Persian Gulf update 4/20/2019..Heavy Sandstorms To Batter Iran, Pakistan And Afghanistan

Heavy Sandstorms To Batter Iran, Pakistan And Afghanistan

Iraq hosts neighbouring nations for one-day summit

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/04/20/593924/Iraq-hosts-neighbouring-nations-1day-summit

A summit organized by Iraq on Saturday brought together regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran to bridge relations and invest in Iraq.

Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mohamed al-Halbousi was heading the one-day summit between Iraq and its six neighbors: Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Jordan, and Kuwait.

“Iraq is building a promising strategic partnership with all neighboring countries without any reservations or favoring any party,” al-Halbousi said, in opening remarks.

The summit underlines a shift to Iraq’s foreign policy, placing the country as a mediator between neighbors who are often at odds over weighty issues, such as the civil war in Syria, and US sanctions against Iran.

Iraqi leaders have emphasized Iraq’s sovereignty since elections last year, and they say it is vital to Iraq’s security and economy to develop good relations with the neighbors.

The country is seeking billions of dollars in aid and investment to help it rebuild after 15 years of war.

Trump Veto Continues Yemen War With Obama Logic

Yemeni Commander Defects Saudi Coalition

Farsnews

Another Yemeni commander, who was hired by the Saudi coalition, abandoned the coalition side and joined the Yemeni army and Ansarullah popular forces, and entered Sana’a accompanied by two convoys of his forces.

Another Yemeni commander hired by the Saudi coalition defected the Saudi side and joined the Yemeni army and Ansarullah popular forces on Friday morning.

Some sources are recounting that the number of defections among Yemeni militias hired by the Saudi coalition is increasing.

A security official told a Yemeni news agency on Friday that Colonel Ahmad al-Mojnehi who commanded a military police unit in al-Jawf Governorate of Yemen has officially announced his separation from the Saudi coalition and expressed allegiance with Yemeni army and Ansarullah popular forces.

The same source added that Colonel al-Mojnehi, along with two caravans of the forces under his command, entered Sana’a early on Friday and was pardoned based on the framework set for welcoming defectors.

“Fighting the aggressors’ plots against Yemen” has been the main motivation for the colonel and his forces, according to the Yemeni ministry of interior.

“The Yemeni militias hired by the Saudi coalition are regularly targeted with insults by Saudi and Emirati officers, and are living a very miserable life of dishonor,” Colonel al-Mojnehi told the Yemeni ministry of interior.

Saudi Arabia and its allies, including the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Sudan, launched a brutal war against Yemen in March 2015 in an attempt to reinstall Yemen’s former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

The aggression initially consisted of a bombing campaign but was later coupled with a naval blockade and the deployment of ground forces to Yemen. Around 20,000 people have died since the war began, says Yemen’s Health Ministry.

The Saudi-led war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The United Nations (UN) has said that a record 22.2 million Yemenis are in dire need of food, including 8.4 million threatened by severe hunger.

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 driven the impoverished country towards humanitarian disaster, 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.

Two Saudi sisters plead for help after fleeing the kingdom