Yemeni Battle Videos

[JulianJ]

Quote

"It was worse than a crime, it was a blunder," Tallyrand on Napoleon having a French noble assassinated.

I just found this pro-Houthi Yemeni battle vid channel   

I have watched several videos and the Houthis v the Saudis and their allies would make really good scenarios for CM2. (I realise making games out of other peoples' misery is in pretty bad taste. I do find it hard to reconcile my wargamery side with my humanitarian ethos sometimes). Amazing rocky terrain - ideal for irregulars.
 

NOTE: these videos are from the Houthi side - they indicate their soldiers with green arrows and the enemy (Saudi irregulars?) with red. I think these are total eye-openers. It would be interesting if anyone on the forum can understand Arabic, as the commentary would no doubt be enlightening but I cannot understand it.

NOTE 2: I have heard, but have no corroborating evidence, that the Saudi army can't get any decent soldiers - so  has to rely on desperate people, eg Pakistani poor. The only reliable units are held back against insurrection. Certainly if I was a Saudi tankman trained on an M1A2, and then sent into battle with a T55 I suspect my morale might have a negative modifier. 

Quote

"You can pay people enough to fight for you, but not enough to die for you" Machiavelli on mercenaries.

This channel's battle footage shows the Houthis being brave and competent against a what I can only describe as a pitiful, unprofessional enemy. Yet there is a truly astonishing amount of arms, ammo and equipment that the Houthis are capturing intact - it's like being in dusty aladdin's caves of war materiel. See for yourself. At around the 9 min mark 15-20 lightly damaged armoured vehicles and about a dozen softskins including a Grad MRL truck are abandoned by the side of the  road.  I'd guess most of them are repairable. If a Western battalion or brigade let this amount of vehicles fall into enemy hands it would be called a major defeat, wouldn't it?

Edited February 8, 2020 by JulianJ
typography

[mjkerner]

Wow, this is good stuff, Julian. Thanks!

[Erwin]

3 hours ago, JulianJ said:

(I realise making games out of other peoples' misery is in pretty bad taste.

Well yes of course.  But that is what ALL wargames do if you think about it.  The era or location shouldn't matter.  (Of course it does due to the vagaries of the human condition.)

[JulianJ]

I know, but it feels worse than recreating the Napoleonic wars, or even the battle of the Bulge as they are somehow located in the past. 

On another note, I wonder if some of the CM forum smart people have any insights into the Yemen war. There don't seem to be the military papers that we have on the Ukraine. I have been following some of it on Southfront  occasionally, and a few other sites since it started.

I have formed the opinion that the Saudi military is one of the most staggeringly incompetent armies I have come across. The list of follies is endless. Just to mention a few:

• Leaving your vehicles sand cammo'd when the terrain is grey gravel colour, except where it is lush green (near the sea I think)
• Sending out your tank troops in ancient vehicles like AMX30s that were got out of mothballs (there's vids of a convoy of them)
• Having the most pitiful troops imaginable - in the cauldron battle a few months ago the prisoners looked like homeless people in rags
• No evidence of good command by officers and NCOs
• Surprisingly a lack of drone/arty and air cover
• Not being prepared for counter-ambush tactics - early on there is footage of a Saudi patrol of wheeled APCs on a road hitting an IED + ambush. They get hammered, then another patrol (I assume the QRF sent to rescue them?) goes straight into the same killing zone. I can't imagine any NATO/Russian/SAA/Quds force being so foolish.
• A lot of the armoured vehicles just sit there and are destroyed - I suspect their crews bailed already, so it's just a bit of a open goal for the houthis

NOTE: although what we see in the vids is a lot of plucky irregulars, and Yemen is a very poor country, it still has a backbone of competent military and technical expertise. It has a 'Missile Research and Development Center' (MRDC) which actually has press conferences, showing off its missiles. I think it was trying to send a message to the Saudis that they should negotiate or they were going to blow things up. But that didn't work, so they actually attacked Abqaiq - one of the most important refinery sites in the world.  It wasn't the Iranians, the missiles came in from the West. The houthis seem to have three areas of missile expertise: upgrading old Soviet-era missiles, using and/or reverse engineering Iranian missiles, and now building their own, including  airburst anti-personnel guided missiles. (Sorry I can't find the video, it's on Youtube somewhere).

 

 

[JulianJ]

Here's the Southfront video from the press conference in July 2019. I assume the MRDC is well hidden, or perhaps they moved the missiles somewhere else to make this video. I find it quite impressive, and I seeing it again, I note that one of the suicide drones is stated to have a range of 1200 km. This was before the Abquaiq attack - which is about 1000km from Ansar Allah (Houthi) territory. You can see some of the airburst guided missile attacks but there is a separate video of that, which I can't locate so maybe it has been removed. (Or I am just a bit dim this weekend :-))

 

 

[Combatintman]

9 hours ago, JulianJ said:

I know, but it feels worse than recreating the Napoleonic wars, or even the battle of the Bulge as they are somehow located in the past. 

On another note, I wonder if some of the CM forum smart people have any insights into the Yemen war. There don't seem to be the military papers that we have on the Ukraine. I have been following some of it on Southfront  occasionally, and a few other sites since it started.

I have formed the opinion that the Saudi military is one of the most staggeringly incompetent armies I have come across. The list of follies is endless. Just to mention a few:

• Leaving your vehicles sand cammo'd when the terrain is grey gravel colour, except where it is lush green (near the sea I think)
• Sending out your tank troops in ancient vehicles like AMX30s that were got out of mothballs (there's vids of a convoy of them)
• Having the most pitiful troops imaginable - in the cauldron battle a few months ago the prisoners looked like homeless people in rags
• No evidence of good command by officers and NCOs
• Surprisingly a lack of drone/arty and air cover
• Not being prepared for counter-ambush tactics - early on there is footage of a Saudi patrol of wheeled APCs on a road hitting an IED + ambush. They get hammered, then another patrol (I assume the QRF sent to rescue them?) goes straight into the same killing zone. I can't imagine any NATO/Russian/SAA/Quds force being so foolish.
• A lot of the armoured vehicles just sit there and are destroyed - I suspect their crews bailed already, so it's just a bit of a open goal for the houthis

NOTE: although what we see in the vids is a lot of plucky irregulars, and Yemen is a very poor country, it still has a backbone of competent military and technical expertise. It has a 'Missile Research and Development Center' (MRDC) which actually has press conferences, showing off its missiles. I think it was trying to send a message to the Saudis that they should negotiate or they were going to blow things up. But that didn't work, so they actually attacked Abqaiq - one of the most important refinery sites in the world.  It wasn't the Iranians, the missiles came in from the West. The houthis seem to have three areas of missile expertise: upgrading old Soviet-era missiles, using and/or reverse engineering Iranian missiles, and now building their own, including  airburst anti-personnel guided missiles. (Sorry I can't find the video, it's on Youtube somewhere).

 

 

In my day job I cover Yemen once a week ...

Southfront is mostly sourced from pro-Houthi media such as the example below:

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=11132&cat_id=1

The title gives a slight clue as to how objective the reporting is.

This site doesn't cover things day by day but if you want an objective view about things then look here:

https://sanaacenter.org/

Go here for a one-stop shop for research links that are more objective:

https://sanaacenter.org/publications/main-publications/8569

If you can wait until April (when I'm back at work next) I can flick you a word document with a heap of links.

In the meantime - and this is a top tip for someone in my trade is to check here:

https://reliefweb.int/country/yem

UN Special Envoy is always worth a look if you want to know the top level stuff:

https://twitter.com/OSE_Yemen?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author

Humanitarian, the UN and NGO sites are good pointers for what is really happening in a troubled country.

Bottom line - 90% of reporting about combat in Yemen is biased from easily found websites.

 

 

[JulianJ]

Thanks @CombatintmanI shall certainly check out those links. I know Southfront is pushing its own agenda, but nevertheless has an interesting perspective. Yes, please do send me some info in April. 

[Combatintman]

Just now, JulianJ said:

Thanks @CombatintmanI shall certainly check out those links. I know Southfront is pushing its own agenda, but nevertheless has an interesting perspective. Yes, please do send me some info in April. 

Sure - absolutely not a criticism - I check that site first off the bat because the maps give a clue as to where things may or may not have happened - from there I just dig around.  I am utterly convinced though that they are entirely derived from Al Masirah reports and having looked at this problem for 6 months or so it is quite clear that a lot of what is claimed is probably not true.  Now this is made up from my memory of last month but it will go something like this:

• Day 1:  Al Hudaydah - missiles and Katyusha rockets fired in contravention of the Stockholm Agreement.
• Day 1:  Al Tuhaytha - machine gun fire at civilian house.
• Day 1:  Kilo 16 - artillery fire and machine guns fired in a civilian area.
• Day 1:  Ad Durayhimi - 3 mortar bombs fired on the outskirts of the city.
• Day 1:  Hays - 3 x Saudi-led airstrikes on civilian areas.

• Day 2:  Al Hudaydah - machine gun fire at civilian house.
• Day 2:  Al Tuhaytha - artillery fire and machine guns fired in a civilian area.
• Day 2:  Kilo 16 - 3 mortar bombs fired.
• Day 2:  Ad Durayhimi - 3 x Saudi-led airstrikes on civilian areas.
• Day 2:  Hays - missiles and Katyusha rockets fired.

• Day 3:  Al Hudaydah - artillery fire and machine guns fired in a civilian area in contravention of the Stockholm Agreement.
• Day 3:  Al Tuhaytha - 3 mortar bombs fired.
• Day 3:   Kilo 16 - 3 x Saudi-led airstrikes on civilian areas.
• Day 3:  Ad Durayhimi - missiles and Katyusha rockets fired.
• Day 3:  Hays - machine gun fire at civilian house.

• Day 4:  Al Hudaydah - machine gun fire at civilian house in contravention of the Stockholm Agreement.
• Day 4:  Al Tuhaytha - artillery fire and machine guns fired in a civilian area.
• Day 4:  Kilo 16 - 3 mortar bombs fired.
• Day 4:  Ad Durayhimi - 3 x Saudi-led airstrikes on civilian areas.
• Day 4:  Hays - missiles and Katyusha rockets fired.

Notice a pattern?

Now I appreciate this is made up … but is representative - one part of my report seriously is copy and paste because the same places get whacked in the same fashion every other day or so … I then have to remove 'Saudi Aggressors', 'Saudi Mercernaries', change 'women/children/old person' to civilian from the prose and add 'Pro-Houthi reporting' and that's the sum of the reporting really.  Again I can't put an exact date range on it but the representative sample above was being churned out by Al Masirah and SouthFront over the same period that the UN Special Representative reported to the UN Security Council that things had improved in January because there had been a 9-day period with no airstrikes at all.

 

 

[JulianJ]

Thanks for the insights.

[Combatintman]

No worries - I can do Haiti, Mozambique and Iraq as well … 

[JulianJ]

I am also playing Shogun 2. You don't do reports on medieval Japan do you? Those b'stards from the Date clan are giving me a hard time.

[sburke]

For what it is worth I have a side project depicting a US intervention in Yemen circa 2012.  I chose then as I could pinpoint a US MEU in the area at that time and because events in Yemen were such close to that period to consider the action as plausible.  These are some of my notes.  I have several maps for it mostly reusing some existing CMSF maps with one new one depicting Sanaa airfield (1.5 x 3km) and adjoining neighborhoods as the airfield will necessarily be critical for the 173rd and there are few major airfield maps in CM.  

 

2012 Spring  The Yemeni Gov't has collapsed with a sectarian war involving multiple foreign agents and local militias.  In addition a combined crisis of drought and food shortages has created a humanitarian crisis.  The international outcry and potential shooting war between Iran and Syria forces US intervention.  The 173rd is tasked with dropping in to Sana'a to stabilize the situation while the 26th MEU is dispatched from the coast of Somalia to land at Al Hudayah and begin a humanitarian relief effort.

(Battle of Sana'a from May to November 2011 is historical backdrop for the intervention.)

The 24th MEU with the 1/2nd BLT was on station in the area spring 2012 which was just after Benghazi.  24th MEU consisted of Iwo Jima, New York and Gunston Hall.

In February 2012 a missile believe supplied by Iran to Hezbollah operatives is launched from Houthi territory striking downtown Riyadh

 The total absence of central government during this transitional process engendered the escalation of the several clashes on-going in the country, like the armed conflict between the Houthis rebels of Ansar Allah militia and the al-Islah forces, as well as the al-Qaeda insurgency.

 

 

Contemporary Yemen

"Sana'a risks becoming the first capital in the world to run out of a viable water supply as Yemen's streams and natural aquifers run dry," says The Guardian.

Saudi-led air strike on Sana'a, 12 June 2015: Saudi Arabia is operating without a UN mandate

Ali Abdullah Saleh became Yemen's first directly elected president in the 1999 presidential election, winning 96.2 per cent of the vote. The only other candidate, Najeeb Qahtan Al-Sha'abi, was the son of Qahtan Muhammad al-Shaabi, a former president of South Yemen. Though a member of Saleh's General People's Congress (GPC) party, Najeeb ran as an independent.

In October 2000, 17 U.S. personnel died after a suicide attack on the U.S. naval vessel USS Cole in Aden, which was subsequently blamed on al-Qaeda. After the September 11 attacks on the United States, President Saleh assured U.S. President George W. Bush that Yemen was a partner in his War on Terror. In 2001, violence surrounded a referendum, which apparently supported extending Saleh's rule and powers.
 
The Shia insurgency in Yemen began in June 2004 when dissident cleric Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, head of the Zaidi Shia sect, launched an uprising against the Yemeni government. The Yemeni government alleged that the Houthis were seeking to overthrow it and to implement Shi'ite religious law. The rebels counter that they are "defending their community against discrimination" and government aggression. 
In 2005, at least 36 people were killed in clashes across the country between police and protesters over rising fuel prices. 
In the 2006 presidential election, held on 20 September, Saleh won with 77.2% of the vote. His main rival, Faisal bin Shamlan, received 21.8%. Saleh was sworn in for another term on 27 September. 

A suicide bomber killed eight Spanish tourists and two Yemenis in the province of Marib in July 2007. A series of bomb attacks occurred on police, official, diplomatic, foreign business, and tourism targets in 2008. Car bombings outside the U.S. embassy in Sana'a killed 18 people, including six of the assailants in September 2008. In 2008, an opposition rally in Sana'a demanding electoral reform was met with police gunfire. 

Al Qaeda
In January 2009, the Saudi Arabian and Yemeni al-Qaeda branches merged to form Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which is based in Yemen, and many of its members were Saudi nationals who had been released from Guantanamo Bay.[236] Saleh released 176 al-Qaeda suspects on condition of good behaviour, but terrorist activities continued. 

The Yemeni army launched a fresh offensive against the Shia insurgents in 2009, assisted by Saudi forces. Tens of thousands of people were displaced by the fighting. A new ceasefire was agreed upon in February 2010. However, by the end of the year, Yemen claimed that 3,000 soldiers had been killed in renewed fighting. The Shia rebels accused Saudi Arabia of providing support to salafi groups to suppress Zaidism in Yemen.

Some news reports have suggested that, on orders from U.S. President Barack Obama, U.S. warplanes fired cruise missiles at what officials in Washington claimed were Al Qaeda training camps in the provinces of Sana'a and Abyan on 17 December 2009. Instead of hitting Al-Qaeda operatives, it hit a village, killing 55 civilians. Officials in Yemen said that the attacks claimed the lives of more than 60 civilians, 28 of them children. Another airstrike was carried out on 24 December.

Edited April 18, 2020 by sburke

[Erwin]

3 hours ago, sburke said:

A suicide bomber killed eight Spanish tourists...

This surprised me.  Neighboring Oman can be nice, but I would never have considered Yemen a tourist destination.

[37mm]

18 minutes ago, Erwin said:

This surprised me.  Neighboring Oman can be nice, but I would never have considered Yemen a tourist destination.

Good spot.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-blast-qaeda-idUSL0276409220070703

“The convoy they were traveling in was made up of four vehicles with Yemeni security ahead of and behind them,”

Interesting group of "tourists".

[sburke]

51 minutes ago, Erwin said:

This surprised me.  Neighboring Oman can be nice, but I would never have considered Yemen a tourist destination.

Historically Yemen has a lot.  It has been a trade route since 5000 BCE.  The Romans sent an army which was defeated in 25 BCE.  However considering how bad the social/political/economic situation was/is I find it hard to understand what would provoke someone to take the risk.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemen

Edited April 19, 2020 by sburke

[JulianJ]

I tend to agree with 37mm. While no doubt Yemen may be an interesting destination when peaceful, not a place to go for a jolly when a war zone. FYI Syria was one of the best and safest places to go in the Middle East before the current troubles. I've always wanted to go to see the Krak des Chevaliers. Sadly I think that is not ever going to be possible.

I do think that these "tourists" were likely spooks of some kind. Or arms or drug dealers, whatever. Generally not your Pina Colada and Selfie merchants.

[Combatintman]

If you want a scenario

20 hours ago, sburke said:

For what it is worth I have a side project depicting a US intervention in Yemen circa 2012.  I chose then as I could pinpoint a US MEU in the area at that time and because events in Yemen were such close to that period to consider the action as plausible.  These are some of my notes.  I have several maps for it mostly reusing some existing CMSF maps with one new one depicting Sanaa airfield (1.5 x 3km) and adjoining neighborhoods as the airfield will necessarily be critical for the 173rd and there are few major airfield maps in CM.  

 

2012 Spring  The Yemeni Gov't has collapsed with a sectarian war involving multiple foreign agents and local militias.  In addition a combined crisis of drought and food shortages has created a humanitarian crisis.  The international outcry and potential shooting war between Iran and Syria forces US intervention.  The 173rd is tasked with dropping in to Sana'a to stabilize the situation while the 26th MEU is dispatched from the coast of Somalia to land at Al Hudayah and begin a humanitarian relief effort.

(Battle of Sana'a from May to November 2011 is historical backdrop for the intervention.)

The 24th MEU with the 1/2nd BLT was on station in the area spring 2012 which was just after Benghazi.  24th MEU consisted of Iwo Jima, New York and Gunston Hall.

In February 2012 a missile believe supplied by Iran to Hezbollah operatives is launched from Houthi territory striking downtown Riyadh

 The total absence of central government during this transitional process engendered the escalation of the several clashes on-going in the country, like the armed conflict between the Houthis rebels of Ansar Allah militia and the al-Islah forces, as well as the al-Qaeda insurgency.

 

 

Contemporary Yemen

"Sana'a risks becoming the first capital in the world to run out of a viable water supply as Yemen's streams and natural aquifers run dry," says The Guardian.

Saudi-led air strike on Sana'a, 12 June 2015: Saudi Arabia is operating without a UN mandate

Ali Abdullah Saleh became Yemen's first directly elected president in the 1999 presidential election, winning 96.2 per cent of the vote. The only other candidate, Najeeb Qahtan Al-Sha'abi, was the son of Qahtan Muhammad al-Shaabi, a former president of South Yemen. Though a member of Saleh's General People's Congress (GPC) party, Najeeb ran as an independent.

In October 2000, 17 U.S. personnel died after a suicide attack on the U.S. naval vessel USS Cole in Aden, which was subsequently blamed on al-Qaeda. After the September 11 attacks on the United States, President Saleh assured U.S. President George W. Bush that Yemen was a partner in his War on Terror. In 2001, violence surrounded a referendum, which apparently supported extending Saleh's rule and powers.
 
The Shia insurgency in Yemen began in June 2004 when dissident cleric Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, head of the Zaidi Shia sect, launched an uprising against the Yemeni government. The Yemeni government alleged that the Houthis were seeking to overthrow it and to implement Shi'ite religious law. The rebels counter that they are "defending their community against discrimination" and government aggression. 
In 2005, at least 36 people were killed in clashes across the country between police and protesters over rising fuel prices. 
In the 2006 presidential election, held on 20 September, Saleh won with 77.2% of the vote. His main rival, Faisal bin Shamlan, received 21.8%. Saleh was sworn in for another term on 27 September. 

A suicide bomber killed eight Spanish tourists and two Yemenis in the province of Marib in July 2007. A series of bomb attacks occurred on police, official, diplomatic, foreign business, and tourism targets in 2008. Car bombings outside the U.S. embassy in Sana'a killed 18 people, including six of the assailants in September 2008. In 2008, an opposition rally in Sana'a demanding electoral reform was met with police gunfire. 

Al Qaeda
In January 2009, the Saudi Arabian and Yemeni al-Qaeda branches merged to form Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which is based in Yemen, and many of its members were Saudi nationals who had been released from Guantanamo Bay.[236] Saleh released 176 al-Qaeda suspects on condition of good behaviour, but terrorist activities continued. 

The Yemeni army launched a fresh offensive against the Shia insurgents in 2009, assisted by Saudi forces. Tens of thousands of people were displaced by the fighting. A new ceasefire was agreed upon in February 2010. However, by the end of the year, Yemen claimed that 3,000 soldiers had been killed in renewed fighting. The Shia rebels accused Saudi Arabia of providing support to salafi groups to suppress Zaidism in Yemen.

Some news reports have suggested that, on orders from U.S. President Barack Obama, U.S. warplanes fired cruise missiles at what officials in Washington claimed were Al Qaeda training camps in the provinces of Sana'a and Abyan on 17 December 2009. Instead of hitting Al-Qaeda operatives, it hit a village, killing 55 civilians. Officials in Yemen said that the attacks claimed the lives of more than 60 civilians, 28 of them children. Another airstrike was carried out on 24 December.

Call that a scenario …  see the attached which is something I knocked up 10 years ago … 

Ex Red Wolf Scenario.pdf

[sburke]

wow.  This is so freakin cool.  I'll have to adapt, but there is so much material here to work with....

[Erwin]

Perfect for CMSF.