Persian Gulf update 2/17/2019..Guard Of Honor for Prince Salman At Pakistani Prime Minister House

Guard Of Honor for Prince Salman At Pakistani Prime Minister House

Why is Saudi crown prince turning to the east for business?

Farsnews Protest Rallies Continue in Pakistan against MbS Visit

The Pakistani people in different cities continue rallies for the third consecutive day to protest at the visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Islamabad.

The protestors who carried banners reading “we are opposed to the visit by murderer of Yemeni people and Jamal Khashoggi to our country and he is not welcome” called for calling off the trip.

Many Pakistani cities, including Karachi and Lahore, have witnessed protest rallies against the MbS’ visit to Pakistan.

Meantime, the Pakistani government is attempting to display calm is prevailing the country as the MbS arrives in Islamabad and declared Monday as an official holiday to reduce highly congested traffic in the capital.

Pakistani people believe that Saudi Arabia is trying to coax Islamabad into playing a role in Yemen war, warning that bin Salman’s presence will strengthen the terrorist and extremist groups.

Protesters took to the streets after Friday prayers in Rawalpindi, Northern Pakistan, calling on the government not to allow the Saudi prince into the country.

Leaders and activists of different parties and organizations as well as political and religious figures attended the rally.

Demonstrators say bin Salman has been behind the killing of thousands of people, including the people of Yemen.

During the visit, the crown prince will hold talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa and President Arif Alvi, according to Pakistan’s foreign office.

The prince, who will be accompanied by a delegation of businessmen, is expected to sign investment agreements worth billions of dollars with cash-strapped Islamabad.

Bin Salman’s visit to Pakistan was postponed amid widespread protests against him as well as heightened tensions in the region.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said that a two-day visit by the crown prince to Islamabad that was scheduled for Saturday had been postponed.

The ministry said bin Salman will arrive in Islamabad on Sunday, but had no further explanation over the postponement.

He will also travel to neighboring India, which is engaged in renewed tensions with Pakistan over a deadly car bomb attack in Kashmir, claimed by Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).

The last time a Saudi royal paid a visit to Pakistan was 2006, when then Saudi ruler King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz travelled to the nuclear-armed nation.

Authorities heightened measures across the capital Islamabad with Prime Minister Imran Khan saying he was personally taking care of the arrangements.

Bin Salman’s tour to the region comes at the time of increasing pressure against the kingdom over the humanitarian crisis, which is caused by Saudi’s four-year war on Yemen and the killing of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate last year in Istanbul, Turkey.

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Yemenis Slam ‘Arab Traitors’, Condemn Normalization of Ties with Israel

Thousands of people took to the streets across Yemen to slam some of the country’s fellow Arab states’ attempts at normalization of relations with Israel.

The rallies took place in the capital, Sana’a, Sa’ada, Hudeydah, Tai’z and al-Jawf on Sunday, Al-Masirah television network reported.

The demonstrators specifically criticized a recent United States-led conference held in the Polish capital of Warsaw, during which Arab leaders met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as many Arab observers also called the event a pre-planned stage for the normalization of Israeli-Arab ties.

The Yemeni protesters chanted slogans against Israel and slammed Arab leaders as “traitors”, calling the warming up of the Israeli and Arab regimes an act of treason against the Palestinian cause and vowed to stand by the Palestinian nation in its fight against the Israeli occupation.

Israeli PM’s office leaked a video of a closed-door meeting in which Persian Gulf Arab officials were seen playing down the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, defending Israel’s “right to defend itself”, and describing Iran as a “threat” to regional peace.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the aim of bringing the government of former Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing the Ansarullah movement.

Weddings, funerals, schools and hospitals, as well as water and electricity plants, have been targeted, killing and wounding thousands.

Official UN figures say that more than 10,000 people have been killed in Yemen since the Saudi-led bombing campaign began in March 2015. But the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) believes that at least 56,000 people have lost their lives in the war. The violence has also left around two-thirds of Yemen’s population of 27 million relying on aid amid an ongoing strict naval and aerial blockade. According to the world body, Yemen is suffering from the most severe famine in more than 100 years.

Save the Children, a charity, has reported that more than 84,700 children under the age of five may have starved to death in Yemen since the Saudi regime and a coalition of its allies launched the brutal war on the already-impoverished nation.

Yemen is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis with more than 22 million people in need and is seeing a spike in needs, fuelled by ongoing conflict, a collapsing economy and diminished social services and livelihoods.

A number of Western countries, the US, the UK, and France in particular, are accused of being complicit in the ongoing aggression as they supply the Riyadh regime with advanced weapons and military equipment as well as logistical and intelligence assistance.

an Oxfam representative stated that the US, UK, and French governments are behind millions of people starving in Yemen because they are “supporting this war”.

“We have 14 million people starving,” Richard Stanforth, Oxfam UK’s regional policy officer for the Middle East, told RT, adding that “British, French, American governments are all behind this, they are all supporting this war”.

A UN panel has compiled a detailed report of civilian casualties caused by the Saudi military and its allies during their war against Yemen, saying the Riyadh-led coalition has used precision-guided munitions in its raids on civilian targets.

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