Emergency Order: U.S. Opens Door to Yemeni Refugees

The Obama administration issued a directive late Wednesday to grant Temporary Protective Status (TPS) to Yemeni nationals currently residing in the United States, according to an order approved by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Yemeni nationals seeking shelter from the war-torn country, where Iranian-backed militias are seeking to overthrow government forces, will be permitted asylum in America, according to the order, which came as a

result of efforts undertaken by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), a group known for its fierce and sometimes conspiracy-fueled criticism of Israel.

The order officially designated Yemen as a TPS nation “for a period of 18 months, effective September 3, 2015, through March 3, 2017,” according to an advance copy of the directive published by the ADC.

“This designation allows eligible Yemeni nationals (and aliens having no nationality who last habitually resided in Yemen) who have continuously resided in the United States since September 3, 2015,

and have been continuously physically present in the United States since September 3, 2015 to be granted TPS,” according to the directive, which was approved Wednesday by DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson.

Once the order expires in March, DHS will reassess whether the protection order should be extended.

The situation in Yemen has deteriorated over the last several months, as Iran sends a greater number of forces into the country to help wage war.
Emergency Order: U.S. Opens Door to Yemeni Refugees

Islamic State's Yemen branch claimed responsibility for two bombings at a mosque in a northern district of the capital Sanaa that media run by the Houthi militia said killed at least 28 people and wounded 75 on Wednesday.

The al-Mo'ayyad mosque, run by the Houthis in the al-Jarraf neighbourhood of Sanaa, has previously been targeted by the ultra-radical Islamic State, who regard the Iran-allied Houthis as heretics.

The Houthi-controlled Saba news agency said in a text message that the first explosion was caused by a suicide bomber in the al-Mo'ayyad mosque, followed by a car bomb blast that targeted medics outside the building.

A civil war in Yemen escalated in March when a coalition of Arab states led by Saudi Arabia intervened to roll back the hold of Iran-allied Houthi militia over much of the country and to reinstate the government from its exile in Riyadh.
Islamic State claims bomb attack on Yemeni mosque, 28 reported dead | Reuters

(MENAFN - Gulf Times) Nearly 100 civilians have been killed in the past two weeks in Yemen's southwestern city of Taez where a collapsing healthcare service and outbreak of dengue fever are compounding a dire

humanitarian situation, the United Nations said yesterday.

Yemen's third-largest city has become the latest frontline in a five-month war between northern Houthi militiamen and supporters of Yemen's exiled government, which is backed by the West and Saudi Arabia.

"We are alarmed by the steep increase in the number of civil casualties in Taez in recent weeks," UN human rights spokeswoman Cecile Pouilly told a news briefing.

An "untenable" humanitarian situation was being made worse by Houthi-linked fighters blocking supply routes into Taez city, she said.

"We are also concerned about the near collapse of the healthcare system in Taez where all six public hospitals are no longer operational due to the fighting," she said.

Attacks by the Saudi-led coalition on Hodeidah port, a key entry point for aid supplies and commercial imports for Yemen, are complicating relief efforts, Pouilly added.

Cases in Taez of dengue fever, a mosquito-borne viral disease that can be fatal, soared from 145 in mid-August to 421 as of August 25, the World Health Organisation said.
Civilians pay heavy price in Yemen's Taez, says UN | MENAFN.COM