Attacks on Yemen increased after US demand for ceasefire: Sayyed Houthi

The leader of Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement says the extent of Saudi-led military aggression on his conflict-ridden country has intensified ever since US President Donald Trump’s administration demanded a ceasefire and the launch of UN-led political talks to end the ongoing war there.

Addressing his supporters via a televised speech broadcast live from the Yemeni capital city of Sana’a on Wednesday evening, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said his movement had noticed preparations for greater attacks, and that the ongoing aggression on Yemen is being primarily planned, monitored and supported by the United States.

“The US role in the military operations against our nation is pivotal. All fiendish plots against Yemen are hatched by the US, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Traitors just struggle to carry them out on the ground. Washington is speaking of peace at the same time that it is directing the Yemen war. Traitors are operating under the auspices of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and executing their orders,” Houthi pointed out.

He held the US as the main culprit behind the aggressor’s crimes in Yemen, stating that Washington is making use of the policies of deception and extortion.

“The United States has managed to reap tremendous financial gains, including arms deals, from the Saudi-led aggression on Yemen. Washington is supporting the Riyadh regime to be able to stand its feet. It is also managing the violent and criminal role of Saudi Arabia. The recent uptick in attacks on Yemen comes as a number of (Persian) Gulf littoral states, notably Saudi Arabia and the UAE, are warming their relations with the Zionist regime (of Israel),” the Ansarullah leader commented.

Houthi also praised sacrifices made by Yemeni army forces and allied fighters from Popular Committees, underlining that they have thwarted aggressors’ bids to seize full control over Sana’a and the western coastal province of Hudaydah.

“A great portion of Hudaydah is still under the control of army troops and Popular Committees fighters,” Houthi noted.

He said enemies have increased their attack on Yemeni border areas, and are seeking to provoke confrontations in the central parts of the country.

“No matter what ammunition and military hardware the enemies might have at their disposal, we should reserve any worries. No matter what meaningless and baseless remarks they would make, they have no right and legitimacy to attack Yemen as an independent and sovereign country,” Houthi said.

“Saudi Arabia and the UAE have not launched the war on Yemen for the sake of any specific Yemeni group. They view their loyal Yemeni groups as pawns to attain their objectives. Saudi Arabia has suffered substantial losses in its border regions. It has paid huge sums of money to scores of Yemenis in a bid to use them as cannon fodder. Emiratis are also using their Yemeni mercenaries as human shields. Emirati officers are taking orders from their American, Israeli and British masters,” the Ansarullah chief pointed out.

He added that Yemeni people are resisting an all-out aggression, and they are rightful to defend themselves as well as their freedom and independence.

Houthi then called upon Yemeni fighters to mobilize more in battlefronts, saying, “Aggressors will dominate us if we sit idle and do nothing. Our desire for freedom prevents us from bowing down to criminals.”

Houthi concluded that the Yemen war has cost aggressors billions of dollars as their economies are in doldrums, noting that the Washington is extorting Riyadh and Abu Dhabi regimes and sinking them further in Yemen quagmire.

On October 30, US Secretary of Defense James Mattis called for a ceasefire in Yemen and for all parties to come to the negotiating table within the next 30 days.

“We have got to move toward a peace effort here, and we can’t say we are going to do it sometime in the future,” he said during a discussion at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) in Washington.

“We need to be doing this in the next 30 days,” Mattis added.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating military campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the aim of bringing the government of former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing the country’s popular Houthi Ansarullah movement.

According to a new report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, the Saudi-led war has so far claimed the lives of around 56,000 Yemenis.

The Saudi-led war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN has already said that a record 22.2 million Yemenis are in dire need of food, including 8.4 million threatened by severe hunger. According to the world body, Yemen is suffering from the most severe famine in more than 100 years.

A number of Western countries, the US and Britain in particular, are also accused of being complicit in the ongoing aggression as they supply the Riyadh regime with advanced weapons and military equipment as well as logistical and intelligence assistance.