Arabian Peninsula / Persian Gulf update 7/08/2017...Security forces nab terrorists' weapons haul in eastern Iran

Security forces nab terrorists’ weapons haul in eastern Iran

Iran Arrests 4 Saudis On A Vessel Inside Its Territorial Waters

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-07/iran-arrests-4-saudis-vessel-inside-its-territorial-waters

On June 19, just around the time it emerged that Israel had been secretly funding Syrian rebel groups and was explicitly aligned with Saudi Arabia in the Syrian conflict, Saudi media reported that the kingdom had captured three members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps from a boat as it approached the kingdom’s offshore Marjan oilfield. The Saudi Center for International Communications added that the boat carried explosives, and the Iranians aboard “intended to carry out terrorist act in Saudi territorial waters” with the Marjan Saudi offshore oilfield allegedly targeted. In other words, Saudi paraded that it had caught what appeared to be three Iranian terrorists belonging to IRGC, suggesting this was an operation ordered from the very top.

Of course, Iran’s take on things was different: Iran’s Tasnim news agency said that Saudi border guards had opened fire on an Iranian fishing boat in the Gulf on Friday, killing a fisherman. It said the boat was one of two Iranian boats fishing in the Gulf that had been pushed off course by waves. So on one side terrorists, on the other fishermen: about par.

Three weeks later, there has been no resolution to this alleged hostage crisis, however in a new development, on Friday Iran’s Fars news agency reported that Iran has returned the favor.

According to the Iranian news agency, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards – this time on the offensive – intercepted a Saudis boat for violating Iran’s territorial waters, and arrested the four passengers on board.

According to the Fars report, the boat came from the Saudi port of Darien and violated Iranian naval water borders where it was stopped by the Revolutionary Guards in the waters of the Bushehr province in southern Iran.

The Iran source told Fars that the IRGC had started an investigation regarding the four passengers on board the boat.

So far there has been no official statement on any Saudi news agency either confirming or denying the report, which likely means that a “behind the scenes” transfer of hostages on both sides is already in place.UK FM urges Arab states to end ‘unwelcome’ Qatar boycott

Arab Media: Saudi Gov’t in Pre-Collapse Era

http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960417001413

The strife among members of the Saudi royal family has grown so harsh and critical that the country’s government may collapse any moment, Arab media outlets said on Saturday. The Arabic-language Al-Naba’ news website said in an article titled ‘Saudi Arabia: White Coup or Black Collapse’ that Mohammed bin Salman’s leadership as the country’s new crown prince has caused an earthquake in Riyadh, and “the government in Saudi Arabia seems to be on the threshold of collapse.” The website stressed that the recent political developments indicated the depth of the differences among the Saudi ruling family which have affected the country’s role and performance in the region. It quoted analysts as saying that in light of the geo-political changes in the region, including the crisis in Qatar, increased conflicts with Iran and the Yemen war, a major change will happen in the leadership of Saudi Arabia.

In relevant remarks late last month, Saudi whistle-blower Mujtahid, who is believed to be a member of or have a well-connected source in the royal family, revealed high tensions in Saudi Arabia, and said a threat of a coup to topple the king and his son is highly likely. “Moves in the al-Saud family to oust Salman bin Abdulaziz (the Saudi king) have increased by those who support Ahmed bin Abdulaziz (the king’s brother) as they are convincing him of taking the leadership in Saudi Arabia,” Mujtahid wrote on his twitter page. He added that the princes who have joined the move intend to issue a statement to declare King Salman’s incompetency for continued leadership of the country and nullify his recent order that brought his son to the post of the Crown Prince.

Last month, King Salman replaced Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz with his own son, Mohammed bin Salman, the deputy crown prince and defense minister. According to a royal decree, Mohammed bin Salman, 31, was also named deputy prime minister, and shall maintain his post as defense minister, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported. The SPA also confirmed that 31 out of 34 members of Saudi Arabia’s succession committee chose Mohammed bin Salman as the crown prince. The Saudi king had earlier stripped Nayef of his powers overseeing criminal investigations and designated a new public prosecution office to function directly under the king’s authority. In a similar move back in 2015, the Saudi king had appointed his nephew, then deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef as the heir to the throne after removing his own half-brother Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz Al Saud from the position.

Under the new decree, King Salman further relieved Mohammed bin Nayef of his duties as the interior minister. He appointed Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Nayef as the new interior minister and Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Salem as deputy interior minister. Mohammed Bin Salman is already in charge of a vast portfolio as chief of the House of Saud royal court and chairman of the Council for Economic and Development Affairs, which is tasked with overhauling the country’s economy. The young prince was little known both at home and abroad before Salman became king in January 2015. However, King Salman has significantly increased the powers of Mohammed, with observers describing the prince as the real power behind his father’s throne. The power struggle inside the House of Saud came to light earlier this year when the Saudi king began to overhaul the government and offered positions of influence to a number of family members. In two royal decrees in April, the Saudi king named two of his other sons, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman and Prince Khaled bin Salman, as state minister for energy affairs and ambassador to the United States, respectively. Late April, media source disclosed that Mohammad bin Salman has literally bribed the new US administration by paying $56m to Donald Trump.

According to reports, bin Salman is paying off the US to buy its support for finding a grip over the crown. “Since Uncle Sam’s satisfaction is the first step for the Saudi princes to get on the crown, paying off Washington seems to be a taken-for-granted fact,” Rami Khalil, a reporter of Naba’ news website affiliated to the Saudi dissidents wrote. He added that since the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) is like a sword over the head of the al-Saud, they have no way out but to bribe the US, noting that the Yemen quagmire is also another reason for Riyadh to seek Washington’s support.

Also, a prominent Yemeni analyst said early June that the US has been paid several trillion dollars by Saudi Arabia to protect its crown, adding that Riyadh has recently bribed Washington’s support for the Yemen war with $200bln. “Washington has asked for more money to defend the Saudi regime and Riyadh has recently paid $200bln to the US for the costs of its support for the war in Yemen,” Saleh al-Qarshi told FNA. “This is apart from the huge amounts of money that Saudi Arabia pays to the US treasury for protecting its crown,” he added. According to al-Qarshi, former Saudi Intelligence Chief Turki al-Feisal revealed last year that his country has bought the low-profit US treasury bonds to help the US economy. As the defense minister, Mohammed bin Salman has faced strong international criticism for the bloody military campaign he launched against neighboring Yemen in 2015 amid his rivalry with bin Nayef, the then powerful interior minister.

Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen since March 2015 to restore power to fugitive president Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh. The Saudi-led aggression has so far killed at least 14,000 Yemenis, including hundreds of women and children. The World Health Organization (WHO) in Yemen also announced that more than a thousand Yemenis have died of cholera since April 2017 as Saudi Arabia’s deadly campaign prevented the patients from travelling abroad for treatment and blocked the entry of medicine into the war-torn country, continues hitting residential areas across Yemen.

Despite Riyadh’s claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi bombers are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures. According to several reports, the Saudi-led air campaign against Yemen has drove the impoverished country towards humanitarian disaster. Nearly 3.3 million Yemeni people, including 2.1 million children, are currently suffering from acute malnutrition. The Al-Saud aggression has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s facilities and infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, schools, and factories. The WHO now classifies Yemen as one of the worst humanitarian emergencies in the world alongside Syria, South Sudan, Nigeria and Iraq.

Watch how AJE covers a Saudi attack on civilians in Taiz Yemen now …

Destroying military vehicle for the Saudi mercenaries led to kill its crew in Marib province

Farsnews Yemeni Army Blows Up Several Saudi Military Vehicles at Borders

Yemeni sources reported that several Saudi military vehicles were targeted by the army and popular committee forces in bordering areas.

The Yemeni army attacked a Saudi military vehicle in Abbaseh region of Najran province, the sources said on Saturday.

Also, the Yemeni soldiers and Ansarullah forces targeted a Saudi military vehicle in Shabwah province in the Western parts of Ta’iz province as well as another military vehicle in al-Saq region of al-Jawf province, they added.

A military source said that a number of Saudi military men inside the vehicles were killed.

Meantime, the Yemeni army and popular committees launched attacks on the Saudi mercenaries in Sarwah city, inflicting casualties and damage on them.

The attack was a response to the Saudi army’s bomb attack in Sa’ada province.

In a relevant development last Wednesday, the Yemeni army and popular forces fired two Uragan missiles at Saudi military bases in Assir province in Southern Saudi Arabia, inflicting heavy losses on them.

The Yemeni forces’ Uragan missiles hit Saudi Arabia’s al-Dayer military base in Assir province.

There were no immediate reports on the extent of losses and casualties, but Yemen’s missile attacks usually kill and injure a large number of Saudi forces.

Also, on Tuesday, the Yemeni army’s artillery units pounded the military positions of the Saudi troops in Jizan province in the Southern parts of the kingdom, killing and wounding a number of them.

Saudi Arabia’s Mo’anaq military base in Jizan province came under Yemen’s artillery attacks, the Arabic-language al-Masirah TV network reported.

Several Saudi military men were killed and wounded in the Yemeni army’s attack.

Meantime, the Yemeni army and popular forces pounded the Saudi military positions in al-Jawf province with missiles and rockets, killing and injuring scores of them.

The attack came in response to the Saudi airstrikes on civilians in Ta’iz province that killed at least 15 innocent people.