Egypt, Saudi Arabia plan army drill
Gulf Today - 16 April, 2015
http://www.gulfinthemedia.com/index.php?id=746967&news_type=Top&lang=en

Saudi Arabia and Egypt are considering holding "large-scale" military
manoeuvres after launching air strikes on Yemeni rebels who have been
slapped with a UN arms embargo and sanctions.

In a possible sign the Saudi-led air campaign against the Shiite rebels may
expand into a ground operation, Cairo said it and Riyadh were mulling the
exercises in Saudi Arabia, with other Gulf countries participating.

“It was decided to form a joint military committee to look into a
large-scale strategic manoeuvre on Saudi territory,” Egyptian President
Abdel Fattah Al Sisi’s office said late Tuesday after he met the Saudi
defence minister.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, addressing reporters in
Madrid, called on world powers to back Tehran’s peace plan.

“I proposed a ceasefire followed by all-inclusive Yemeni dialogue that is
facilitated by others,” he said.

This could lead, he argued, “to the formation of a government in Yemen that
represents a broadly based community.”

Yemen’s Houthi-led Supreme Revolutionary Committee condemned on Tuesday, a
United Nations Security Council resolution imposing an arms embargo on the
group, saying the decision supported “aggression.”

In a news flash on the group’s official television channel, the governing
body said it “calls on the masses of the yemeni people to rally and protest
on Thursday to condemn the Security Council resolution in support of the
aggression.”

Saudi-led coalition air strikes hit rebel targets in yemen’s main southern
city of Aden on Wednesday after overnight attacks by anti-government forces
killed seven people, military sources and medics said.

Coalition warplanes targeted rebel positions in Crater, Khor Maksar and
other districts of Aden, which has seen heavy clashes between pro- and
anti-government fighters.

Residents said the rebels “randomly” shelled residential areas in the city,
killing at least three civilians.

The rebels also shot dead four armed supporters of President Abedrabbo
Mansour Hadi, medics and residents said.

In Daleh province, north of Aden, Hadi loyalists carried out several attacks
that killed 16 rebels, according to pro-government militia sources.

It was not possible to independently verify the toll and the rebels rarely
acknowledge their losses.

The Saudi-led coalition launched its air war on March 26 after the
Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels seized control of the capital Sanaa and
advanced on Aden, where Hadi had taken refuge before fleeing to Riyadh.

Conflict in Yemen is disrupting the crop planting season and threatens to
create food shortages, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation
(FAO) said on Wednesday.

The FAO has been working since 2014 to support Yemeni farmers but it says
only $ 4 million of the required $ 12 million have been made available for
its livelihood programs.

“The deteriorating situation means we need to double down on our efforts to
ensure that as many farmers as possible are able to plant this growing
season and strengthen their ability to withstand future shocks,” the FAO
Assistant Director-General for North Africa and the Near East Abdessalam,
Ould Ahmed, said in a statement.

About 11 million of Yemen’s 26 million people are classified as severely
food insecure, while 16 million are in need of some form of humanitarian aid
and have no access to safe water, the FAO said. Markets have been disrupted
and food prices have increased as a result of the escalation at a time when
planting for the 2015 maize and sorghum harvests was due to take place.

“We are entering a crucial period for crop production in Yemen and now, more
than ever, agriculture cannot be an afterthought if we want to prevent more
people from becoming food insecure amidst this crisis,” the FAO
Representative for Yemen, Salah Hajj Hassan, said.

Food prices in the western port city of Hodeidah have doubled and fuel
prices have quadrupled, FAO said.

Residents have said they are suffering from major food and water shortages,
with many afraid to leave their homes for fear of being caught in the
crossfire.

The World Health Organization says at least 736 people have died in the
conflict since April 12 and more than 2,700 been wounded.

The United Nations said nearly half of the casualties were civilians and UN
human rights chief Zeid Raad Al Hussein called on Tuesday for an
investigation.