Chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council Dr. Rashad al-Alimi accused the Iran-backed Houthi militias of shirking their internal commitments in service of the Iranian agenda in the region.
In an address on the occasion of the advent of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, he said the Houthis were using their “terrorist marine operations” to break their international isolation.
The Houthis want to cut Yemen off from its Arab and Gulf fold, he warned.
Moreover, he stressed that the fight to reclaim state institutions and authority throughout Yemen is an integral part of national sovereignty.
This fight has been ongoing since “the Houthi militias revolted against the will of the people and seized by force dear regions of the nation as part of an Iranian agenda to occupy Yemen and violate its sovereignty and independence,” al-Alimi declared.
The Houthis were using their attacks in the Red Sea to “impose a new status quo and speak on behalf of the Yemeni people who have bravely resisted their discriminatory agenda for an entire decade and they will continue to do so until the very end,” he warned.
Al-Alimi said the Houthis’ “hostile actions have had disastrous results” on Yemen and supply lines of life saving goods given the hike in shipping and insurance costs.
The PLC and government are aware of the suffering of the Yemeni people “that has gone long enough,” he stressed.
The government was pursuing its strenuous efforts to limit the repercussions of the Houthi attacks on oil facilities and improving the value of the local currency. The state is committed to comprehensive reforms and increasing non-oil revenues, he went on to say.
He vowed that the government would move ahead with reforms and take all measures to deter the Houthi and Iranian plans.
He noted that it was “odd that the Houthis would go to great lengths to champion the Palestinians, while they continue to commit the ugliest violations against our people.”
He cited the Houthis’ policies that have impoverished the people, usurped their properties and prevented the delivery of aid to regions under their control.
Furthermore, he stressed that the government was still proposing “one initiative after the other to test the Houthis’ intentions in dealing with humanitarian issues.”
