Monthly Briefing / May – 2022

 Political Sscene

The humanitarian truce (announced in early April) attractedtook a great deal of regional and international attention as it represents a sign of hope that can be built upon to stop the seven-year war. Additionally, there are international voices, in addition to the international positions calling for it to bes extendedsion for athe second time, and the pressure for the roads to Taiz to be opened.toward opening the Taiz roads.

• Prince Turki Al-Faisal, the former head of Saudi intelligence, confirmed that America had failed them in dealing with the security threats posed by the Iranian-backed Houthi group. (2/5)

• After his visit to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, The Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council, Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi announced thatrevealed an agreement had been made to form joint committees to monitor the implementation of financial pledges in several areas. (2/5)

• The first commercial flight took off from Sanaa International Airport to the Jordanian capital, Amman, according to the humanitarian truce agreement, after six years of no civilian flights. air navigation stopped for civilian flights for 6 years. (16/5)

•  In a meeting with US envoy “Tim Lenderking” in Washington, Saudi Deputy Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman called on the United Nations and the international community to pressure the Iranian-backed Houthi group (backed by Iran), to open the roads toof the besieged city of Taiz and to seriously engage in the peace efforts to end the war in Yemen.” (21/5)

• The UN envoy to Yemen, “Hans Grundberg,” announced the start of meetings between representatives of the Yemeni government and the Houthi group in Amman regarding the opening of roads to Taiz roads, which have been closed for seven years. (25/5)

• Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak received the credentials of the new US ambassador to Yemen, Stephen Harris Fagin, despite the position remaining vacant for nearly three years. (26/5)

• The head of the government team negotiating the opening of the main roads in Taiz said that the Iranian-backed Houthi militia continues to refuse to open the main roads and corridors, which may lead them to endto stopping the discussions that have been going on for two days. (27/5)

Military Scene

Military operations between the government and the Houthi group decreased during the past month to their lowest level in 7 years, with an the exchange of accusations between them over violating the humanitarian truce, which caused deaths and injuries, including civilians.

• Seven policemen were injured in the city of Taiz (southern Yemen) as a result of the bombing of a Houthi drone, which targeted the General Administration building on Al-Aridy Street, east of the city in. In clear violation of the humanitarian truce (4/5)

• The International Committee of the Red Cross announced that 117 Saudi “prisoners” were transferred to Yemen, by planes, 108 of them to Aden airport, and 9 to Sana’a airport, 37 were transferred via the Saudi border, as part of a unilateral deal that released estimated 163 Houthi prisoners from the Houthi group. (6/5)

• The National Army announced that the Taiz axis had monitored 1,400 violations of the UN truce, committed by the Houthi group, in the deliberate targetingtargeting of the national army’s sites and residential neighborhoods since the beginning of last April. The violations, which resulted in “7 deaths and 54 wounded from the army forces, while two civilians were killed and 17 others were wounded.” (15/5)

• The Ministry of Health of the Houthi group (not recognized internationally), announced the killing of 3 people and the wounding of a fourth in the downing of a drone on Haddah Street, in the center of the capital, Sanaa. The group claims to be affiliated with the Saudi Air Force. (23/5)

• The Yemeni Chief of Staff, Lieutenant-General Saghir bin Aziz, affirmed thatthe readiness of the military institutions were ready for the decisive battle, to rid Yemen of the Houthi group. (27/5)

Security Scene

The capital, Aden, witnessed several security disruptions, including bombings and assassinations, with some officials surviving an assassination attempt, as the security scene is still one of the complex scenes in which the new officials promise to make a significant solution tohat limits these disruptions.

• Egypt announced the success of mediation in releasing 20 Egyptian sailors who were detained in Yemen, while it did not mention the kidnapping party and the time and duration of their detention. (2/5)

• The headquarters of the Security Belt Forces of the Southern Transitional Council (loyal to the UAE) witnessed an armed attack in the city of Al-Dhalea, believed to be carried out by Al-Qaeda, which resulteding in the killing of two high-ranking officers (7/5).

• Tribal gunmen kidnapped the deputy governor of Aden, “Rashad Shaye”, after raiding his house and taking him outside the province, against the background of the killing of a young man from the gunmen’s family, who was shot dead by a member of the governor guard. (12/5)

• Unidentified individuals targeted a pipeline transporting crude oil in Mayfa’a district-Shabwa governorate, Ssoutheast of Yemen, a few hours after the security services thwarted another operation targeting the same pipeline in the Upper Egypt district. (13/5).

• Aan exchange of fire in the city of Marib, resulted in the killing of an army officer, of the 159th Infantry Brigade, and another person (14/5).

• The head of the Joint Operations Department in the Fourth Military Region survived an assassination attempt in the center of the temporary capital, Aden. (15/5)

• Forces affiliated with the Southern Transitional Council arrested the head of the Military Intelligence Division in the National Army-Taiz axis, along with his companions, while he was on his way to attend a regular meeting at the headquarters of the Military Intelligence Department in the temporary capital, Aden. (15/5)

• The US Navy seized a drug shipment aboard an Iranian fishing vessel in international waters in the Gulf of Oman, weighing 640 kilograms of methamphetamine, with a value of $39 million (5/18).

• The Yemeni Landmine Monitor announced that 370 civilians were killed and 754 wounded by mines planted by the Houthi group during the period (June 2019 to May 15, 2022). (17/5)

• The United Kingdom Marine Trade Operations (UKMTO) Authority announced that a Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship was attacked 34 nautical miles (63 km) southwest of Hodeidah, via small boats carrying armed men. (19/5)

• Forces affiliated with the Southern Transitional Council raided the meeting of the Executive Office of Socotra Governorate while it was being held inside a government facility in the governorate. (24/5)

• Doctors Without Borders announced the killing of 5 people and the injury of 50 others, as a result of an unknown explosion that targeted a gathering of dozens of civilians in Sheikh Othman Aden district. (27/5)

The Llegal Sscene

The spreadoutbreak of weapons in the areas controlled byof the Houthi group is one of the reasons behind many of the widespread violations in their areas of control, as cases of killing within the same families were recorded in more than one area at close times, in addition to the almost daily killings carried out by militia members against citizens.

– On World Press Day, the United Nations called for the protection of press freedom in Yemen, the immediate release of detained journalists, and an end to arbitrary detention, harassment, and threats to the journalists’ lives and their families. (3/5)

– The United Nations called on the Houthi group to urgently release two of its employees who have been detained in Sanaa since early November 2021. (4/5)

– The American Center for Justice (ACJ) announced that 3,000 women inmates of the central reformatory in Sana’a are subjected to arbitrary violations by the authority of the Houthi group, upon receiving appeals from within the reformatory. (14/5)

– Dozens of people from the Yemeni community in Europe organized a protest in front of the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands, to demand an end to the siege imposed on the city of Taiz by the Houthi group, which has continuedbeen going on for seven years. (22/5)

– The Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor called on the parties involved in the conflict in Yemen to work urgently to end the siege of Taiz and to take all possible steps to reduce the suffering of millions of Yemenis living in the city. (26/5)

– The US State Department announced the death of Abdul Hameed Al-Ajmi, a former local employee at the Washington embassy in the capital, Sanaa, in a Houthi prison, seven months after his kidnapping. (26/5)

Economic Scene

Hayel Saeed Anam Group, “the largest trading company in Yemen,” has issued a warning of the dangers of an imminent famine that will target the majority of Yemenis due to the Russian and Ukrainian war and its impact on food supplies and the rapid decrease in the wheat stores.

• A government report issued by the Central Bank showed that Yemen’s revenues from crude oil exports rose in 2021 to about 1.418 billion dollars, compared to 710.5 million dollars in the previous year, an increase of 707 million dollars, or 99.4 percent. (3/5)

• The United Nations announced that it had obtained $38 million, within the amount of 144 that the organization is seeking to obtain, to address the great threat posed by the Safer Floating Reservoir in the Red Sea (western Yemen) for nearly 7 years. (11/5)

• Hayel Saeed Anam & Co. company (the largest importer of wheat in Yemen) has warned of an impending famine, caused by the rise in international wheat prices, and the rapidly declining food stocks across the country. (16/5)

• The Yemeni government renewed its demand for the State of Lebanon to release financial deposits of Yemeni banks whose funds have been frozen in Lebanese banks since the Lebanese banking sector-imposed restrictions on foreign currencies nearly two years ago. (21/5)

• The Houthi group’s oil company imposed a new increase in gasoline prices at public stations, by 800 riyals, despite the flow of fuel shipments through the port of Hodeidah under the humanitarian truce, bringing the price of gasoline from 12,000 riyals / 20-liter tank to 12,800 riyals. (26/5)

General News

– The mihrab of the archaeological “Al-Jalaliya” mosque (a relic of the Prophet’s state) and another mosque in the city of Ibb (central Yemen) were subjected to a sabotage operation targeting its inscriptions, coinciding with the sabotage of the Al-Qadi Mosque (archaeological) in the Jableh District. (2/5).

– According to the statements of “Nasr al-Din Amer,” the head of Houthi-affiliated Saba Agency who is affiliated with the Houthi group “Nasr al-Din Amer”, the Houthi group launched summer courses (classified by the government as sectarian courses) for school students in all areas under its control (9 governorates), targeting nearly half a million children. ( 9/5)

ChartsMaps 

– The Yemeni Coalition to Monitor Human Rights Violations in Yemen issued a report entitled “The Black Flaw” documenting the establishment of the Houthi Group during the period (July 2014 – December 2020) (14/5)

– The International Migration Organization announced that the total number of those who arrived in Yemen during the period between January and April is about 24,686 African immigrants, and 23,950 Yemenis returning from Saudi Arabia (5/16).

– Since the start of the humanitarian truce, the Houthi group has buried 188 bodies, including “124” officers from the governorates under its control (5/17).

– The Houthi group obtained customs duties and taxes worth 19 billion and 667 million riyals from 5 ships of oil derivatives that reached the ports of Hodeidah, which is under the control of the Houthi group, during the first six days of the truce announced by the United Nations in early April (21/5).

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