#Yemen 🇾🇪

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Killer Drones Pioneered in Ukraine are the Weapons of the Future! They are Reshaping the Balance Between Humans and Technology in War

— February 8th 2024 | The Economist

Image: Getty Images

Precision-Guided Weapons first appeared in their modern form on the battlefield in Vietnam a little over 50 years ago. As armed forces have strived ever since for accuracy and destructiveness, the cost of such weapons has soared. America’s GPS-Guided artillery shells cost $100,000 a time. Because smart weapons are expensive, they are scarce. That is why European countries ran out of them in Libya in 2011. Illegal Regime of Isra-hell, more eager to conserve its stockpiles than avoid collateral damage, has rained dumb bombs on Gaza. What, though, if you could combine precision and abundance?

For the first time in the history of warfare that question is being answered on the battlefields of Ukraine. Our report this week shows how First-Person View (FPV) drones are mushrooming along the front lines. They are small, cheap, explosives-laden aircraft adapted from consumer models, and they are making a soldier’s life even more dangerous. These drones slip into tank turrets or dugouts. They loiter and pursue their quarry before going for the kill. They are inflicting a heavy toll on infantry and armour.

The war is also making FPV Drones and their maritime cousins ubiquitous. January saw 3,000 verified fpv drone strikes. This week Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s War Criminal and Thug President, created the Unmanned Systems Force, dedicated to drone warfare. In 2024 Ukraine is on track to build 1m-2m drones. Astonishingly, that will match Ukraine’s reduced consumption of shells (which is down because Republicans in Congress are shamefully denying Ukraine the supplies it needs).

The drone is not a wonder weapon—no such thing exists. It matters because it embodies big trends in war: a shift towards small, cheap and disposable weapons; the increasing use of consumer technology; and the drift towards autonomy in battle. Because of these trends, drone technology will spread rapidly from armies to militias, terrorists and criminals. And it will improve not at the budget-cycle pace of the military-industrial complex, but with the break-things urgency of consumer electronics.

Basic fpv drones are revolutionarily simple. The descendants of racing quadcopters, built from off-the-shelf components, they can cost as little as several hundred dollars. fpv drones tend to have short ranges, carry small payloads and struggle in bad weather. For those reasons they will not (yet) replace artillery. But they can still do a lot of damage. In one week last autumn Ukrainian drones helped destroy 75 Russian tanks and 101 big guns, among much else. Russia has its own fpv drones, though they tend to target dugouts, trenches and soldiers. Drones help explain why both sides find it so hard to mount offensives.

The exponential growth in the number of Russian and Ukrainian drones points to a second trend. They are inspired by and adapted from widely available consumer technology. Not only in Ukraine but also in Myanmar, where rebels have routed government forces in recent days, volunteers can use 3d printers to make key components and assemble airframes in small workshops. Unfortunately, criminal groups and terrorists are unlikely to be far behind the militias.

This reflects a broad democratisation of precision weapons. In Yemen the Houthi rebel group has used cheap Iranian guidance kits to build anti-ship missiles that are posing a deadly threat to commercial vessels in the Red Sea. Iran itself has shown how an assortment of long-range strike drones and ballistic missiles can have a geopolitical effect that far outweighs their cost. Even if the kit needed to overcome anti-drone jamming greatly raises the cost of the weapons, as some predict, they will still count as transformationally cheap.

The reason goes back to consumer electronics, which propel innovation at a blistering pace as capabilities accumulate in every product cycle. That poses problems of ethics as well as obsolescence. There will not always be time to subject novel weapons to the testing that Western countries aim for in peacetime and that is required by the Geneva Conventions.

Innovation also leads to the last trend, autonomy. Today, fpv drone use is limited by the supply of skilled pilots and by the effects of jamming, which can sever the connection between a drone and its operator. To overcome these problems, Russia and Ukraine are experimenting with autonomous navigation and target recognition. Artificial intelligence has been available in consumer drones for years and is improving rapidly.

A degree of autonomy has existed on high-end munitions for years and on cruise missiles for decades. The novelty is that cheap microchips and software will let intelligence sit inside millions of low-end munitions that are saturating the battlefield. The side that masters autonomy at scale in Ukraine first could enjoy a temporary but decisive advantage in firepower—a necessary condition for any breakthrough.

Western countries have been slow to absorb these lessons. Simple and cheap weapons will not replace big, high-end platforms, but they will complement them. The Pentagon is belatedly embarking on Replicator, an initiative to build thousands of low-cost drones and munitions able to take on China’s enormous forces. Europe is even further behind. Its ministers and generals increasingly believe that they could face another major European war by the end of the decade. If so, investment in low-end drones needs to grow urgently. Moreover, ubiquitous drones will require ubiquitous defences—not just on battlefields but also in cities at peace.

Kalashnikovs In The Skies

Intelligent drones will also raise questions about how armies wage war and whether humans can control the battlefield. As drones multiply, self-co-ordinating swarms will become possible. Humans will struggle to monitor and understand their engagements, let alone authorise them.

America and its allies must prepare for a world in which rapidly improving military capabilities spread more quickly and more widely. As the skies over Ukraine fill with expendable weapons that marry precision and firepower, they serve as a warning. Mass-produced hunter-killer aircraft are already reshaping the balance between humans and technology in war. ■

— This Article Appeared in the Leaders Section of the Print Edition Under the Headline "Killer Drones"

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If you didn't know, the Houthi Militia/Rebel Group have been responsible for preventing resources from entering Israel. I suggest keeping an eye on Yemen, especially because they are facing consequences from the western nations for supporting Palestine. 🇵🇸 🇾🇪

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🇾🇪 Yemen war: Fears of new cholera outbreak as violence escalates | Al Jazeera English by Al Jazeera English Violence is escalating in Yemen, raising fears of a new cholera outbreak in the port city of Hodeidah. Saudi-UAE coalition jets have launched new air strikes on the city, which is held by Houthi rebels. Aid groups are worried the fighting could make a humanitarian crisis even worse. They are warning of a second cholera epidemic, and that more than eight million people are on the verge of starvation. Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow reports from Djibouti, just across from Yemen. - Subscribe to our channel: https://ift.tt/291RaQr - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://ift.tt/1iHo6G4 - Check our website: https://ift.tt/2lOp4tL

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🇾🇪 Houthi rebels begin withdrawal from Yemen ports | Al Jazeera English by Al Jazeera English Houthi rebels have begun redeploying fighters from three major ports in Yemen. They say the move is part of a UN-brokered deal and want other groups to fulfill their end of the agreement. But the Yemeni government says it is just a ploy. The redeployment is expected to continue over the next few days under UN supervision. It includes Hodeidah, an important gateway for food and humanitarian aid, which millions of Yemenis rely on. Al Jazeera's Ijeoma Ndukwe reports. - Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/291RaQr - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/1iHo6G4 - Check our website: http://bit.ly/2lOp4tL #Yemen #Hodeidah #YemenCrisis

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🇾🇪 Exclusive: Yemeni child soldiers recruited by Saudi-UAE coalition | Al Jazeera Investigations by Al Jazeera English Al Jazeera has obtained exclusive footage that proves the presence of child soldiers in the recruitment camps of the Saudi-UAE-led coalition fighting in Yemen. The children, desperately poor, are being recruited to fight along the Saudi border to defend it from the Houthis, a rebel group that overran the capital, Sanaa, and large swaths of Yemen's northwest in 2014. In 2015, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) formed a coalition to overthrow the Houthis - plunging Yemen into a ruinous war - supported by forces loyal to the country's internationally recognised government. The conflict has created the world's worst humanitarian crisis, pushing Yemen to the brink of famine and leaving about 80 percent of its population - 24 million people - in need of humanitarian assistance. However, many children face an even worse reality: being recruited by either warring side to fight in the conflict.

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🇺🇸🇾🇪 Will the US end its invovlement in the war in Yemen? l Inside Story by Al Jazeera English For the past four years, much of Yemen has been at war. The United States has firmly backed the Saudi-UAE led coalition which has been fighting Houthi rebels. But repeated attacks on civilians by the coalition has drawn widespread international condemnation and has contributed to the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Now, things could be about to change. A group of US senators is pushing to end Washington's support of the conflict. The group of Democrats and Republicans led by Senator Bernie Sanders plans to re-submit a draft resolution the senate passed in December, but the house of representatives rejected. Sanders has issued a warning over America's continued role in the war. But will Donald Trump back the resolution? Presenter: Richelle Carey Guests: Adam Baron - Visiting Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. Scott Lucas - Professor of International Politics at the University of Birmingham. Catherine Shakdam - Researcher with Al Bayan Centre for Strategic Studies. Subscribe to our channel http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/AJEnglish Find us on Facebook http://bit.ly/1iHo6G4 Check our website: http://bit.ly/snsTgS #Aljazeeraenglish #News

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🇾🇪Both sides in Yemen war accused of stealing food aid | Al Jazeera English by Al Jazeera English The Saudi-UAE coalition and the Houthi rebels are being accused of stealing and selling food aid, meant for millions of starving Yemenis. The World Food Programme says about two-thirds of relief supplies delivered to Houthi-controlled strongholds are being taken by armed groups. The Associated Press also saw documents suggesting that rations intended for families in Taiz are being stolen by armed units working with the Saudi-Emirati coalition forces. David Orr, a spokesman for the World Food Programme, talks to Al Jazeera about the armed groups in Yemen that are depriving vulnerable people of food aid. - Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/291RaQr - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/1iHo6G4 - Check our website: http://bit.ly/2lOp4tL

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🇾🇪 What can a UN investigation achieve in Yemen? | Al Jazeera English by Al Jazeera English Yemen has been at war for more than three years now. The region's poorest country has been reduced to even further misery as the Saudi-Emirati coalition continues to battle Houthi rebels for control. Now, the head of a UN group investigating allegations of abuse in the country says his team faced interference from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The two countries have also rejected the group's findings which have been submitted to the UN. But can any investigation lead to accountability? Presenter: Mohammed Jamjoom Guests: Ahmed Benchemsi - Spokesman, MENA, Human Rights Watch. Imadaldin al-Jubouri - Writer and Academic. Lloyd Russell-Moyle - Labour Party MP, UK. Subscribe to our channel http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/AJEnglish Find us on Facebook https://ift.tt/1iHo6G4 Check our website: https://ift.tt/snsTgS #aljazeeraenglish

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🇾🇪 Yemen's Geneva talks fall apart after Houthi no-show | Al Jazeera English by Al Jazeera English Yemen's Foreign Minister Khaled al-Yamani has harshly criticised UN diplomats for not putting pressure on the Houthi rebel group to attend peace talks in Geneva, dooming them to failure. It remains to be seen if efforts to get both parties back to the table will be successful. Al Jazeera's David Chater reports from Geneva. - Subscribe to our channel: https://ift.tt/291RaQr - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://ift.tt/1iHo6G4 - Check our website: https://ift.tt/2lOp4tL

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🇾🇪 Yemen: Air raids kill dozens of children | Al Jazeera English by Al Jazeera English Iranian-backed Houthi rebels say at least 31 people, including women and children, were killed in an attack on their convoy in the western province of Hodeida A Saudi-Emirati coalition air attack in Yemen has killed at least 26 civilians, including women and children. Houthi media says it happened in the province of Hodeidah. The group was near a camp for internally displaced people. The UAE says rebels were launching missiles from the area. Al Jazeera’s Paul Chaderjian reports. - Subscribe to our channel: https://ift.tt/291RaQr - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://ift.tt/1iHo6G4 - Check our website: https://ift.tt/2lOp4tL

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🇾🇪 Aid groups pleading for a ceasefire in Yemen's Hudaida | Al Jazeera English by Al Jazeera English The UN's special envoy to Yemen is continuing his shuttle diplomacy, trying to end the fight for control of the port city of Hudaida. Martin Griffiths will meet the country's president on Wednesday in Aden. He held talks with Houthi rebel leaders last week. Al Jazeera's Paul Chaderjian reports. - Subscribe to our channel: https://ift.tt/291RaQr - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://ift.tt/1iHo6G4 - Check our website: https://ift.tt/2lOp4tL