US, Saudi Arabia misusing Kuwait peace talks on Yemen: Activist

Press TV has conducted an interview with Hussain al-Bukhaiti, activist and political commentator from Sana’a, about the resumption of Saudi airstrikes against the Yemeni people as warring parties are holding peace talks in Kuwait.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: You heard our news and what the news indicates as to the reasons why the talks have broken off. What do you think are the reasons behind the break-off of these talks?

Bukhaiti: First of all is what happened in the morning that the Riyadh delegate refused to come to the morning meeting. In that meeting, they were supposed, both sides, to hand a list of all prisoners in Taiz Province. So, they can study those names and check those names and then for a future release. So, the Riyadh delegate has not come to this meeting. They have even switched off their mobile phones and they have refused to answer the calls from Sana’a delegate and as well from the UN envoy to Yemen Mr. Ismail Ould Cheikh [Ahmed].

And as well in the last 24 to 28 hours the Saudi-backed forces have conducted massive attacks and the largest was in al-Jawf Province in an area called al-Matun … , central al-Jawf, [during which] 35 soldiers of the Saudi-backed forces were killed and injured. This high number showed amount of the attack that was conducted on that area. Ansarullah, the Houthi, the Popular Committee and the Yemeni Army have destroyed several of the Saudi armored vehicles and tanks in that area. And as well, the head of al-Qaeda in al-Jawf which his name is … Hamad Mana Gharza was killed as well in this attack and they show you that they are fighting side-by-side as they did in Aden as they did in Taiz and they are doing now the same thing exactly in Ma’rib and in al-Jawf.

And I think … that’s why the truce committee has suspended its talk with Riyad delegate because they want to make a point that those delegates are the one that … are not keeping the truce, because from the beginning of this so-called truce, there was over 158 Saudi airstrikes on several different areas in Yemen, including massive attacks in many areas in Yemen. And as well there are hundreds of new armored vehicles coming from Saudi [Arabia] and they have reached Ma’rib and al-Jawf in the last 72 hours.

Press TV: Well, let’s take a look at the military aspects of this Saudi war on Yemen. The most recent development that I think is of significance is the fact that the US has dispatched what it has called special forces, a couple of hundred of them, to, I believe, Mukalla or for them to operate in Mukalla. It was supposed to be a short-term stay, at this point it’s going on for weeks. Don’t you think that the US, if it wanted to, could contribute more to the political side but it’s playing a key role in maintaining a military, what they think, solution to this war and that’s providing military support to the Saudis not to mention the UK also?

Bukhaiti: No, I mean the US, they are doing exactly what the Saudis are doing during this truce, they are using the Kuwait talk for a cover to move forces across Yemen. And we know that American forces have landed in Yemen in the first week of this truce and they show you they don’t really want any peace in Yemen. And we have heard in the last three days that the American Treasury has declared two Yemenis as terrorists. And their name is Ghalib Abdullah al-Zaidi and this guy is the head of the Saudi-backed forces … in Ma’rib and as well the Aden governor who was appointed by Hadi in December 2015, his name is Nayef al-Qaisi. They are declared as al-Qaeda supporter and al-Qaeda leader and al-Qaeda commander and they are financing al-Qaeda in Yemen. And they are as well using and fighting in al-Qaeda fighting side by side with al-Qaeda to fight Ansarullah, the Houthi.

This is the exact word the US Treasury has said about these people and those people are in the Saudi-backed forces, are in the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. And one of the suspects of the al-Qaeda member that was declared months ago is Abdul Wahhab al-Homayqani, who is a member of the Riyadh delegates … [and] he is in Kuwait at this moment. And they show you the bias of the United States, while they are declaring people as al-Qaeda member and as terrorist, they are supporting these people on the ground, they are supporting Saudi Arabia and the Saudi-led coalition, which they are fighting the Yemeni Army and Ansarullah, the Houthi.

They are moving al-Qaeda, they have moved al-Qaeda from al-Mukalla and from Shabwah to Abyan and to Dhubab near Bab-el-Mandeb, south of Taiz. And they are making a training camp for those al-Qaeda members, because they’re going to transport them from the south to the north. And we’ve seen the latest attack as well in Aden. This shows you that the insecurity that the Saudi-backed forces have in those areas and they want the exact thing to happen in Sana’a and in any other area that’s under control of Ansarullah, the Houthi. They want us to be always under al-Qaeda attack. They don’t us to defend ourselves and that’s why they always insist for the Ansarullah, the Houthi and the Yemeni Army to hand their weapons. This is the exact thing that the Zionists are asking from Hezbollah, because they know that our weapons are the only means that we have to defend ourselves against this aggression.

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