it's a fragile vessel," Martin Griffiths told the BBC. "We have still got a job to do to make sure the government of Yemen is eventually happy with it."
Deep distrust still remains among all parties in the war.
Al-Hasan Taher, a senior pro-government official, accused the rebels of replacing themselves with other Houthi militia members dressed in coast guard and police uniforms.
"It's an attempt to disinform the international community," he told reporters.
But the Houthi movement said its "unilateral" pullout showed "commitment to implement the Hudaydah agreement and to achieving peace". It called on the UN to press all parties to abide by the agreement.
VIDEO - The hidden victims of the Yemen war
Why is Hudaydah so important?
Hudaydah port is the principal lifeline for two-thirds of Yemen's population. Its closure has had a devastating impact on the nation, which now sits on the brink of famine.
Under the deal brokered by the UN in December, the warring parties agreed to withdraw from Hudaydah city and the ports of Hudaydah, Salif and Ras Issa.
The Houthi withdrawal marks the first major step in bringing that ceasefire agreement into being.
The UN has repeatedly appealed to both sides for access to a vast store of grain in Hudaydah port that holds enough food to feed 3.7 million people for a month.
Pro-government forces have twice tried to seize the port, and accuse the Houthis of using it to smuggle in weapons from Iran.
Deep distrust between warring parties has stalled this deal for months and continues to plague this first unilateral step by the Houthis.
A pullout from the ports is a move of least risk for the Houthis in this strategic corner. They've reinforced in the city of Hudaydah in recent months and can find other means to replace lost revenue. Many of the Coast Guard and port officials are regarded as civil servants who, if this pullout is completed, will run the ports with UN experts.
But the Yemeni government suspects the Houthis of moving militia into ports posing as ordinary workers. They're dismissing this unilateral pullout as a ploy.
The UN's emphasis, since the Stockholm deal, is on monitoring, not trust. Its patrols are now in place.
If this step is deemed genuine, it could create conditions for a wider redeployment of forces from all sides. If it isn't, it could mean the end of what's regarded as the best chance to move toward peace.
Why is Yemen at war?
The conflict has its roots in the failure of a political transition after an Arab Spring uprising that forced its longtime authoritarian President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to hand over power to his deputy, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, in 2011.
The Houthi movement, which fought a series of rebellions against Mr Saleh during the previous decade, took advantage of the new president's weakness to take control of their northern heartland of Saada province and neighbouring areas.
Reuters Houthi supporters at a rally in the capital Sanaa, last month
Many ordinary Yemenis supported the Houthis, and in late 2014 and early 2015, the rebels took over the capital Sanaa, forcing President Hadi to flee abroad.
Alarmed by the rise of a group they saw as an Iranian proxy, Saudi Arabia and eight other Arab states intervened in an attempt to restore the government.
Talks have repeatedly stalled and broken down, and withdrawal deadlines have been missed amid disagreements over who would control the vacated locations.
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