February 28Militiamen reportedly clashed with soldiers guarding the presidential palace in Aden on Sunday. A local official said the attackers, affiliated with the Southern Movement, wanted to speak with officials inside the palace regarding compensation for guards killed in the previous month’s attack at the palace. The gun fight erupted when the guards refused their entry.
Ban Ki-moon called on Sunday for a prompt and impartial investigation into Saturday’s Saudi-led airstrike on a market in Nihm that killed at least 32 civilians--among the highest from a single bombing in recent months.
February 29
A comprehensive embargo on arms transfers that could be used by any of the warring parties in Yemen must be immediately imposed by all states, said Amnesty international on Monday, adding that "the world has not only turned its back on the people of Yemen; many states have actually contributed to their suffering, supplying the weapons and bombs that have been used to unlawfully kill and injure civilians and destroy homes and infrastructure."
March 1
A letter by Osama bin Laden denouncing Saleh’s government and his "collusion" with the US was published(PDF) on Tuesday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. In his letters, bin Laden refers to the Houthis as “the real danger to the area” and criticizes Saleh for “compliance with [America’s] request to stop the war against the Huthi...and to concentrate efforts on targeting the free Mujahidin.”
March 2
Saudi newspaper Okaz published an interview with Hadi on Wednesday in which he discusses his decision to appoint Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar and the role of Western countries in Yemen’s conflict. Hadi also claims that his forces now control 85% of Yemen. He mentioned in the interview that Saudi’s King Salman has agreed to let Yemen join the GCC, “but only without Saleh and the Houthis.” He went on to cite four different occasions when Saleh tried to assassinate him.
Meanwhile, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has said that its staffers are scared to continue working in one of its facilities in Sa'dah after two airstrikes were carried out nearby by the Saudi-led coalition. However, MSF confirmed on their Facebook page the next day that they are still operating at every facility in Yemen, including in Sa'dah.
March 3
Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin warned on Thursday that the war in Yemen could be “a very long conflict which will have even more dramatic results” due to the insistence of Hadi’s government on conditions for a ceasefire. Churkin said that the Saudi-backed resolution adopted last year, which demands that Houthi forces withdraw from all seized territory "is being used essentially to continue the military campaign."
UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien warned countries on Thursday to not take any steps that could reverse the recent increase in emergency aid provided to Yemen.
"In recent months, there has been a significant increase of fuel and other life-saving imports through Yemeni ports, and it is critical that every effort be made by all member states concerned to encourage, and not hinder, that trend," O'Brien told the UN Security Council.
March 4
Gunmen stormed a retirement home on Friday in Aden’s Shaykh Othman district, killing 16, including four nuns. Pope Francis and Yemen’s UN mission condemned the attack, calling it “a cruel and heartless act.” The UN mission suggested that IS militants were responsible, but no one has yet claimed responsibility, although al-Qaeda denies any involvement.
It was reported on Friday that banks have cut credit lines for traders shipping food to Yemen. The shipments, sometimes worth millions of dollars, are now considered too risky for many lenders.
A Friday drone strike on a car in Shabwah province killed four suspected al-Qaeda militants on Friday. Al-Qaeda brochures were reportedly scattered across the road after the car burst into flames.
Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the UN Abdallah al-Mouallimi said on Friday that he is concerned about the worsening humanitarian situation in Yemen but doesn’t see the need for a Security Council resolution addressing it. The ambassador claimed that the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs told his office that it doesn’t believe the council’s intervention is needed, but the OCHA said they could not comment on that.
“There are reports here and there about what the Security Council is up to,” al-Mouallimi said. “We continue to believe that a political solution is the only way to resolve the Yemeni crisis.”
March 5
Gunmen in Aden’s al-Mansourah district opened fire on a vehicle on Saturday, killing police Colonel Salem al-Milqat and his aide.
March 6
Former US ambassador to Yemen Stephen Seche published an op-ed in the Boston Globe on Sunday explaining how the US-supported Saudi war in Yemen is in fact empowering the extremist Islamist groups that the US wants to defeat, especially IS. Seche argues that the ongoing war will have a profound impact on regional economy and global security.
