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Yemeni president: Houthis threats to KSA, UAE proof on Iran's terror agenda

Yemeni president Houthis threats to KSA UAE proof on Irans terror agenda
Yemeni president: Houthis threats to KSA, UAE proof on Iran's terror agenda

2019-03-18 00:00:00 - Source: Baghdad Post

The Yemeni government, headed by President

Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, said Houthis threats to fire ballistic missiles against

neighboring Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates present damming proof on

an underlying Iranian agenda for destabilizing the region.

Houthi militias in Yemen are largely armed and funded by Iran.

Hadi, meeting with senior advisors and officials in Riyadh,

reaffirmed that the government’s final objective is to bridge the divide

tearing the country apart and end the armed insurgency. He also stressed the

need to fight back against the establishment of a Hezbollah-inspired force in

Yemen.

The president also reiterated the need for finding a

political solution which is aligned with the Gulf initiative, outcomes of

national dialogue and relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

Iran, for many years, has used its proxy militia, Hezbollah,

in Lebanon to expand its influence in the region.

Ongoing Houthi threats equate an official rejection and

denote the loss of all political efforts to resolve the crisis in Yemen,

government spokesman Rajeh Badi told Asharq Al-Awsat. 

“Such statements confirm that, for Houthis, the military

option is the only viable one. And that vows made for peace by the group’s

leader are merely to gain time,” Badi said.

Houthis made loud threats on its possessing of a stockpile of

ballistic missile technologies capable of carrying out attacks on Riyadh and

Abu Dhabi.

Badi stressed Houthi statements “do not only compromise the

Stockholm agreement (a UN-brokered truce agreement for Hodeidah inked last

December), but also undermine the political process as a whole regardless

whether it’s sponsored by the United Nations or any other party.

The heavy armament provided to Houthis, according to Badi,

suggests that Iranian policy is pushing insurgents in Yemen to act as an

“explosive belt” which, upon command, could detonate and catapult the region

into chaos.

For such reasons, Houthis should be viewed as a terror group

which has to be defeated for the sake of shoring up regional stability and

security, Badi said.

“Threats (made by Houthis) serve a blow to the already

fragile Stockholm agreement and to any peacemaking effort exerted by the UN

special envoy to Yemen,” he warned.





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