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Saturday, April 18, 2015
Excerpts: Hillary Clinton viewed as a polarizing figure. Saudi to cover U.N. Yemen aid. Daesh advances on Ramadi,Iraq April 18, 2015

Excerpts: Hillary Clinton viewed as a polarizing figure. Saudi to cover U.N.
Yemen aid. Daesh advances on Ramadi,Iraq April 18, 2015


+++SOURCE: Saudi Gazette 18 April ’15:”Middle East a major challenge for
Hillary Clinton” by Omnia Al-Desoukie, Al Arabiya News

SUBJECT: Hillary Clinton viewed as a polarizing figure

QUOTE:”Hillary Clinton has begun her bid for the US presidency but is viewed
as a polarizing figure.”

FULL TEXT:HILLARY CLINTON has begun her bid for the US presidency. Despite
the advantage of being internationally known, she is viewed as a polarizing
figure.

In her 2014 book “Hard Choices,” Clinton distanced herself from how the
Obama administration handled the Arab Spring.

She has been politically engaged with the Middle East and North Africa
(MENA) for around 25 years, including her time as first lady.

She is said to have close ties with some of the region’s ruling families.
“She was criticized for being seen with Suha Arafat, wife of Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat,” said Joyce Karam, Washington bureau editor for
Al-Hayat newspaper and a regular columnist for Al Arabiya News.

However, her regional relations “could offer a point of strength in
leveraging US influence and mediating conflicts.”

The Obama administration has been heavily criticized for its regional
policies, which are viewed as having diminished US influence.

The current regional situation will be a major challenge for all candidates
in the 2016 US presidential election, but more so for Clinton, who spent
four years as part of the Obama administration.

On Sunday, she resigned from the board of directors of the Clinton
Foundation in order to begin her presidential bid.

The foundation is said to have received as much as $40 million from four
Gulf states since 2001, as well as donations from other MENA countries.

This was while Clinton served as a senator, secretary of state and
thereafter. “Deals that the Clinton Foundation has done will be used by her
opponents, but I’m not sure how damaging it’ll be given that the elections
will focus more on the US economy and social issues,” Joyce said.

Gulf money flowing to the United States is nothing new, but there are
concerns about the amount of money that went to the foundation in comparison
to Oxfam, the Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations.

BBC Correspondent Kim Ghattas said: “It is a very valid concern [for
Americans] when the Gulf gives money to a foundation. There could be
conflict of interests there.”

However, “the argument that some people would make is that it is better to
have Gulf countries engaged than leaving them outside.”

Clinton was heavily criticized during her first presidential campaign when
she said she would “totally obliterate” Iran if it ever attacked Israel.

Recently, she said Tehran had no right to enrich uranium. However, she is
said to have laid down the foundational work of the negotiations with Iran
by sending a close adviser to participate in the secret talks with Tehran
over its nuclear ambitions.

Clinton will need to explain how she will shape US policy toward the Middle
East in general, but Israel and Iran in particular.

For example, what is her stance on the two-state solution given Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rejection of a Palestinian state?

Also, will she honor the deal with Iran struck by the Obama administration?
If so, how will the US maintain close ties with Arab allies who openly
oppose a relationship with Tehran? — Al Arabiya News



+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 18 April ’15:”Saudi Vows to Cover U.N.Aid Call
for Yemen, Keeps up Air Raids”< Agence France Presse

SUBJECT: Saudi to coverU.N. Yemen aid

QUOTE:”Tehran is a key ally of the Huthis but denies arming them”

EXCERPTS:Saudi Arabia pledged Saturday[18 April] to cover the entire $274
million in humanitarian aid sought by the UN for conflict-torn Yemen, which
has also been the target of Saudi-led air strikes against Shiite rebels.

The United Nations says hundreds of people have died and thousands of
families fled their homes in the war, which has also killed six Saudi
security personnel in border skirmishes.

At least 27 more people died in the southwestern city of Taez during
overnight clashes between loyalist forces and the Iran-backed Shiite Huthi
rebels as well as Saudi-led coalition air raids, medical sources said.

Saudi King Salman ordered the humanitarian pledge following a United Nations
appeal on Friday[17 April] for $274 million (253 million euros) in emergency
assistance for the millions affected by Yemen's war.The kingdom "stands with
its Yemeni brothers" and hopes for "the restoration of security and
stability," the state Saudi Press Agency said, quoting an official
statement.

……

The Yemen conflict has sent tensions soaring between Saudi Arabia and
Iran -- the foremost Sunni and Shiite Muslim powers in the Middle East,
respectively.

Tehran is a key ally of the Huthis but denies arming them.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday[18 April] that his
country's military should not be seen as a threat in the Middle East.

The presence of Iranian navy ships "in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Aden
is intended to ensure the security of neighboring countries and maritime
traffic," he said in an Army Day ceremony.

On Friday[17 April], Iran submitted a four-point Yemen peace plan to UN
chief Ban Ki-moon.

It calls for a ceasefire and immediate end to all foreign military attacks,
the urgent delivery of humanitarian and medical aid, a resumption of
political talks and the formation of a national unity government.

"It is imperative for the international community to get more effectively
involved in ending the senseless aerial attacks and establishing a
ceasefire," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote in a letter
to Ban.



- No early end -

In Riyadh, coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed al-Assiri said late
Friday that "from this afternoon we have started operations in Taez".

There had been 100 sorties in Yemen on Thursday, he said, indicating no
early end to the operation.

"This works needs patience, persistence and precision. We are not in a
hurry... We have the time and we have the capabilities."

Human Rights Watch, meanwhile, said opposing forces in the southern city of
Lahej, near Aden, had endangered a hospital.

"Fighters on both sides in Lahej have unlawfully put a hospital in the
middle of a battle," said Joe Stork, the watchdog's deputy Middle East and
North Africa director.

Yemen is also a front line in the U.S. war on al-Qaida, which has exploited
the growing turmoil to expand its control of areas in the southeast of the
deeply tribal Arabian Peninsula country.

On Friday, al-Qaida overran a key army camp in the Hadramawt provincial
capital Mukalla, seizing heavy weapons and consolidating its grip on the
city, an official and residents said.

The World Health Organization, in its latest toll, said 767 people have died
in Yemen's war since March 19 and more than 2,900 were wounded. The majority
have been civilians.

SourceAgence France Presse


+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 18 April ’15:”Thousands flee as Daesh group advances
on Iraq’s Ramadi”, Associated Press

SUBJECT: Daesh advances on Ramadi,Iraq

QUOTE:”More than 2,000 families have fled from Ramadi,Iraq”

BAGHDAD — More than 2,000 families have fled from the Iraqi city of Ramadi,
an official said Thursday[16 April]as Daesh terror group advanced on the
provincial capital of the western Anbar province, clashing with Iraqi
troops.

The extremist group, which has controlled the nearby city of Fallujah for
more than a year, captured three villages on Ramadi's eastern outskirts on
Wednesday[15 April]. The advance is widely seen as a counteroffensive after
Daesh lost the city of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown, earlier this
month.

Hundreds of US troops are training Iraqi forces at a military base west of
Ramadi, but a US military official said the fighting had no impact on the US
soldiers there, and that there were no plans to withdraw them.

Sattar Nowruz, from the Ministry of Migration and Displaced, said those
fleeing Ramadi have settled in southern and western Baghdad suburbs.

Tents, food and other aid are being sent to them, he said. The ministry is
also assessing the situation with the provincial government in order "to
provide the displaced people, who are undergoing difficult conditions, with
better services and help," Nowruz said.

Sporadic clashes were still underway Thursday, according to security
officials in Ramadi. Government forces control the city centre, while Daesh
has had a presence in the suburbs and outskirts for months. They described
Ramadi as a ghost town, with empty streets and closed shops.

US-led coalition airstrikes targeted Daesh in Sjariyah, Albu-Ghanim and
Soufiya, the three villages the extremists captured Wednesday, the officials
added. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to
talk to the media.

Anbar's Deputy Gov. Faleh Al Issawi described the situation in Ramadi as
"catastrophic" and urged the central government to send reinforcements.

"We urge the Baghdad government to supply us immediately with troops and
weapons in order to help us prevent the city from falling into the hands of
Daesh," he told the Associated Press in a telephone interview.

Al Bayan, Daesh's English-language radio station, claimed the fighters were
in complete control of at least six areas and most of a seventh to the east
of Ramadi since Wednesday, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, a US
group that monitors militant websites.

American troops fought some of their bloodiest battles in Anbar during the
eight-year US intervention, when Fallujah and Ramadi were strongholds of Al
Qaeda in Iraq, a precursor to Daesh. Fallujah was the first Iraqi city to
fall to the Daesh group, in January 2014.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi, who was visiting Washington on
Wednesday[15 April], made no mention of the events in Ramadi. Instead he
spoke optimistically about recruiting Sunni tribal fighters to battle the
extremists, saying about 5,000 such fighters in Anbar had signed up and
received light weapons.

The Daesh-run Al Bayan station also reported that an attempt by Iraqi troops
to advance on the Beiji oil refinery in Salahuddin province, about 250
kilometres north of Baghdad, was pushed back and that fighters “positioned
themselves in multiple parts of the refinery after taking control of most of
it,” according to SITE.

Iraqi officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the fighting
around Beiji. On Monday[13 April], Oil Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said that
Iraqi forces, backed by US-led coalition airstrikes, had repelled a Daesh
attack on Beiji over the weekend.

Meanwhile, a senior US military official told The Associated Press that
there were no plans to evacuate US troops from the Ain Al Asad air base,
about 110 kilometres west of Ramadi — and stressed that the current fighting
around Ramadi had no impact on the base. He spoke on condition of anonymity
because he was not authorised to talk to the media.

Since January, hundreds of US forces have been training Iraqi troops at the
base. An attack on the base by a suicide bomber in February was repelled.
====================
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA

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