Yemen's Chief of Staff, Major General Taher Al-Aqeeli said that only few days separate him from returning to the frontline, when he will again join other members of the Yemeni National Army in liberating the remaining Yemeni territories.
“What I have offered to my country is nothing compared to the sacrifices offered by the rest of the National Army soldiers,” he said.
Asharq Al-Awsat met with Al-Aqeeli on Saturday night in Prince Sultan Military Medical City, in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.
The chief of staff of the Yemeni army has been injured by a landmine that went off while he was inspecting government positions in Khub wa al-Sha‘af, in the northern al-Jouf province, where heavy fighting between government forces and Houthi fighters was underway.
The General stressed on the need to be attached to the legitimacy, the unity of the Yemeni territories, and the importance of facing any plan to divide Yemen.
Al-Aqeeli also spoke about the “steel spirit” of his army personnel, asserting that the liberation of his country would not be achieved only through field advancements.
“We need also to liberate the Yemenis at the ideological and social levels,” he explained.
The General also asserted that his army “will not rest unless we liberate the entire Yemeni territories.”
Al-Aqeeli said the Saudi-led Coalition in Yemen have succeeded in defusing an armed conflict between government forces and the so-called Southern Transitional Council in Aden during the past few days, also stressing on the achievements of the Yemeni army, thanks to the support of the Coalition, particularly in Taiz and al-Jawf.
“There are facts that cannot be left unattended,” Al-Aqeeli said when speaking about the retreats in the ranks of the Houthi militias.
“When Yemeni soldiers enter a liberated area to conduct sweeping operations, they find a large number of bodies belonging to Houthi militants left in the battlefield without being buried. Instead, the militias use the bodies of their militants as weapons by booby-trapping them,” he said.
