by Stephen Lendman

Washington announced new weapons sales to its rogue Middle East allies - notably Israel and Saudi Arabia.

They're replenishing supplies for more war, including deadly weapons designed for mass slaughter and destruction. Claiming they're for self-defense mocks their real purpose.

A region awash with powerful weapons is getting more - a bonanza for US defense companies, a nightmare for people throughout the Middle East.

Riyadh continues using its weapons for naked aggression on Yemen - ongoing terror-bombing and shelling.

Civilian neighborhoods and other nonmilitary sites are regularly targeted. On Thursday, a northern Hajjah province-based international humanitarian office was struck. At least five deaths and 10 injuries were reported.

UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen Johannes van der Klaauw blasted Riyadh saying "indiscriminate bombing of populated areas, with or without prior warning, is in contravention of international humanitarian law."

Attacking another country without Security Council authorization is naked aggression. It's permitted only in self-defense if SC members OK it. Otherwise it blatantly violates core international law.

US, Saudi and other involved regional authorities are war criminals.

Obama's rap sheet includes naked aggression against seven countries - plus subversion against numerous others, a kill list deciding who dies on his say, and injustice under a homeland police state apparatus coordinated with state and local authorities.

Saudi Arabia, other Gulf nations, Morocco, Egypt and Jordan are hugely repressive regimes. Democracy is strictly verboten.

So are human and civil rights. Crimes against humanity are longstanding practice.

Israel operates the same way - partnering in all US wars, nuclear armed and able to wage devastating ones, waging perpetual war on Palestine.

On Wednesday, Ban Ki-moon announced so-called peace talks in Geneva beginning on May 28.

It's unclear who'll show up or what can be accomplished given Obama's rage for war - wanting it continued until Yemeni sovereign independence is destroyed.

Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdul-Salam said "(w)e can't accept going to negotiation and dialogue in Geneva while the aggression and shelling of our country continues."

"Any place we want to hit inside the Saudi enemy we will hit at a time of our choosing," he added.

Reports indicate Houthi Ansarullah fighters attacked Saudi positions cross-border. They took control of al-Tuwal heights in southwestern Saudi Jizan region.

They forced Riyadh troops to withdraw. Yemeni al-Masirah TV reported Yemeni tribesmen attacking Saudi soldiers in Najran and Dhahran al-Janub border areas in southern Saudi Arabia - killing at least 18.

Dozens of Saudi troops have been killed or injured so far. Riyadh's condition for peace is reinstating business as usual.

According to its ambassador to Russia Abhulrahman al-Rassi:

"From our side we will exercise efforts to create best conditions for achieving the national reconciliation between the Yemeni brothers and the beginning of the reconstruction in Yemen under the legitimate leadership of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi."

He has no legitimacy whatever. He's a US stooge - anointed in a farcical election facing no other candidates.

Most Yemenis oppose him for good reason. He serves Western interests, not theirs.

Separately, Fars News reported Yemeni Cyber Army hackers gained "full control" of Riyadh's foreign, interior and defense ministry computers, they said.

They issued a statement saying they "gained access to the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) network and have full control over more than 3,000 computers and servers, and thousands of users."

"We also have access to the emails, personal and secret information of hundreds of thousands of their staff and diplomats in different missions around the world."

"We publish only few portions of the vital information we have, just to let them know that 'truly the flimsiest of houses is the spider’s house.' "

More "visa secret information, thousands of documents from the Saudi Foreign Ministry automation system and secret emails will be published gradually so as to keep Saudi puppets always in fear of their identity disclosure," the group added.

So will interior and defense ministry documents and other information. The group vowed to wipe out Saudi Foreign Ministry servers as of midnight Wednesday.

It warned of greater damage if Riyadh keeps attacking "Muslims in Yemen." Saudi terror-bombing continues unabated. Thousands have been killed or wounded, around a million displaced.

US/Saudi blockade prevents enough food, fuel, medical supplies and other essentials from reaching millions of desperate Yemenis. Expect many to perish out of sight and mind.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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