Basij Commander: Saudi Arabia Fighting US Proxy War in Yemen

Commander of Iran’s Basij (volunteer) Force Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi strongly condemned the Saudi-led aggression against Yemen, and said that Saudi Arabia is fighting a proxy war designed and run by the US.

“It would be wrong think that Saudi Arabia is administering the war in Yemen, while the US is in charge,” Brigadier General Naqdi said on Thursday.

Addressing Riyadh leaders, the commander of Iran’s Basij Force said, “You cannot stand against the will of a nation with an army; the Saudi army is apparently in battlefield, but it is the US that plays the role”.

In relevant remarks, Brigadier General Naqdi also said on Tuesday that the Al Saud dynasty will have a fate similar to that of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

“Imposing war on Yemen will, God willingly, have no result other than Saddam’s fate for the aggressors and the US that is the direct sponsor of this crime will have to leave the region forever after losing its puppet, the Al Saud regime,” Brigadier General Naqdi said in a statement on the occasion of the anniversary of the Islamic Republic Day in Tehran on Tuesday.

On Monday, Senior Advisor to the Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Brigadier General Seyed Mohammad Baqerzadeh also lashed out at Saudi Arabia for attacking Yemen, warning that Riyadh is playing with fire.

“This aggression is playing with fire and the Al Saud regime will never be able to bring Yemen under its control,” Brigadier General Baqerzadeh said.

He said what is presently going on in Yemen will eventually result in the hatred of the international community for the US and its regional mercenaries and proxies.

Brigadier General Baqerzadeh reiterated that the Saudi army is unable to fight long-term wars due to its lack of the needed capabilities, and said, “This war will have dire repercussions for the US and Saudi interests in future just like the wars in Syria and Iraq.”

Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen for eight days now to restore power to fugitive president Mansur Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh. The Saudi airstrikes have killed at least, 242, mostly women and children, and injured hundreds more.

Hadi stepped down in January and refused to reconsider the decision despite calls by Ansarullah revolutionaries of the Houthi movement.

Despite Riyadh’s claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi warplanes are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.

Five Persian Gulf States — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait — and Egypt that are also assisted by Israel and backed by the US declared war on Yemen in a joint statement issued Thursday.

US President Barack Obama authorized the provision of logistical and intelligence support to the military operations, National Security Council Spokesperson Bernadette Meehan said late Wednesday night.

She added that while US forces were not taking direct military action in Yemen, Washington was establishing a Joint Planning Cell with Saudi Arabia to coordinate US military and intelligence support.

On Wednesday, a senior member of the popular Ansarullah movement said the movement’s popular forces have struck massive victories against the Saudi-backed Takfiri and Al-Qaeda terrorists in vast parts of Yemen.

“I felicitate the recent victories of the revolutionary and popular committees as well as the Yemeni armed forces for their gains against the Al-Qaeda-linked Takfiri terrorists in vast areas of this country,” member of Ansarullah Executive Committee Mohanad Abdel Momen Al-Ashtouri told FNA.

He informed that the Ansarullah movement has managed to take control of Yemen’s airports and cut the flow of terrorists and weapons into Yemen from certain Arab countries as well as Turkey by stopping a number of flights.

“I believe that the Yemeni nation will succeed in purging entire Yemen of terrorists and set the country free,” Al-Ashtouri reiterated.

He pointed out that Ansarullah’s strategy vis-à-vis the Takfiri Al-Qaeda terrorist group and the Saudi aggressive regime has not changed and the revolutionary movement still believes in confronting the two heinous entities with maximum power.