Heavy gunfire heard as exiled government says all peaceful means to remove Houthis from Hodeidah have been exhausted

The Saudi-led coalition has launched an all-out assault on the Houthi-controlled Yemen port of Hodeidah in a move that aid agencies warn will cut off vital humanitarian supply lines and directly endanger the lives of up to 200,000 people living in the city.

As much as 80% of the aid, including medicines, fuel and food that reaches the famine-struck country, goes through the port, but the Saudi coalition claims the Iranian-backed Houthis use the port both to smuggle arms and raise taxes, prolonging the conflict.

The Saudi coalition, including the United Arab Emirates, mercenaries, and indigenous Yemeni forces, were mounting an air, naval and land assault designed to dislodge the Houthis…………The assault led a barrage of warnings and criticism, including claims that the UK, and US, both closely tied to the Saudis, had effectively given the assault a green light by not intervening more decisively to deter the Saudis.

Sweden is expected to demand an open meeting of the UN Security Council. Efforts by some Security Council members at a closed session on Tuesday to agree a statement explicitly condemning the attack in principle failed partly due to opposition from the US and the UK………….In the US a cross-party group of Senators including Bob Corker, the Republican chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, wrote to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressing “grave alarm at the attack”. They said the assault “will exacerbate the humanitarian crisis by interrupting delivery of humanitarian aid and damaging critical infrastructure. We are deeply concerned that these operations jeapordise prospects for a near term political resolution of the conflict.”

REU: Arrest warrants issued for 20 over blast in Sadr’s Baghdad stronghold

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council has issued arrest warrants for 20 people accused of involvement in a deadly blast in the Baghdad stronghold of Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose bloc won an election marred by fraud accusations, state TV reported.

People gather at the site of an explosion in Baghdad’s Sadr City district, Iraq, June 7, 2018. REUTERS/Wissm al-Okili

The orders came a week after the blast killed at least 18 people and wounded more than 90 in the Sadr City district. The interior ministry said an ammunitions cache had exploded and called it “a terrorist aggression on civilians”.

Nationalist Sadr and Iranian-backed paramilitary chief Hadi al-Amiri, who won first and second place respectively in the May vote, announced on Tuesday an alliance between their blocs.

The alliance announced from the Shi’ite Muslim holy city of Najaf is the first serious step towards forming a new government after weeks of negotiations between parties.

It could also ease tensions that some Iraqi officials fear could lead to an intra-Shi’ite civil war. Amiri, widely described as Tehran’s man in Iraq, is one of the most powerful figures in the country, a key U.S. ally and major oil producer.

The election has been a test for both Sadr and Iran.

REU: Iraq’s Sadr and Amiri announce political alliance

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Nationalist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and Iranian-backed militia chief Hadi al-Amiri, who won first and second place respectively in Iraq’s May parliamentary election, announced on Tuesday an alliance between their political blocs.

The move announced from the Shi’ite holy city of Najaf is the first serious step towards forming a new government after weeks of negotiations between parties. It comes exactly one month after an election marred by historically low turnout and fraud allegations.

The two Shi’ite figures said they would keep the door open for other winning blocs to join them in forming a new government.

“Our meeting was a very positive one, we met to end the suffering of this nation and of the people. Our new alliance is a nationalist one,” Sadr said.

Sadr and Amiri are strange bedfellows.

The cleric, who once led violent campaigns against the U.S. occupation that ended in 2011, has emerged as a nationalist opponent of powerful Shi’ite parties allied with neighboring Iran and as a champion of the poor.

REU: Taliban assure Afghans of bright future once U.S. ‘invaders’ leave

KABUL (Reuters) – The Taliban told “American invaders” to leave Afghanistan in an announcement marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, assured the people of a bright future under Islamic rule and said it had already liberated “vast areas” of the country.

The Taliban, who announced a surprise three-day ceasefire over the Eid holiday, except against foreign forces, also denounced the U.S. relocation of its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem, which “further exposes the absolute hatred of American officials towards Islam”.

Taliban leader Sheikh Haibatullah Akhunzada said in the statement that Afghans’ salvation lay in “American and other occupying forces” leaving, and repeated a call for talks with the United States.

“If the American officials truly believe in a peaceful end to the Afghan imbroglio, then they must directly present themselves at the negotiation table,” Akhunzada said.

“We also assure our nation (of) a bright future for our country accompanied by peace and prosperity, Allah willing,” he added.

The Taliban are fighting U.S.-led NATO forces, combined under the Resolute Support mission, and the U.S.-backed government to restore sharia, or Islamic law, after their ouster by U.S.-led forces in 2001.