US, Arab allies fear independent Yemen: Commentator

Saudi Arabia has once again raised controversy by first declaring a 48-hour truce in Yemen and then violating it by launching multiple airstrikes against targets across several Yemeni provinces. The fresh aggression has promoted the Yemeni army and allied Houthi forces to retaliate by firing rockets and ballistic missiles at Saudi military bases. Press TV has asked author and Middle East expert Saeb Shaath to shed more light on Riyadh’s true intentions in continuing the war against its southern neighbor.   

Shaath blamed the Saudi forces for not holding the truce, saying that by violating the ceasefire, Riyadh is seeking to force Ansarullah fighters to yield ground and surrender, because any bilateral truce would entail financial compensations for Saudi officials due to the vast destruction they have inflicted on the poor country.

That is why, Shaath argued, the Saudi officials were enraged by the direct peace talks between the Houthis and US Secretary of State John Kerry in Muscat.

“The Saudis, their puppet (Yemen’s former president Abd Rabbuh) Mansur Hadi and his forces do their best to sabotage any ceasefire or any road which would lead to a peaceful settlement in the future. The Saudis [intend to] impose a total surrender on Yemen or at least achieve a huge military victory before Trump takes power as the US president,” the analyst argued.

He also noted that the West and its regional Arab allies are striving to impede the Yemenis’ path towards forming an independent government, because in that case, the strategic land would be out of their control.

“They want to see Yemen in the sphere of influence of the United States of America and its puppet, the Saudis. They don’t want to see the Houthi movement and Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh get together and rule. An independent sovereign state doesn’t listen to the wishes of the Western powers who [want to] control huge reserves of oil and international waterways,” Shaath underscored.

“They only want to bring puppets like Hadi who can rule this country and make sure it’s submissive to the Saudis and subjected to the domination of the United States of America. Here is the double standards of the Western powers. They accept to do that kind of aggression against Yemen and loot its resources and [prevent it from] becoming sovereign so the Saudis can enslave the Yemeni state.”

Saudi Arabia has come under international criticism for the sheer size of casualties and destruction which its war has brought on Yemen since March 2015. The war has killed at least 11,400 civilians, according to a recent tally by a Yemeni monitoring group.