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Yemeni Army Chief of Staff to Asharq Al-Awsat: We Are Ready to Decide Battles, Achieve Victory

Bin Aziz was army commanders in Marib. (Saba)
Bin Aziz was army commanders in Marib. (Saba)
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Yemeni Army Chief of Staff to Asharq Al-Awsat: We Are Ready to Decide Battles, Achieve Victory

Bin Aziz was army commanders in Marib. (Saba)
Bin Aziz was army commanders in Marib. (Saba)

Yemen Armed Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Sagheer bin Aziz confirmed that the forces of the legitimate government are fully prepared to decide the battle and achieve victory.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, he stressed that the formation of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council presents a practical transformation and an advanced step towards ending the conflict, stopping the war and restoring state institutions.

“I imagine that the Council, led by Chairman Rashad Al-Alimi and his brother members of the Council, possesses many traits that will allow it to achieve many of the aspirations of the Yemeni people,” bin Aziz said.

He stated that the Council includes political figures with great leadership experience who represent all the active political components in Yemen.

Moreover, he warned the Iran-backed Houthi militias that they had a choice to make, either give up arms and engage in political dialogue or lose to the battle with the army.

“The militias must determine their options, either to lay down their arms and join the dialogue as a political component to come up with solutions that guarantee the return of state institutions, or leave the issue to the army to decide the battle,” he said.

Ever since the UN-sponsored truce went into effect in early April, the Houthis have openly exploited the Saudi-led Arab coalition’s halt of aerial operations by doubling their building of fortifications, digging of trenches and opening secondary roads on various fronts, especially in the oil-rich Marib governorate.

“The Houthis are subject to follow-up and monitoring by international institutions and all humanitarian organizations interested in peace in the world, and I believe that they know the true extent of the commitment of the Iranian-backed terrorist Houthi militia to this truce,” bin Aziz remarked.

In April alone, the Houthis committed 2,700 violations against army positions.

The militias also deployed heavy combat units that include tanks and armored vehicles to front lines. They repositioned missile and drone launchers as well.

“Asharq al-Awsat newspaper publishes dozens of news articles daily about the extent of the militias' infiltrations in the Marib, Al-Jawf, Saada, Hajjah, Hodeidah, Taiz and Dhale fronts,” noted bin Aziz.

He blamed the international community, which, according to him, continues to overlook the unprecedented terrorist acts and crimes committed by the militias.

He spoke against the international community’s acceptance of the blatant Iranian interference in Yemen and its attempts to implement an occupational agenda in the war-torn nation.

“The danger lies in the international community condoning the unprecedented terrorist acts and crimes committed by these militias, and what is more dangerous is its acceptance of the blatant Iranian interference in Yemen,” he said.

He warned that the truce from the militias’ perspective is nothing more than an opportunity to reorganize ranks, mobilize all human, material and armament capabilities, and assume offensive positions in preparation for a wide and surprising attack.

He predicted that the Houthis will focus their combat effort on major fronts, especially Marib.

However, bin Aziz underscored the readiness of the Yemeni army, popular resistance forces and tribesmen in repelling any Houthi aggression with the support of the Arab coalition.

“Our national army and with it the heroes in the popular resistance and tribesmen and all who support the legitimate government believe in the justice of defending the dignity and freedom of Yemen and Yemenis,” he asserted.

“Their historically proven courage, and their great combat experience gained in the eight years of battles, make them more able to defeat Houthi militias,” vowed bin Aziz.

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Interviews

Goldrich to Asharq Al-Awsat: No US Withdrawal from Syria

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
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Goldrich to Asharq Al-Awsat: No US Withdrawal from Syria

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich has told Asharq Al-Awsat that the US does not plan to withdraw its forces from Syria.

The US is committed to “the partnership that we have with the local forces that we work with,” he said.

Here is the full text of the interview.

Question: Mr. Goldrich, thank you so much for taking the time to sit with us today. I know you are leaving your post soon. How do you assess the accomplishments and challenges remaining?

Answer: Thank you very much for the chance to talk with you today. I've been in this position for three years, and so at the end of three years, I can see that there's a lot that we accomplished and a lot that we have left to do. But at the beginning of a time I was here, we had just completed a review of our Syria policy, and we saw that we needed to focus on reducing suffering for the people in Syria. We needed to reduce violence. We needed to hold the regime accountable for things that are done and most importantly, from the US perspective, we needed to keep ISIS from reemerging as a threat to our country and to other countries. At the same time, we also realized that there wouldn't be a solution to the crisis until there was a political process under resolution 2254, so in each of these areas, we've seen both progress and challenges, but of course, on ISIS, we have prevented the reemergence of the threat from northeast Syria, and we've helped deal with people that needed to be repatriated out of the prisons, and we dealt with displaced people in al-Hol to reduce the numbers there. We helped provide for stabilization in those parts of Syria.

Question: I want to talk a little bit about the ISIS situation now that the US troops are still there, do you envision a timeline where they will be withdrawn? Because there were some reports in the press that there is a plan from the Biden administration to withdraw.

Answer: Yeah. So right now, our focus is on the mission that we have there to keep ISIS from reemerging. So I know there have been reports, but I want to make clear that we remain committed to the role that we play in that part of Syria, to the partnership that we have with the local forces that we work with, and to the need to prevent that threat from reemerging.

Question: So you can assure people who are saying that you might withdraw, that you are remaining for the time being?

Answer: Yes, and that we remain committed to this mission which needs to continue to be pursued.

Question: You also mentioned the importance of humanitarian aid. The US has been leading on this. Are you satisfied with where you are today on the humanitarian front in Syria?

Answer: We remain committed to the role that we play to provide for humanitarian assistance in Syria. Of the money that was pledged in Brussels, we pledged $593 million just this past spring, and we overall, since the beginning of the conflict, have provided $18 billion both to help the Syrians who are inside of Syria and to help the refugees who are in surrounding countries. And so we remain committed to providing that assistance, and we remain keenly aware that 90% of Syrians are living in poverty right now, and that there's been suffering there. We're doing everything we can to reduce the suffering, but I think where we would really like to be is where there's a larger solution to the whole crisis, so Syrian people someday will be able to provide again for themselves and not need this assistance.

Question: And that's a perfect key to my next question. Solution in Syria. you are aware that the countries in the region are opening up to Assad again, and you also have the EU signaling overture to the Syrian regime and Assad. How do you deal with that?

Answer: For the United States, our policy continues to be that we will not normalize with the regime in Syria until there's been authentic and enduring progress on the goals of resolution 2254, until the human rights of the Syrian people are respected and until they have the civil and human rights that they deserve. We know other countries have engaged with the regime. When those engagements happen, we don't support them, but we remind the countries that are engaged that they should be using their engagements to push forward on the shared international goals under 2254, and that whatever it is that they're doing should be for the sake of improving the situation of the Syrian people.

Question: Let's say that all of the countries decided to talk to Assad, aren’t you worried that the US will be alienated in the process?

Answer: The US will remain true to our own principles and our own policies and our own laws, and the path for the regime in Syria to change its relationship with us is very clear, if they change the behaviors that led to the laws that we have and to the policies that we have, if those behaviors change and the circumstances inside of Syria change, then it's possible to have a different kind of relationship, but that's where it has to start.

Question: My last question to you before you leave, if you have to pick one thing that you need to do in Syria today, what is it that you would like to see happening today?

Answer: So there are a number of things, I think that will always be left and that there are things that we will try to do, to try to make them happen. We want to hold people accountable in Syria for things that have happened. So even today, we observed something called the International Day for victims of enforced disappearances, there are people that are missing, and we're trying to draw attention to the need to account for the missing people. So our step today was to sanction a number of officials who were responsible for enforced disappearances, but we also created something called the independent institution for missing persons, and that helps the families, in the non-political way, get information on what's happened. So I'd like to see some peace for the families of the missing people. I'd like to see the beginning of a political process, there hasn't been a meeting of the constitutional committee in two years, and I think that's because the regime has not been cooperating in political process steps. So we need to change that situation. And I would, of course, like it's important to see the continuation of the things that we were talking about, so keeping ISIS from reemerging and maintaining assistance as necessary in the humanitarian sphere. So all these things, some of them are ongoing, and some of them remain to be achieved. But the Syrian people deserve all aspects of our policy to be fulfilled and for them to be able to return to a normal life.