Saudi Arabia reassesses Yemen strategy
Sana’a - Saudi Arabia is in the process of a comprehensive review of the situation in war-torn Yemen, based on experiences and intelligence collected over the last two years, as it and the Arab coalition it leads fight in support of the government forces against Houthi rebels, sources said.
Saudi Arabia hosted senior Yemeni tribal leaders in Riyadh on April 2nd to consider options outside traditional considerations, which have been proven ineffective taking control of the country, they said.
Yemeni media reported that Hamid al-Ahmar, a high-ranking al- Islah party member living in exile in Istanbul, was not invited to the Riyadh meeting but showed up anyway. Ahmar was prevented from joining the meetings after other tribal attendees accused him of trying to circumvent the proceedings in favour of his party, which angered the organisers.
Iran-allied Houthi rebels and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh have been accused of running secret detention centres, a newly released report by the National Committee for Human Rights in Yemen said. The report said the rebels and Saleh supporters set up 480 secret prisons in Yemeni provinces under their control. Most of the prisoners were said to be arrested arbitrarily and subjected to severe torture, the report said.
The report also said Houthi and Saleh militias were using child soldiers, most of whom were abducted “children from schools and sent to the scenes of military operations”.
Arab coalition forces, in coordination with a number of international organisations, including the International Red Cross and UNICEF, recently handed over 52 children recruited on the Yemeni- Saudi border.
Both sides in the 2-year-old conflict have been preparing for major military engagement over the Houthi-controlled port of Hodeidah, despite the United Nations urging both sides to stand down. The port has been used to receive basic necessities and medicinal aid. However, the coalition at war with the Houthis has said militias were using the facility to receive smuggled arms from Iran.
Writing in Newsweek, Yemeni Ambassador to the United States Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak said: “For the Houthis, Hodeidah’s port proves to be a source of significant, albeit illegitimate, revenue from customs and taxes imposed on incoming goods. Recapturing Hodeidah is necessary to bring back stability to Yemen’s west coast.”
The war in Yemen began when Shia Houthis and their allies overran Sana’a in September 2014 and seized most of the country. A Saudi-led Arab coalition, supported by the United States and Britain, began an air campaign against the rebels in March 2015. Arab coalition ground troops later entered the fight. The war has claimed more than 10,000 lives.
