By Ali Younes
Ex-Yemen dictator, Ali Abdullah Saleh. Image courtesy of Al Jazeera English
A secret audio tape was released yesterday that showed a link between former president of Yemen Ali Abdullah Saleh discussing events and steps to be taken by the Shia rebels the “ Houthis” in order to complete their takeover of the republic of Yemen. The tape which was first uncovered by Al Jazeera, proved what many Yemenis have long suspected of the conspiracy between the former dictator who ruled Yemen for decades and his many allies and minions still in power, and the Iran-backed Shia rebels.
The tape if authenticated, would be a damming evidence that the ex-dictator is driving force behind the speedy collapse of Yemen and its overrun by the Houthi shia rebels.
The Houthis control of power in Yemen is practically the result of revenge of Saleh against the people of Yemen who removed him from power after popular unrest against his corrupt rule. Saleh then forged alliance with the Iranian-backed Houthis in an act of pure revenge and in an attempt to return to power. For Saleh, or any other Arab leader for that matter, their mission statement when in power is that either he and his family stay in power, forever, or they will destroy the whole country or rather give it away to Iran or whoever.
The leader of the Houthis, Abdel Malik al Houthi demanded the government of President Abde-Rabbo Mansour Hadi to share power with them after the rebel group took over several government sites among them the intelligence headquarters and the missiles brigades. Al Houthi also demanded that president Hadi appoint a vice president from the rebel group.
Al Jazeera English also reported that “ Abdel-Malik al-Houthi, leader of the Houthis, has accused Hadi of “failing the Yemeni people” and disrupting the implementation of the Peace and National Partnership Agreement (PNPA), which was approved after the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, in September.
The rebel leader warned in a televised address yesterday, Tuesday, president Hadi that he must implement a power sharing deal with the rebels, or risk being deposed, essentially formally taking full control of Yemen in an undeclared coup.
He said that “At this historic and exceptional point in time, when conspiracies have been plotted against the country, there is a great danger facing Yemen,”
“Nothing will ever stop us from realizing the peace and cooperation treaty. We will not be scared by foreign powers, the issue is crucial.” He added.
Many observers and many ordinary Yemenis were surprised with the speed of which the Yemeni state have fallen to the ragtag shia militias without any resistance from the Yemeni armed forces which fueled speculation about the involvement of former president Saleh who still wields a lot of power in the country.
Saudi Arabia, Yemen’s largest neighbor to the north seems conspicuously unconcerned that its southern neighbor is falling apart and being dismembered by a rebel group backed by Saudi Arabia’s arch nemesis, Iran .
Historically, however, Saudi Arabia has never been interested to see strong and powerful Yemen, because a strong Yemen might pose a threat to Saudi Arabia that might even demand its former territories back. The Saudis seem to never think strategically beyond the interests of the ruling family despite the grave dangers their policies in the region have caused to their own medieval-style rule.
Saudi Arabia have helped the United States remove former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein from power, who stood between Iran and the Arab Gulf States ,only to be replaced by a sectarian shia ruling class that holds its allegiance to Iran. Iran in turn vies to one day remove the Saudi royal family from power and take over Islam’s holiest places in Mecca and Medina. The Saudi support of the US war policies in the region also created the sectarian war and chaos in Iraq and eventually gave rise to extremist terrorist groups like ISIS, which also vies to remove the Saudi royal family from power and also take over Islam’s holy places.
The Saudi policy in Yemen is eerily similar to its policies that eventually helped ruin the Iraqi state. As Yemen is inching more toward dismemberment, Iran is closer than ever to Saudi Arabia’s borders from the north, the South and the East.
Ali Younes is the Editor of the Arab Daily News. He can be reached at aliyounes@thearabdailynews.com, and on twitter @clearaliyounes
Ali Younes is a Senior Political Analyst for The Arab Daily News online newspaper. He is a veteran news-editor, Journalist, and a Middle East analyst working for major American news network . He is based in Washington, D.C.
Reach Ali at aliyounes99@gmail.com
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