Hadi deputy hopes against ground war
BAHAH URGES ARMED FORCES TO SUPPORT LEGITIMATE YEMEN GOVERNMENT
Yemeni Vice-President Khalid Bahah said yesterday he hoped a Saudi-led Arab coalition battling Iranianallied Al Houthi militiamen in Yemen would not send in ground troops.
Arab military exercises planned for Saudi Arabia have raised speculation that the coalition, which has been bombing the Al Houthis from the air for three weeks, is considering land operations.
“We still hope that there is no ground campaign in line with the air strikes,” Bahah told a news conference in the Saudi capital Riyadh. He called on the armed forces to support the legitimate Yemeni government in exile and said a ceasefire must precede any peace initiative.
“At this historic moment, we send our call to all the sons of the armed and security forces to act on behalf of the legitimate state,” said Bahah. Army units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh have joined forces with the Al Houthis against supporters of the government and forced them to flee.
Bahah said no peace initiatives would be considered until President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi and his government returned to the southern city of Aden, where they enjoy the most support.
Mohammad Al Bukhaiti, a member of the Al Houthi movement’s politburo, said he rejected the idea that Hadi could return to the country, accusing him of “treason”. He added that the bombing campaign against the Al Houthis must stop “immediately and without any conditions”.
Meanwhile, the United Nations envoy to Yemen, Jamal Bin Omar, resigned on Wednesday, according to a UN statement, signalling that his effort to end fierce fighting in the country had failed.
Meanwhile, military officials and residents said yesterday that Al Qaida has taken control of a major airport, a sea port and an oil terminal in southern Yemen after brief clashes with troops. The officials said Al Qaida fighters clashed yesterday with members of one of Yemen’s largest infantry brigades outside Mukalla, a city the militants overran earlier this month.
Aremarkable clash between two key US allies in the Middle East burst into the open here on Wednesday as the Iraqi prime minister publicly criticised the Saudi air campaign in Yemen and a top Saudi official retorted that there was “no logic to those remarks.”
The exchange, driven by sharply opposing views of Iran in the region, reflected the challenges facing the Obama administration as it tries to hold together a diverse coalition, including Gulf Arab states and Iraq, in the fight against Daesh. Iran is a sometimes patron to Iraq but an ideological archrival to Saudi Arabia.
The US remains caught in a difficult balancing act as it tries to keep the Saudi air campaign in Yemen on track against Iranian-backed Al Houthis. But in its fight against Daesh in Iraq, the Obama administration finds itself supporting an Iraqi military offensive that is also backed by Iran.
The duelling Iraqi and Saudi narratives began when Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi of Iraq, who this week is making his first official visit to Washington, spoke early in the day to a small group of reporters at Blair House, the White House guest residence for visiting dignitaries. He said the Saudi campaign and the fighting in Yemen had created huge humanitarian problems.
“There is no logic to the operation at all in the first place,” Al Abadi said. “Mainly, the problem of Yemen is within Yemen.”
Al Abadi, who is in Washington seeking US military help in the fight against Daesh as well as billions of dollars to shore up his sagging economy, then suggested that the Obama administration agreed with him in his concerns about the Saudi campaign.
“They want to stop this conflict as soon as possible,” Al Abadi said. “What I understand from the administration, the Saudis are not helpful on this. They don’t want a ceasefire now.”
The administration swiftly denied that President Barack Obama had expressed concern about the Saudi air campaign during a meeting with Al Abadi on Tuesday at the White House.
“The president did not criticise Saudi or GCC actions in Yemen,” said Alistair Baskey, a spokesman for the National Security Council.
At the same time, Baskey said, Obama had conveyed his view to the Iraqi prime minister “that this not escalate into a broader conflict and that ultimately Yemen’s conflict can only be settled through a political negotiation.”
In his remarks to reporters, Al Abadi also said he was worried that Saudi air strikes might be a precursor to a more assertive Saudi military role in neighbouring states.
‘Very dangerous’
“The dangerous thing is we don’t know what the Saudis want to do after this,” Al Abadi said. “Is Iraq within their radar? That’s very, very dangerous.”
A few hours later Adel Al Jubair, the Saudi ambassador to Washington, held a news conference at the Saudi Embassy and made his remarks about Al Abadi in response to questions from reporters, some of whom had met with Al Abadi at Blair House.
In addition to saying that there was “no logic” to Al Abadi’s remarks, Al Jubair set forth a highly positive picture of the Saudi campaign in Yemen. Saudi officials have insisted that their air strikes, which they named Operation Storm of Resolve, have been effective in weakening Al Houthi militia.
Al Jubair rejected as “false” reports that Saudi bombers had accidentally killed numerous civilians in some of their air strikes, and said Saudi Arabia had taken measures to minimise risks to Yemeni civilians.