Partly in honor of Ali Al-Bukhaiti's op-ed below, I have started a small project to document Houthi military operations. I am monitoring official Houthi media for claims of military actions specifically, and recording them on a weekly and monthly basis. Over the long term, this should give researchers a better idea of what the Houthis are up to and where (at least according to their own claims).
There's a lot of options for monitoring official Houthi media. Since the early 2015 Houthi coup/takeover in Sanaa, outlets previously run by the internationally recognized Yemeni government are now run by the Houthis - this includes Saba News Agency, the Yemen TV satellite channel, and others. In other words, the Houthis now run what used to be official state media in Yemen - and in a twist I just can't seem to get accustomed to, use the outlets to claim Houthi military achievements as those of "the Yemeni armed forces".
I could also monitor outlets owned or friendly to former president/Houthi ally Ali Abdullah Saleh, as these often promote Houthi successes too. However, I've found that the most consistent and comprehensive source of information on Houthi actions is Al-Masirah, the Houthis' TV channel and news network. They issue multiple bulletins each day, in various media formats (video, print, audio), so recording them all won't be an easy task.
The point of the tracker is two-fold. One, to gain an awareness of the military image Houthis aim to project to the region. Two, to stay abreast of military developments in Yemen, at least from the Houthi perspective.
I'm two weeks into the tracker thus far, and the Houthis have already claimed over 150 military operations in November. Most were in Yemen, but about a quarter of them took place in Saudi provinces of Najran, Asir, and Jizan.
Tuesday, November 14, 2017
Monday, October 23, 2017
Al-Bukhaiti: The West Sympathizes with Houthis Due to Lack of Reliable Information
Below is my full translation of Ali Al-Bukhaiti's 16 October column "The Forgotten Yemenis - Why Does the West Sympathize with the Houthis?".
In general, Westerners and non-Arabs view our region within one context only: oil. It's the only resource that caused our countries appear on the map of global interests. Without it, no one would even mention the countries of our region, for in multiple aspects, the social contribution of Arab countries to the world amounts to zero. The contributions of the Arab world don't even equal one thousandth of the scientific and technological achievements of Israel, for example.
That isn't the main subject of this article, but it allows a viewpoint from which to discuss the war in Yemen. For it's through this viewpoint - oil, and the Yemen war's impact petroleum markets - that the Western and non-Arab mind views the conflict in Yemen. They're concerned with the flow of oil, rather than the flow blood from Yemeni civilians.
I won't go into the details of the conflict and current news about Yemen, because that's not our subject here either, rather what concerns me is the Western view of the war in Yemen, and the reasons behind its sympathy for the Houthi movement. I'm not talking about the sympathy of officials/institutions because their interests are determined and there's no room for emotion when it comes to interests. I'm talking about the sympathy of individual people, including those who may have official titles - organizations, journalists, authors, academics, media outlets, think tanks, people within the decision-making circles of civil society - this is what I've seen throughout my various meetings and trips. This inevitable sympathy from this segment stems not from religion or sectarianism, and it has no relation to the reasons behind the inner conflict in the region, instead it stems from other things entirely that need to be considered.
After speaking to many people, it became clear to me that their sympathy stems from their view of the conflict in Yemen and its actors. Here lies the problem and the reasons behind this totally deficient opinion of the conflict. They view the war as between Saudi Arabia on one side, and between a Yemeni Shia minority, with limited support from Iran, on the other. There is a total absence of the Yemeni people and other local actors in the conflict, as they believe that these actors are just tools of Saudi Arabia and have a weak presence on the ground.
When Westerners compare the enormous Saudi and Emirati financial resources, powerful military strength, and vast Sunni population in the region, to the small Houthi minority, with its traditional weapons and limited support from abroad, they can't help but to sympathize with the Houthis.
Westerners neither study nor follow with any urgency Houthi oppresssion and gross violations that would allow proper classification of the group, for they are too busy tracking the crimes of [Saudi, US] Coalition planes against Yemeni civilians and are almost totally oblivious to Houthi actions. Coalition air strikes and technology create more buzz than the Katyusha rockets and traditional artillery that the Houthis use, which kill civilians just the same. The West isn't interested in documenting the violations of the Houthis - the Houthis have no large financial accounts, they have no investments, no ability to sign trade or arms deals, nothing that the West desires for which reports of these violations might provide leverage. The West isn't interested in observing and documenting the crimes of groups that have no wealth and no account balances, because there is no future gain in return for their efforts.
Even while the practices and violations of the Houthis have reached the level of terrorism, no light has been shed on them yet. Bombing the houses of opponents, raiding homes, assaulting children and women, in addition to imprisoning thousands in private prisons where some have died and others were executed. These are all terrorist acts which the Houthis have admitted committing, and practice openly daily - they film when they explode peoples' homes and take pride in it. With all of this, until today neither the Houthis or any of its offshoots have been added to any global terrorism lists, there still exists an official and a popular sympathy for them, and that sympathy springs from the fact that the Houthis, in part, are fighting the Saudis, and there is no love for Saudi Arabia in the eyes of the West.
The West doesn't realize that the Houthis have taken 17 million Yemenis hostage, that they commit the ugliest of crimes. Because Saudi Arabia is an actor in the conflict, all of the focus is on the kingdom. Given the criminal effects of their airstrikes, I'm not defending the Coalition nor the Saudis, but I am calling on the West to see that Yemenis are a people kidnapped by a criminal gang that uses us as human shields, violates our rights, and that seeks vast cultural, theological, and governmental changes. This is as it adjusts the ideologies and instruction of the civil service, both military and civilian. Years from now, there will exist in front of us a savage bloc/movement of those recruited as part of an agenda carried out upon the region.
There is no difference between the actions of Houthis, ISIS, or Al-Qaeda, all of which commit what the West would describe as terrorism, but because the Houthis don't threaten foreigners, specifically Westerners, no one is interested in tracking their crimes. No one has added them to any terrorist lists. Quite the opposite - there are those who consider the Houthis as allies against terrorism because they fight Al-Qaeda, ignoring the Yemeni population held hostage by Houthi actions. They also ignore that the rule of the sectarian Houthi group over wide areas of Yemen actually aids Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups in the region, creating sympathy for them among Yemenis resistant to Houthi rule who view them as the strongest anti-Houthi force.
We must not neglect to mention the failures among Yemeni groups opposed to the Houthis. These groups have failed to convey the true face of the Houthis to the West - to think tanks, media outlets, terrorism-focused research organizations, activists, and decision-making circles - in an objective and professional manner. There are Yemeni failures here. Hadi's legitimacy is supported by a Coalition more interested in justifying its own mistakes/crimes than showcasing those of the Houthis, and for that reason it has lost its credibility. Saudi efforts in this regard can't be trusted for various reasons, the most important of which is the large imbalance in power between it and the Houthis, in addition to the fact that Coalition strikes create a lot of destruction and civilian death... this would make any Saudi effort to showcase Houthi crimes fail before it has even started, it would be waste of time and money.
In order for the Houthi image not to remain clean, its crimes forgotten and uninteresting to Western organizations, an independent and objective Yemeni group needs to be formed that can cover the lack of information available on the Houthis. To convey true facts about them, show the suffering of Yemenis under them, to send the message that the conflict in Yemen isn't between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, but on a simple level it's between Yemenis and Houthis, and it started more than 13 years ago. Saudi participation is a consequence of the conflict, and not a cause of it. There is a whole people who oppose Houthi rule, and suffer havoc as a result.
If the Yemeni people continue to be absent from the equation, if the Yemen war continues to be viewed as a Saudi-Houthi conflict, if the world still doesn't hear about the terrorism of the Houthis, then this misunderstanding and stereotyping will stay, and the world will continue to sympathize with the Houthis.
I'm not looking to defend Saudi Arabia or the Coalition, but the existing view of the Houthis needs to be corrected so that people stop being enamored with them due to misunderstandings and lack of information. The West needs to understand that there are Shia terror groups, even those who claim to be Zaydis, and their extremism is no less than those of Sunni terror groups.
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| Ali Al-Bukhaiti, former Houthi spokesman |
That isn't the main subject of this article, but it allows a viewpoint from which to discuss the war in Yemen. For it's through this viewpoint - oil, and the Yemen war's impact petroleum markets - that the Western and non-Arab mind views the conflict in Yemen. They're concerned with the flow of oil, rather than the flow blood from Yemeni civilians.
I won't go into the details of the conflict and current news about Yemen, because that's not our subject here either, rather what concerns me is the Western view of the war in Yemen, and the reasons behind its sympathy for the Houthi movement. I'm not talking about the sympathy of officials/institutions because their interests are determined and there's no room for emotion when it comes to interests. I'm talking about the sympathy of individual people, including those who may have official titles - organizations, journalists, authors, academics, media outlets, think tanks, people within the decision-making circles of civil society - this is what I've seen throughout my various meetings and trips. This inevitable sympathy from this segment stems not from religion or sectarianism, and it has no relation to the reasons behind the inner conflict in the region, instead it stems from other things entirely that need to be considered.
After speaking to many people, it became clear to me that their sympathy stems from their view of the conflict in Yemen and its actors. Here lies the problem and the reasons behind this totally deficient opinion of the conflict. They view the war as between Saudi Arabia on one side, and between a Yemeni Shia minority, with limited support from Iran, on the other. There is a total absence of the Yemeni people and other local actors in the conflict, as they believe that these actors are just tools of Saudi Arabia and have a weak presence on the ground.
When Westerners compare the enormous Saudi and Emirati financial resources, powerful military strength, and vast Sunni population in the region, to the small Houthi minority, with its traditional weapons and limited support from abroad, they can't help but to sympathize with the Houthis.
Westerners neither study nor follow with any urgency Houthi oppresssion and gross violations that would allow proper classification of the group, for they are too busy tracking the crimes of [Saudi, US] Coalition planes against Yemeni civilians and are almost totally oblivious to Houthi actions. Coalition air strikes and technology create more buzz than the Katyusha rockets and traditional artillery that the Houthis use, which kill civilians just the same. The West isn't interested in documenting the violations of the Houthis - the Houthis have no large financial accounts, they have no investments, no ability to sign trade or arms deals, nothing that the West desires for which reports of these violations might provide leverage. The West isn't interested in observing and documenting the crimes of groups that have no wealth and no account balances, because there is no future gain in return for their efforts.
Even while the practices and violations of the Houthis have reached the level of terrorism, no light has been shed on them yet. Bombing the houses of opponents, raiding homes, assaulting children and women, in addition to imprisoning thousands in private prisons where some have died and others were executed. These are all terrorist acts which the Houthis have admitted committing, and practice openly daily - they film when they explode peoples' homes and take pride in it. With all of this, until today neither the Houthis or any of its offshoots have been added to any global terrorism lists, there still exists an official and a popular sympathy for them, and that sympathy springs from the fact that the Houthis, in part, are fighting the Saudis, and there is no love for Saudi Arabia in the eyes of the West.
The West doesn't realize that the Houthis have taken 17 million Yemenis hostage, that they commit the ugliest of crimes. Because Saudi Arabia is an actor in the conflict, all of the focus is on the kingdom. Given the criminal effects of their airstrikes, I'm not defending the Coalition nor the Saudis, but I am calling on the West to see that Yemenis are a people kidnapped by a criminal gang that uses us as human shields, violates our rights, and that seeks vast cultural, theological, and governmental changes. This is as it adjusts the ideologies and instruction of the civil service, both military and civilian. Years from now, there will exist in front of us a savage bloc/movement of those recruited as part of an agenda carried out upon the region.
There is no difference between the actions of Houthis, ISIS, or Al-Qaeda, all of which commit what the West would describe as terrorism, but because the Houthis don't threaten foreigners, specifically Westerners, no one is interested in tracking their crimes. No one has added them to any terrorist lists. Quite the opposite - there are those who consider the Houthis as allies against terrorism because they fight Al-Qaeda, ignoring the Yemeni population held hostage by Houthi actions. They also ignore that the rule of the sectarian Houthi group over wide areas of Yemen actually aids Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups in the region, creating sympathy for them among Yemenis resistant to Houthi rule who view them as the strongest anti-Houthi force.
We must not neglect to mention the failures among Yemeni groups opposed to the Houthis. These groups have failed to convey the true face of the Houthis to the West - to think tanks, media outlets, terrorism-focused research organizations, activists, and decision-making circles - in an objective and professional manner. There are Yemeni failures here. Hadi's legitimacy is supported by a Coalition more interested in justifying its own mistakes/crimes than showcasing those of the Houthis, and for that reason it has lost its credibility. Saudi efforts in this regard can't be trusted for various reasons, the most important of which is the large imbalance in power between it and the Houthis, in addition to the fact that Coalition strikes create a lot of destruction and civilian death... this would make any Saudi effort to showcase Houthi crimes fail before it has even started, it would be waste of time and money.
In order for the Houthi image not to remain clean, its crimes forgotten and uninteresting to Western organizations, an independent and objective Yemeni group needs to be formed that can cover the lack of information available on the Houthis. To convey true facts about them, show the suffering of Yemenis under them, to send the message that the conflict in Yemen isn't between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, but on a simple level it's between Yemenis and Houthis, and it started more than 13 years ago. Saudi participation is a consequence of the conflict, and not a cause of it. There is a whole people who oppose Houthi rule, and suffer havoc as a result.
If the Yemeni people continue to be absent from the equation, if the Yemen war continues to be viewed as a Saudi-Houthi conflict, if the world still doesn't hear about the terrorism of the Houthis, then this misunderstanding and stereotyping will stay, and the world will continue to sympathize with the Houthis.
I'm not looking to defend Saudi Arabia or the Coalition, but the existing view of the Houthis needs to be corrected so that people stop being enamored with them due to misunderstandings and lack of information. The West needs to understand that there are Shia terror groups, even those who claim to be Zaydis, and their extremism is no less than those of Sunni terror groups.
Friday, September 29, 2017
Free Arabic News Channels on YouTube
For those of us who need to watch Arabic news but don't want to pay for a subscription service or a satellite dish, YouTube comes to the rescue.
After some research, below is my list of Arabic news channels that stream for free on YouTube. If you've got a smart TV or a Roku/AppleTV/ChromeCast etc., you can watch these on your TV, just like normal channels, via the YouTube app.
- Al-Jazeera: Wasn't streaming free in the US until 3-4 months ago. Now it's free, awesome! A smart decision by Qatar, who should probably take any chance it can get to have its voice heard in the US. Streams live.
- Al-Jazeera Mubasher: Al-Jazeera's "live all the time" news channel. Streams live, of course.
- BBC Arabic: Not the most exciting channel, but dependably objective. Streams live.
- Al-Mayadeen: 24-7 news and commentary, follows the Iran-Asad axis. Reasonably entertaining coverage and shows. Streams live.
- Al-Arabiya: KSA-funded news, 24/7. Streams live.
- Ro2ya TV: Jordanian channel, younger feel, some news but mostly social commentary and young/hip documentary-ish shorts. Fun channel.
- Al-Manar: Hizbollah's channel. Mix of news and random programming. Entertaining to watch LH's point of view. Streams live
- CBC: Egyptian channel with random mix of shows and then some news. One of the few free Egyptian channels that has a reasonably functional stream. Streams live.
- Syria News: Syria's state TV channel. Not as entertaining as you think it would be. Was a lot better back during the first few years of the war. Streams live.
- KSA 1: Saudi's main station, if you're into it. I sometimes am. Along with it are the other KSA channels, namely Islamic ones. Al-Quran Al-Kareem; Al-Sunnah Al-Nabawiya;
- Al-Hayah: Egyptian channel, some news but also lots of shows. Good if you want to hear Egyptian.
- France 24 Arabic: Arabic news, French-funded. Streams live.
- Russia Today Arabic: Infamous, just as weird as the English channel. Streams live.
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Even Arab Leaders (Hadi included) Can't Speak Arabic
Mohamad Krishan knows a good Arabic speaker when he hears one. And since he is a veteran anchor for Al-Jazeera, I would trust his judgment.
In this op-ed, Krishan obliterates various Arab leaders for their poor Arabic skills. Starting with a discussion of a recent Tunisian governor's substandard French-language speech during a memorial in Nice, France, Krishan then compares the disastrous event to the amazing French skills of past Tunisian politicians like former president Habib Bourgiba and Hamadi Al-Said. These guys adopted the language of their colonizer. The next generation chose to focus on Arabic instead. The current generation of Arab leaders, Krishan says, can't speak either one on a professional level. It's an epidemic visible at any meeting that requires an exchange of words (rather than just a speech) and especially clear at any Arab League summit.
Yasser Arafat is the first among regional leaders to draw Krishan's wrath. He points out the (apparently memorable) error in Arafat's infamous "gun and olive branch" speech at the UN General Assembly in 1974. If the live interpreter hadn't corrected Arafat's grammatical mistake, the speech's most memorable clause would have lost its meaning.
But there is one national leader whose Arabic is so bad that it's even worse than Arafat's, Krishan says. It isn't even comparable (لا من قريب ولا من بعيد) to Arafat's level of badness. And that is Yemeni President Abd Rabo Mansoor Hadi. Krishan follows with this burn:
Arab leaders from previous eras, people like Habib Bourgiba, Anwar Sadat, Houari Boemeddine, Hafez Al-Asad, and King Hussein of Jordan all had fantastic Arabic language skills. Whether reading from a speech or speaking spontaneously, their Arabic was high-level, Krishan says. With this current generation, their skill in Arabic is a reflection of their skills in governance - very poor.
 |
| Mohamad Krishan |
In this op-ed, Krishan obliterates various Arab leaders for their poor Arabic skills. Starting with a discussion of a recent Tunisian governor's substandard French-language speech during a memorial in Nice, France, Krishan then compares the disastrous event to the amazing French skills of past Tunisian politicians like former president Habib Bourgiba and Hamadi Al-Said. These guys adopted the language of their colonizer. The next generation chose to focus on Arabic instead. The current generation of Arab leaders, Krishan says, can't speak either one on a professional level. It's an epidemic visible at any meeting that requires an exchange of words (rather than just a speech) and especially clear at any Arab League summit.
Yasser Arafat is the first among regional leaders to draw Krishan's wrath. He points out the (apparently memorable) error in Arafat's infamous "gun and olive branch" speech at the UN General Assembly in 1974. If the live interpreter hadn't corrected Arafat's grammatical mistake, the speech's most memorable clause would have lost its meaning.
But there is one national leader whose Arabic is so bad that it's even worse than Arafat's, Krishan says. It isn't even comparable (لا من قريب ولا من بعيد) to Arafat's level of badness. And that is Yemeni President Abd Rabo Mansoor Hadi. Krishan follows with this burn:
Thursday, November 10, 2016
ما شاء الله, Arabic Trump Election Memes
A collection of the finest Trump election memes currently circulating on Arabic social media:
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| "Ivanka Trump, daughter of the new president. Looks like a Sheikha to me - fine offspring indeed." |
 | ||
| "Congrats on your Dad's victory" |
 | ||
| "Donald Trump's daughter. You guys want her father to lose? No way. We're all with Trump, all the way. Have a little sense!" |
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| "Guys, let's read the Fatiha for the whole planet"* |
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| "Happy from his win, Donald Trump does the call to prayer. Oh man, Subhan Allah" |
*admittedly bad translation.
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
الحشد / Iraq's PMF Shia Militia Win Film Festival In Cairo
 |
| Award won by PMF in Cairo (Credit:PMF website) |
Film making - not among most people's guesses for obvious talents of a brutally sectarian group of militias. However, they claim to have won awards for their documentary film about the origins of الحشد/Popular Mobilization Forces.
Al-Jazeera reported on the story yesterday, following up on a claim from the PMF's website announcing that they won the "Creativity Appreciation Award" for their documentary film explaining the origins and motivating factors behind the formation of the PMF. The prize was awarded at the Cairo Art & Media Contest (مونديال القاهرة للفن والاعلام), which is sponsored by the Arab League. The PMF also claim to have won a vaguely-worded "First Prize" award.
Of note is that the PMF's documentary also claims to expose "countries support Daesh... like those which have facilitated border crossings for the group."
Monday, October 17, 2016
Not a Good Sign for the Battle of Mosul
Seen on Twitter lately is a blatantly sectarian slogan used by some of the very groups participating in the Popular Mobilization Forces (الحشد الشعبي), the militia that cooperates closely with the Iraqi Army:
This slogan has lots of baggage, but basically the it infers that residents of Mosul can be considered descendants of those who killed Hussein and thus responsible for their actions. The literal translation is "Those descendants are from those ancestors." While blatantly sectarian rhetoric from the PMF is nothing new, such slogans do not bode well for the coming battle of Mosul. In the tweet above, the slogan is used by a sectarian Sunni on Twitter to mobilize sectarian sentiment against the PMF (and presumably Iraqi forces as well).
"هؤلاء الاحفاد من اولئك الاجداد"
This slogan has lots of baggage, but basically the it infers that residents of Mosul can be considered descendants of those who killed Hussein and thus responsible for their actions. The literal translation is "Those descendants are from those ancestors." While blatantly sectarian rhetoric from the PMF is nothing new, such slogans do not bode well for the coming battle of Mosul. In the tweet above, the slogan is used by a sectarian Sunni on Twitter to mobilize sectarian sentiment against the PMF (and presumably Iraqi forces as well).
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