Saudis, allies caught in quagmire of Yemen war: Analyst

Press TV has interviewed Saeed Shehabi, a political commentator in London, to discuss Saudi Arabia’s ongoing military aggression against Yemen.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV:  Yemen is becoming a world’s “forgotten” war, a “forgotten” conflict. Why do you think the Western media are not bringing the plight of the Yemenis to light?

Shehabi: This is of course one of the most vicious and unjust wars in recent history because there is no justification for the aggression led by the Saudis. There was no threat to the Saudi interests or [the West] interests in the region and the country was not poised to cause any offense to any of the neighbors.

Now the Saudis decided to launch the war but before they did that, they have ensured that the media, whether it is the media under their own control or the international media, really did not focus on what is going on. So today I have rarely seen any news whether in the mainstream newspapers or in the big broadcasting houses like the BBC or CNN.

You rarely see any mention of the conflict, of the aggression, simply because those countries in the West - America and Britain mainly - are participating in the aggression. They are supplying the Saudis, according to the British foreign minister,…with three things. First they are supplying them with intelligence. Second, they are supplying them with guided missiles and bombs and thirdly they are supplying them with experts who are located at the control and command centers.   

Press TV: The British government did explain that its forces were helping Saudi Arabia stick with the rules of war when it targets Yemen. Now according to the ICRC, at least a hundred times hospitals have been targeted since the Saudi onslaught. So is that what Britain means, when it means engaging in the rules of war, targeting hospitals?

Shehabi: First of all, there should not have been a war in the first place. Secondly, the British army, the British forces, must not have taken part in it because simply it has nothing to do with Yemen, and Yemen did not really threaten the British interests either in the region or in UK itself.

Thirdly, okay, they may have asked the Saudis not to stray away from the rules of war but now it has been established that the Saudis did commit war crimes. The Saudis had only recently targeted the hospital that is run by the Doctors Without Borders and that the United Nations Secretary General himself has expressed concern several times either about the war itself or about targeting civilian targets.

Now this has all happened. Now why shouldn’t UK just simply withdraw and stop and leave the conflict to the Saudis because it has become a quagmire for the Saudis and their allies. So all in all there has been an attack on the international concepts of peace and war and also on the values of war on the Geneva Conventions [regulating] the conduct of war.

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