Phil Gandier, MENA Transaction Advisory Services Leader, EY, says, “Given the recent trends, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are the key MENA markets that are likely to see any IPO activity in MENA”.
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Yemen’s war pits troops and militiamen loyal to the government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, against the Shiite rebels and Saleh loyalists.
Yet allegations of strikes on civilian facilities have continued.
MSF said that given the intensity of the current offensive and its loss of confidence in the coalition’s ability to avoid such fatal attacks, it considers “that the hospitals in Saada and Hajjah governorates are unsafe for both patients and staff”.
A US Defence Department spokesman on Saturday said that Washington’s support to the coalition was not a “blank check”. The move is meant to better coordinate with naval commandes in Bahrain, Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump said.
“At no point did United States military personnel provide direct or implicit approval of target selection”.
That strike closely followed attacks that struck two schools in the northern Yemen territory dominated by the Iran-backed Houthi tribe, a follower of the Shia branch of Islam, which has been fighting the Sunni-dominated government.
The rebels have retaliated with cross-border attacks.
Rockets fired by Yemeni rebels into the southern Saudi city of Najran on Saturday killed a civilian, the kingdom’s civil defence agency said.
Meanwhile, the rebel-controlled Saba news agency reported three civilians killed in a coalition raid yesterday near the Huthi-held capital Sanaa.
It called the demonstration “the most imposing in the history of Yemen” and said millions of people attended, a figure hard to verify independently.
Hossein Jaberi Ansari, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab-African Affairs, made the remarks on Saturday, while deeming Yemeni people’s massive support for the elected parliament and its decisions “highly significant” and ‘worthy of attention from the worldwide community’. There were no immediate reports of casualties.Saturday’s airstrikes came just days after coalition warplanes hit a Yemen hospital near the Saudi border, killing at least 14 people, including volunteer physicians from the medical charity Doctors Without Borders.
Joan Tubau, general director of MSF, said: “This latest incident shows that the current rules of engagement, military protocols and procedures are inadequate in avoiding attacks on hospitals, and need revision and changes”.
McConnaughey said United States cooperation with Saudi Arabia mostly involves “imagery that allows them to better assess the situation on the ground, and then advice and assistance”.
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On the issue of targets and civilian casualties, the Saudis are the ultimate decision-makers, he said.
