So you call yourself a patriot - Dr Vickramabahu

 Thursday, 02 April 2015

Soon after the Prabhakaran-Ranil Pact (MoU), prepared with the help of  the famous 'Peace Maker' Norway and initiated by the  international community led by global powers was signed ,  an article written by Dr Gunadasa Amarasekara titled ‘Sama Diyareddde’ appeared on a newspaper in March 2002. For those who have not read or forgotten this non poetic product of this great poet, I should reproduce it here. Unfortunately I can only give a secondary version; However, it maybe good enough for the purpose of this article. So let me indicate how this great novelist’s and so called patriot described what it is all about. - ‘Diyaredden Bella Kapanawa’ is a parochial Sinhala saying to illustrate how one is decapitated or destroyed without his being fully aware of what is happening. He is taken completely unawares. It’s only much later that he realizes that he has been decapitated and that too with hardly any pain or trauma. The producer, the so-called international community was well aware that the ‘Sama Diyareddde’ is the simplest device available for the ‘decapitation of the nation with a minimum of pain and trauma’. - This is how the writer incorrectly and short sidedly identified what happened.

Recently, US President Barack Obama reiterated his support for a two state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, where he criticized comments made by the newly re-elected Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. During a joint press conference with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Tuesday, Obama said,

“Prime Minister Netanyahu in the election run-up stated that the Palestinian state would not occur while he was Prime Minister and I took him at his word that that’s what he meant and I think that a lot of voters inside of Israel understood him to be saying that fairly unequivocally. Afterwards he pointed out that he didn’t say ‘never’ but that there would be a series of conditions in which a Palestinian state could potentially be created but of course the conditions were such that they would be impossible to meet anytime soon.” This reactionary view of Netanyahu has annoyed Obama. He emphasized that the issue would cause difficulties of policy between the States and Israel going forward, saying,

“We believe that two states is the best path forward for Israel’s security for Palestinian aspirations and for regional stability. That’s our view and that continues to be our view and Prime Minister Netanyahu has a different approach and so this can’t be reduced to a matter of somehow let’s all hold hands and sing kumbaya. This is a matter of figuring out how we get through a real knotty policy difference that has great consequences for both countries and for the region”

What is the analysis of poet Gunadasa about the conflict that has developed between Israel and US? Does he believe that Obama is trying to fool innocent Israel leader and cut his neck by Diyareddde or on the other hand Obama wants to mislead the Palestinian to believe that US is on their side? The reality is that the world wide power of masses has put America on the dock and Obama has to say some thing sweet to the world community, in particular to the working masses.

In relation to Lanka Dr. Amarasekara identified the First Act of US led drama as the signing of the MoU. He considered the second act as the de-proscription of LTTE. According to his analysis interim councils appeared under various names to keep the Sinhalese in a state of blissful ignorance, first to form the ‘Tsunami Joint Mechanism’ and to the stage of proposing a Interim Self governing Authority (ISGA) as a part of “Peace Process’ mediated by the so-called Peace Maker. Finally the producer of this tragi-comedy appeared very pleased with the achievements of their plan and reported even to have increased their "Aid" package to lubricate the decapitation processes. However, contrary to the predictions of our great poet, the change of government by the so called patriotic people instead of saving the people, created a fascistic regime which brought untold suffering to the people of Lanka.

Now the patriotic front of our poet laments that the “SLFPers are being beaten up by the UNPers while the so-called leadership of the SLFP is keeping a blind eye. The so-called leadership of the SLFP is appointing Cabinet Ministers, State Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Governors, practically any one recommend to any position by the very same person who signed the notorious pact with Prabhakaran without any hesitation. Basically the so-called SLFP leadership has kept his own SLFP parliamentarians under house arrest. Nearly 5,8 million people who voted for Mahinda Rajapaksa, former SLFP Leader, are being kept in a state of dilemma by high jacking the SLFP.” What a hilarious statement! Unfortunately for these lot, both the President and the pro democratic astute men who agreed to join the government have only abide by the wishes of mass uprising that broke the back bone of the fascistic Mahinda regime.

Sri Lanka government unlikely to allow Dalai Lama visit-official

The Dalai Lama gestures during a public talk and teachings event at St. Jakobshalle, in Basel February 7, 2015.

BY SHIHAR ANEEZ AND RANGA SIRILAL-Thu Apr 2, 2015

(Reuters) - Sri Lankan Buddhist monks have invited exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to make his first visit to the island, after a strongly pro-China government was voted out in January, but an official said Colombo was unlikely to allow it.

Sri Lanka’s new President Maithripala Sirisena has loosened ties with Beijing and moved closer to India, which has hosted the Dalai Lama since he fled Tibet in 1959.

But the majority Buddhist island, which is home to some of the religion’s most sacred sites, still depends on China for major development investment and loans.

"They can invite, but the government may not grant a visa," a top foreign minister official told Reuters, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject.

"The Dalai Lama is very important. But the close relationship with China is more important and we have not changed our stance on ‘One China’ policy."

As China has grown more economically powerful it has used its influence to dissuade world leaders from meeting the Dalai Lama, whom it denounces as a dangerous separatist, but only a handful of countries outright prohibit him from visiting.

China offered Sri Lanka over $1 billion in grants during a four-day official visit to Beijing by Sirisena last week, underscoring how lucrative the relationship remains for the island that is rebuilding after a long civil war.

CHILDHOOD WISH

The invitation to the Dalai Lama was extended by a group of high-ranking Theravada monks from Sri Lanka’s Mahabodhi Society when they attended a theological discussion in late March with Indian monks in New Delhi, senior monk Banagala Upatissa said.

Upatissa said the Dalai Lama told him he had wanted since childhood to visit a Sri Lankan temple housing a relic of Buddha’s tooth, and Mahabodhi, which contains a descendant of the tree under which Buddhists believe he attained enlightenment.

"He told us that all others in the world - Christians, Hindus and Muslims - treat him well. But his own Buddhist brotherhood does not treat him well," Upatissa told Reuters.

"We felt saddened and disturbed and invited him to visit Sri Lanka. I hope to discuss with the government to find a solution for this. Without antagonizing China, we are trying to get him a visa as an ordinary monk and not as a state official."

The Dalai Lama would be happy to visit but does not want to cause any inconvenience to the Sri Lankan government, Chimme Rinzin Choekyapa, one of his senior aides, told Reuters.

The meeting in New Delhi came shortly after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited a Buddhist site in Sri Lanka, where he was hosted by Upatissa.

India, where Buddhism was founded, and China, with the world’s largest Buddhist population, both portray themselves as protectors of the religion.

Upatissa rejected suggestions in Sri Lankan and Indian media that the invitation was mooted by India as a move to signal a new independence from Chinese influence.

"We will be very happy if we can fulfil the Dalai Lama’s desire," he said. "He is a Buddhist brother of ours who follows the teachings of the same Lord Buddha."

(Additional reporting by Abhishek Madhukar in Dharamsala and Frank Jack Daniel in New Delhi; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Alex Richardson)

Deterioration Of The Legal Intellect: Quelling Mass Protests With Extrajudicial Killings

By Basil Fernando -March 27, 2015

Basil Fernando

The discovery of the bodies of four members of the same family in Wennapuwa on 1 January 2015 is one of the gravest crimes reported in recent times. The victims of these horrific murders were a dental surgeon attached to the Lunuwila Hospital, her husband who was a businessman, their 13-year-old son, and 15-year-old daughter.

Police Spokesman Ajith Rohana stated to the media that an individual who had served as a watchman has been arrested in connection with these murders and that during investigations this person has confessed to committing the murders with the help of his illicit lover. Spokesman Rohana further said that while three Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officers were escorting the suspect to the crime site in order to recover the murder weapon—an axe used to commit the murders—the suspect committed suicide by jumping into the Ma-Oya River.

It is strange that three CID officers were unable to prevent the suspect, who was in their custody, from jumping into the river, and further still that they have not been able to successfully rescue this suspect even after he plunged into the River. The three CID officers were obliged to take all precautions necessary to prevent the suspect from escaping or attempting suicide while in their custody. It is also the usual custom to handcuff an arrested suspect when he is taken out of the police station.

Extrajudicial Killings in Sri Lanka 1989 – File photo

Given many previous examples of serious crimes suspects being killed in custody, it is hard to believe the version given by the three CID officers regarding the death of this suspect. It is the obligation of the Inspector General of Police and other senior police officers in the area to conduct an inquiry into the death of the suspect. So far, there has been no report of any such inquiry. The Police Spokesman did not inform the public of any such inquiry into the circumstances of this custodial death.

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Bribery Comm Chairman facing complaint handed plaint against DG

 Thursday, 02 April 2015 

Chairman of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, Jagath Balapatabendi, who has been accused of bribery and corruption, has been handed over a complaint against the Director General of the Commission, Dilrukshi Dias Wickremasinghe.

Interestingly, the complaint against Wickremasinghe was handed over by a group of parliamentarians loyal to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

SLFP MP Manusha Nanayakkara after handing over the complaint said that Wickremasinghe had been a recipient of two government salaries in 2002 while being attached two different government departments.

Nanayakkara has alleged that Wickremasinghe had worked at the Attorney General’s Department while working as a consultant to the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL).
However, the complaint against Chairman of the Bribery Commission, Balapatabendi filed during the previous regime was not subjected to investigation.

The gender paradox in Sri Lanka

by Ingeborg Vinding 

- on 04/02/2015 

Women make up 50% of the population but only 5% of the parliament  – how can this be solved?

”If the women of a country are slaves, the men can never be free”. These were the words written by the Editorial, in the Sri Lankan magazine Voice ofWomen, as long back as January, 1980. Sri Lanka has a long history of female activist groups fighting for the rights of women since the 1970’s. Much has changed since then: a devastating war, a liberalised economy, a globalised world and new media that breaks old boundaries. In addition, a vital part of Maithripala Sirisena’s winning Presidential campaign was the slogan “A new Sri Lanka for Women”.

The Gender Paradox in Sri Lanka by Thavam Ratna

IUSF to go to HRCSL

BY Ruwan Laknath Jayakody-2015-04-02

The Inter-University Students' Federation (IUSF) is to file a complaint at the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) alleging that the police and the Special Task Force attacked a protest march organized by them on 31 March.

The IUSF said that 24 undergrads were injured in the clash, and 10 who had received serious injuries due to baton blows to their heads and legs were hospitalized.

IUSF Convener Najith Indika said that two students were still in Ward 72 of the National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL).
He alleged that the police were uttering lies that six police constables sustained injuries and were admitted to the Police Hospital and one inspector was admitted to the NHSL, as claimed by Police Media Spokesman, ASP Ruwan Gunasekera.

"No police officer sustained injuries. What is the nature of their injuries? Show us photographic proof. They attacked us stating that we broke the law. The government said that they would end the oppressive era of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. They talked as if they had made Temple Trees public property. We could not even go anywhere near Temple Trees. During Rajapaksa's time, we protested right in front of it. This government of good governance is selling education and spreading suppression. They promised us Rs 5,000 as the Mahapola scholarship when in fact they have reduced it to Rs 2,500," Indika alleged.

Further protests were held yesterday (01) at the Universities of Peradeniya, Ruhuna and Rajarata.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister's Office in a special statement released to the media said, the IUSF had not given any prior notification of their intention to hand over a letter to the Prime Minister's Office but had instead said they were going to hand it over to the University Grants Commission.

Despite the subsequent change of routes and plans, the IUSF did not heed the invitation extended to five members of the IUSF to come to 'Temple Trees' to handover the letter, but had instead decided to clash with the Police, the statement further explained.
"Such incidents are unfortunate and sad to note. If the protesters had acted peacefully allowing their representatives to heed our invitation, none of this would have happened," it read.

Sumal’s Access is planning to destruct the “Good Governance”

 

 Thursday, 02 April 2015 

Government internal reports say that owner of Access International Sumal Perera has started his usual deal making business and entangled many deals with the Ranil and Maithri thereby destructing the Good Governance. It was famous that Sumal Perera nurtured and promoted the Rajapaksa regime to take bribes from top to bottom, made anti public deals and finally led the Rajapaksa regime to fall.

On the 25th of this month a day before president Maithripala went to China with 18 of his ministers he has sent a group of directors from the Access International, high government officials and businessmen’s who has links with the Chinese companies by chartering a special flight to Beijing China.

Access International has provided these people with food, accommodation, shopping, jolly trips and escort ladies. The coordination has been done by one Dharshana Munasinghe who is a director of Access International. Good governance minister John Amarathunga’s son in law Dinesh Weerakkody, one of the directors of the Access International too has joined this trip. The cause for this is that Access International is the local representative for many Chinese companies.

Good Governance MP Rajitha  Senarathna who calls himself as the creator of the Good Governance has become the focus of Sumal’s Access International. The priority has become to an extent that he could not attend to the dinner held at the Sri Lankan embassy in China hosted to the President and the delegation. He has reasoned out that he held talks until midnight about the future development works with the Chinese company who did the highways in Sri Lanka.

Besides Rajitha the next priority of Access International is given to the president’s son in law and the consultant of the defense ministry Wewelpanawa Gamage Thilina Suranjith. The Chinese hospitality has been enormously given to the latter, ministers Rajitha’s son Chathura Senarathna and minister Wijedasa’s son Rakitha Rajapaksa.

President’s son Daham Sirisena too has been joined this group later.

It is clear that Access International would pull these high profile officials who have clean records until now in the Good Governance into destruction by entangling them in to business deals and meet with an acute destiny similar to the Rajapaksa regime. We are reporting this not with an evil characteristic of these Good Governance officials but as an advance notification of the unfortunate fate going to be given by Sumal’s Access International.

Exclusive: Navy Report Reveals Shocking Details Of Yoshitha Rajapaksa’s Rise – Ukraine Paid The Bills

April 2, 2015

After violating all laid down norms for recruitment to the Sri Lanka Navy, the son of former President Yoshitha Kanishka Rajapaksa received a 13^th month course sponsored and paid for by Ukrinmarsh, the Ukranian Government’s “State Self-Supporting Foreign Trade and Investment Firm.” This was followed by other courses including one to become a Doctor of philosophy.

It was all arranged by Udayanga Weeratunga, former Sri Lanka Ambassador to Russia and first cousin of Rajapaksa. This clearly shows that Weeratunga, who stands accused by the Ukranian Government of selling weapons to pro Russian separatist rebels was operating hand in glove with the former President and his brother, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, former Defence Secretary.

After the new government came to power, the Commander of the Navy, Vice Admiral Jayantha Perera appointed a three member Board of Inquiry to probe Yoshitha Rajapaksa. This came on the directions of the Ministry of Defence in January this year.

The Board was chaired by Rear Admiral D.W.B. Wettawa and comprised Commodore U.S.R. Perera and Commodore M.M.V.B. Medegoda. Their report reveals some shocking details:

• The qualification requirement for the 45^th Intake of Officer Cadets, to which Cadet Y.K. Rajapaksa, (NRX 2431) belongs, was to have six credit passes for GCE (OL) in one sitting including English, Mathematics, Science and Sinhala in addition to GCE (AL) two passes. This is what had been advertised. Going through his personal file, it became apparent he has NOT obtained a credit pass for Sinhala in the same sitting. Certificates for both AL and OL are not available in his file.
• The Board did not come through any material evidence to substantiate whether the Navy took a decision to accept the GCE (OL) examination results in consequent years (2003/2004) produced by Cadet Y.K. Rajapaksa. Therefore, the Board cannot make a conclusive statement on his enlistment. It is possible this could have been considered as a special case.
• When Cadet Rajapaksa was undergoing training at the Naval Maritime Academy, three senior Navy sailors have been assigned to provide security for him. This is in addition to security provided for the training area by the Presidential Security Division (PSD).

Navy sources told Colombo Telegraph these special arrangements and other privileges including the selection of Lt. Rajapaksa for special prizes were given by one time Navy Commander Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda.

• Cadet Rajapaksa was not sent on a scholarship to the Britannia Royal Naval College. This slot has been obtained on payment basis exclusively for Cadet Rajapaksa.
• He has later been attached to the Royal Navy for two more courses in sea training.
• Thereafter, Rajapaksa who was then a Midshipman (after joining as Sub Lieutenant) was again attached to the International Sub (Executive)Course at the Maritime Warfare College, HMS Collingwood in Hampshire.

After Rajapaksa reached the rank of Sub Lieutenant, has been selected by his uncle Udayanga Weeratunga to follow a Master’s Diploma in the National University of Defence Academy in Ukraine from 29^th October 2009 to 31^st August 2010. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary ordered that he be paid his daily foreign allowance, travel and telephone expenses. This was whilst the course was paid for by Ukrinmarsh with whom Weeratunga had close connections. The invitation to young Rajapaksa from Ukrinmarsh came in his own name. Therefore no selection process was held. After finishing that course, he was selected to follow a course in doctor of philosophy.

At the passing out parade in Trincomalee Cadet Rajapaksa was titled “Midshipman of the Year” and was awarded the “Sword of Honour.” This was arranged by former Navy Commander Admiral Karannagoda.

On the directions of the Ministry of Defence Rajapaksa was attached to the Presidential Security Division. After work at Navy Headquarters, he reported to Temple Trees to work for the PSD. He was issued a special identity card for this purpose. The transfer to the PSD has now been stopped.

Related posts;

Four held with gold, foreign currency worth over Rs 5.4m

April 2, 2015

Four persons including 2 women have been arrested at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) when they attempted to leave the country with gold and foreign currency estimated to be worth over Rs 5.4 million.

The suspects were arrested by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) as they were preparing to board a flight to Bangalore this morning, police said.

The CID officers found 871 grams of gold, worth around Rs 3,974,000, and US$ 18,100 in their possession.

The arrested suspects, who are all residents of Negombo, have been handed over to Sri Lanka Customs for onward action.

Mangala grants 3-fold pay hike to Maithri’s brother

Thursday, 02 April 2015 

The Sri Lanka Telecom director board at its meeting yesterday (01) decided to grant a three-fold raise in the salary of their chairman Kumarasiri Liyanage, younger brother of president Maithripala Sirisena, reports say.

Accordingly, the Rs. 950,000 basic salary of the SLT chairman will be increased to Rs. 03 million.

The SLT directors have taken the decision with the knowledge of Mangala Samaraweera, who is the minister in charge of the telecommunication and IT portfolio.

Kumarasiri is also acting chairman of SLT affiliate Mobitel and receives a similar salary separately.

All these are basic salaries, and inclusive of all allowances, he draws a monthly remuneration of nearly 10 m from the two institutions.

However, the SLT directors’ decision has been strongly opposed by shareholder Maxis of Malaysia. The directors have insisted the pay hike should take place. Maxis has then issued a warning against this authoritarian decision and is looking to sell its SLT shares.

Al Shabaab storms Kenyan university, 70 killed

Kenya Defense Force soldiers walk near the perimeter wall where attackers are holding up at a campus in Garissa April 2, 2015.

GARISSA, KENYA | BY EDITH HONAN-Thu Apr 2, 2015

(Reuters) - Gunmen from the Islamist militant group al Shabaab stormed a Kenyan university campus on Thursday, killing and wounding dozens of students and staff.

Police and soldiers surrounded the Garissa University College and exchanged gunfire with the attackers throughout the day.

Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, an Al Shabaab’s spokesman, said the gunmen were holding Christian hostages inside.

"We sorted people out and released the Muslims," he told Reuters.

Several hours into the incident, Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery told reporters in Garissa that the death toll was at least 70, with 79 wounded, but the siege was almost over. About 500 out of 815 students were accounted for, he said.

He did not specify precisely how many students, staff or security personnel had died but said four al Shabaab fighters were killed.

However, he cautioned that “the operation is ongoing, anything can happen”.

One Kenyan policeman at the scene of the attack said six al Shabaab fighters, from the original 10 that stormed the university campus, remain holed up inside, along with about 100 student hostages.

Al Shabaab, who carried out the deadly attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi in 2013, claimed responsibility for the pre-dawn raid on the campus in Garissa, a town 200 km (120 miles) from the Somali border.

The group has links to al Qaeda and a record of raids on Kenyan soil in retaliation for Nairobi sending troops to fight it in its home state of Somalia.

Kenyan police chief Joseph Boinet said the attackers had “shot indiscriminately” while inside the university compound.

One image provided by a local journalist showed a dozen blood-soaked bodies strewn across a single unversity classroom.

Some students had managed to escape unaided.

"We heard some gunshots and we were sleeping so it was around five and guys started jumping up and down running for their lives," an unnamed student told Reuters TV.

Authorities offered a 20 million shilling ($215,000) reward for information leading to the arrest of a man called Mohamed Mohamud, described as “most wanted” and linked to the attack.

Police chief Boinet said Kenya had imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on four regions near the Somalia border.

TOURISM AND RELIGION

Al Shabaab, which seeks to impose its own harsh version of sharia law, has separated Muslims from Christians in some of its previous raids in Kenya, notably late last year in attacks on a bus and at a quarry.

Its repeated raids, together with attacks on churches by home-grown Islamist groups, have strained the cordial relations between Kenya’s Muslim and Christian communities.

Having killed more than 200 people in Kenya over the past two years, Al Shabaab has also brought the tourism industry to its knees.

Thursday’s attack undermined a renewed drive by President Uhuru Kenyatta to persuade foreigners the country is now safe to visit.

On Wednesday, he had urged Kenyans abroad to help attract tourists back despite the wave of militant violence, criticising a warning from Australia of a possible attack in Nairobi and an advisory from Britain urging its citizens to avoid most coastal resorts.

Grace Kai, a student at the Garissa Teachers Training College near the university, said there had been warnings that an attack in the town could be imminent.

"Some strangers had been spotted in Garissa town and were suspected to be terrorists," she told Reuters.

"Then on Monday our college principal told us … that strangers had been spotted in our college… On Tuesday we were released to go home, and our college closed, but the campus remained in session, and now they have been attacked."

Many Kenyans living in the crime-ridden frontier regions blame the government for not doing enough to protect its citizens from the militants.

(Additional reporting by Joseph Akwiri, Edith Honan and Humphrey Malalo and Susan Heavey in Washington; Writing by Drazen Jorgic, John Stonestreet; Editing by Jeremy Gaunt and Giles Elgood)

Israeli Fighter Jets Join Saudi Arabia in War on Yemen

Fri Mar 27, 2015

TEHRAN (FNA)- Israel's fighter jets have taken part in the Thursday Saudi-led airstrikes on Yemen, sources in Sanaa disclosed on Friday.

"This is for the first time that the Zionists are conducting a joint operation in coalition with Arabs," Secretary General of Yemen's Al-Haq Political Party Hassan Zayd wrote on his facebook page.

He noted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had issued direct orders for the Israeli air force to send fighter jets to the Saudi-led air raid on Yemen.

Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes against Yemen and killed, at least, 25 civilians early Thursday, one day after the US-backed Yemeni president fled the country.

Also, 15 more people were killed and injured in a second round of massive attacks by the Saudi Arabian fighter jets in the Northwestern Yemeni city of Sa’ada on Friday.

Yemen’s al-Massira TV reported that the Saudi air force targeted the Yemeni's civilians who were shopping in a market.

Five Persian Gulf States -- Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait -- backed by the US have declared war on Yemen in a joint statement issued earlier Thursday.

US President Barack Obama authorized the provision of logistical and intelligence support to the military operations, National Security Council Spokesperson Bernadette Meehan said late Wednesday night.

She added that while US forces were not taking direct military action in Yemen, Washington was establishing a Joint Planning Cell with Saudi Arabia to coordinate US military and intelligence support.

Riyadh claimed that it has bombed the positions of the Ansarullah fighters and launched attacks against the Sana'a airport and the Dulaimi airbase.

Despite Riyadh's claims that it is attacking Ansarullah positions, Saudi warplanes have flattened a number of homes near Sana’a international airport. Based on early reports, the Saudi airstrikes on Yemen have so far claimed the lives of 25 civilians with more deaths feared, Yemeni sources said.

The Saudi aggression has received growing international condemnation as it is pushing the region and the world into an unprecedented fast-growing war as its ISIL mercenaries are on the brink of complete annihilation in Iraq and Syria.

Yemen: Houthi fighters and allies seize central Aden district

Houthi fighters in control of southern port city of Crater, the last major holdout of fighters loyal to Saudi-backed president

A man carries a box of ammunition he took from a military depot in Aden, Yemen. Photograph: Yassir Hassan/AP
Kareem Shaheen in Beirut-Thursday 2 April 2015

Fighting has escalated in the southern Yemeni city of Aden, the last redoubt of loyalists to the exiled president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, with Houthi rebels reportedly seizing the presidential palace amid unconfirmed reports of foreign troops landing in the city’s port.

Houthi fighters and troops loyal to the former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh – who was ousted in 2012 after Arab Spring-style protests – battled their way into the heart of Aden on Thursday despite a week of punishing air raids by a Saudi-led coalition that is seeking to stem their advance.

The presidential palace, a cluster of colonial-era villas perched atop a rocky hill that juts into the Arabian Sea, was Hadi’s last seat of power before he fled to Saudi Arabia last month. Yemeni security officials quoted by the Associated Press said it had fallen into rebel hands.

A resident of Aden whose son was killed battling the Houthis told the Guardian by telephone that violent street battles were raging throughout the city, with local popular committees and young people fighting disorganised street battles and resisting the advancing rebels.

“They learned street fighting from the Americans to combat al-Qaida and now they have turned against the people,” he said of Saleh’s troops, which are aiding the Houthis.

He said there was no organised leadership of the Aden residents taking on the Houthis, and that his home had been partially burned as a result of the Houthi and Saleh fighters firing indiscriminately at locals’ homes.

Residents of Aden’s central Crater district told Reuters that Houthi fighters and their allies were in control of the neighbourhood by midday on Thursday, deploying tanks and foot patrols through its otherwise empty streets after heavy fighting in the morning.

The Houthi advance appears to be aimed at seizing as much ground as possible to strengthen their hand in any future power-sharing negotiations, but it is unclear if they can hold the city given the presence of homegrown resistance to their rule and the ongoing street battles.

Their progress also threatens an escalation by Saudi Arabia, which has not ruled out a ground invasion. The coalition, which is backed by the US, also includes Egypt, most of the Gulf states and Pakistan.

Reuters reported that dozens of unidentified troops have landed in the city by sea, but it has not been possible to verify their nationality. An adviser to the Saudis denied the BBC initial reports that the troops were foreign.

Saudi Arabia and other Sunni-led states in the region are concerned about Iran’s growing sphere of influence in the Middle East, and accuse the Houthis of being puppets of the Islamic Republic, which has opposed the Yemeni operation, known as Decisive Storm.

The coalition’s spokesman, Brig Gen Ahmad Asiri, said in a press briefing on Wednesday that the operation would continue, saying fighter jets had targeted Houthi-held ballistic missiles, air defences and weapons depots, as well as troop positions backing the Aden assault. He added that the coalition did not target them inside the city to avoid civilian casualties.

Asiri also accused the Houthis of bombing al-Mazraq refugee camp, where at least 29 people were killed on Tuesday, saying the coalition was not responsible for the attack.

He said the coalition’s naval assets had taken full control of the waters surrounding Yemen to enforce a blockade on the Houthis.

The Aden resident who asked not to be named urged the coalition to “take responsibility” and land troops to remove the Houthis from the city.

He said: “Our hope is great in God and our brothers, that they are responsible. They took us into war and only used planes but if they land well-trained forces these militias would be routed.”

He said the humanitarian situation in the city was tragic and his son would have survived the wounds he sustained in fighting if there were medical supplies and specialist doctors still in the city.

Doctors Without Borders said in a statement on Thursday that it is “facing real difficulties sending in more supplies and personnel due to the closure of ports and airports, and due to the active fighting and bombing”.

The organisation said it has treated 580 wounded people in its emergency surgical unit in Aden over seven different waves of mass casualties.

Action Against Hunger, one of the few organisations still operating in Yemen, said the humanitarian situation is “dire and worsening daily”, and it is all but impossible to import basic food staples amid airport and port closures and the no-fly zone over the country.