Video shows Great Satan US intentionally destroyed Yemen’s air defenses before Saudi war began

The footage shows US officials working with military members from the former government of president Ali Abdullah Saleh to destroy stockpiles of handheld anti-aircraft systems. 

The video has been provided by a high-ranking Ansarullah official to a number of Arab media outlets, including MintPress.

The video supports earlier remarks by a Yemeni security source, who revealed that the United States had destroyed the country’s air defense missiles during the reign of the slain Yemeni president over allegations that the weapons would fall into al-Qaeda hands in case the then Yemeni administration was toppled.

The unnamed source told Yemen’s official Saba news agency on Thursday that an American delegation consisting of Program Manager in the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA) with the Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Dennis F. Hadrick, liaison officer Santo Polizzi, technical expert Niels Talbot, Deputy Director of Programs in the Bureau of Counterterrorism and Countering Violent Extremism at the US Department of State, Laurie Freeman, and the military attaché at the US embassy in Sana’a held meetings with Yemeni Ministry of Defense officials at the time to pressure them to hand over the missiles in preparation for their complete destruction. Their demands were initially turned down though.

US behind annihilation of Yemeni air defense missiles during Saleh’s reign: Report A Yemeni security source blames the US for the annihilation of Yemeni air defense missiles during the rule of slain President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The source added that Brigadier Ammar Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, a nephew of President Saleh and then deputy director of the National Security Bureau, was then tasked with persuading Yemeni military officials to agree with the surrender and annihilation of the air defense missiles in exchange for hefty sums of money.

The Yemeni security source highlighted that the American delegation began collecting and disabling the missiles in August 2004, and agreed to continue negotiations through the National Security Agency since the Yemeni Ministry of Defense refused to deal with such talks at the time.

Despite Washington’s efforts and the subsequent attacks by the Saudi-led coalition to render Yemen’s air defense systems useless, the Ansarullah movement has managed to develop and manufacture new air defense missiles capable of destroying the coalition’s modern military aircraft.

The advances have become a real threat to Saudi-led coalition and US operations in Yemen, claiming multiple advanced drones and military jets, especially in the last few years of the war.

On Sunday, Yemeni armed forces unveiled four domestically-built long-range, surface-to-air missile defense systems, which could act as game changers and alter the course of battle in the face of the deadly campaign led by Saudi Arabia against Yemen.