US seeks to fuel Saudi war against Yemen: Activist

Press TV has conducted an interview with Hussain al-Bukhaiti, an activist and political commentator, to discuss Saudi Arabia’s ongoing military aggression against Yemen.

Here is a rough transcription of the interview:

Press TV: What can you tell us about this escalation of airstrikes against people of Yemen and the hopes for these peace talks to resume in Kuwait or elsewhere?

Bukhaiti: The Saudi escalation has increased lately especially after Houthi fighters and Yemeni army have advanced deep inside Saudi and the latest attack as well on Aramco Oil Company and we heard that American newspaper or website called Business Insider has said that oil prices have increased two percent after report of ballistic missiles launched by Yemeni army into Saudi Aramco Oil Company and we have seen just those Saudi escalations, just yesterday they have targeted a market in road junction to north Sa’ada has killed nine people and injured 17 including children. Some of them are critically injured and we have seen that all these Saudi strikes are coming and happening on Yemeni civilians as it was from the beginning of the war and it is really surprising that we have seen that John Kerry has said in his latest meeting in Saudi Arabia, he said that Yemen war, Yemen conflict, he did not call it even a war, has been for 18 months more than it should be.

So this shows you I think they did not think that the war is going to continue this long, they did not think that Saudi will not successfully reach its goal because still it has not brought Hadi government to what they called 80 percent of land they have liberated in Yemen like in Aden and still the Saudis have not stopped Yemeni army and Houthi fighters from launching ballistic missiles.

On the top of that, Houthi fighters and Yemeni army have made new homemade ballistic missiles. One of them was the latest that they have fired at Aramco [Oil] Company in Saudi Arabia and as well we have heard what John Kerry said in his statement after the meeting in Saudi Arabia. All he was concerned about is about the Saudi security and he condemned the Houthi attacks and violence in Saudi border.      

Press TV: John Kerry was there in Saudi Arabia and when he was at the podium, he expressed concern about 17 months of war that the Saudis have inflicted on the people of Yemen but he mentioned, like you said, the retaliatory attacks by the Yemenis against the Saudis but he did not mention the disproportionate number of civilians that that have been killed, women and children, nearly 10,000 in Yemen and he did not mention the use of internationally banned weapons by the Saudis against the Yemenis, I think he has failed to mention when he took that podium trying to express concern about the Saudi war on Yemen, your thoughts.

Bukhaiti: It is clear, we know who has met with in Jeddah - it was the United States, Britain, the United Arab Emirates and as well Saudi Arabia. Those four countries are part of the war.

We all remember that the White House has released a statement in the first minute of the Saudi war in Yemen and they have said they fully support it – the Saudi war in Yemen – and they have as well sold billions of dollars worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia and I know that as part of the Saudi aggression they are not going to condemn the Saudis in any way. He even added that this new peace plan must safeguard Saudi security and as well he talked about the [Persian] Gulf states’ stability and security. What about Yemeni security? What about the stability of Yemen? What about 10,000 people [who] were killed directly by the Saudi airstrikes and 10,000 children as UNICEF has said died because of lack of medicine and food and nutrition?

All these they do not care and they do not matter to the United States because the United States is the source of this war and if the United States wants to stop this war, they do not need all this plan. They can just tell the Saudis stop your war and it could happen in a matter of minute.

And as well if we see this plan, they still keep talking about what they have said before in Kuwait. They insist on withdraw from Sana’a only, they have not mentioned other withdraw from Ma'rib or Aden. We have a foreign invasion, we have a mercenary in Yemen from all across the globe, so what about those people? Does he think that Yemeni army when he asked them to withdraw from Sana’a we have to withdraw the police stations, security forces, they include them as Houthis and Yemeni army. Who is going to protect Sana’a? They want Sana’a to be empty from all these security forces including Ansarullah, the Houthi and then they want to bring al-Qaeda, the same thing they have done in south.

We have seen that straightaway after the Houthis and Popular Committee and Yemeni army withdrew from all cities in the south, they were replaced directly by the al-Qaeda and by ISIS and this is the main thing and as well he mentioned about handing over weapons to a third party. Who is this third party who can take all these weapons from Ansarullah, the Houthis and from the Yemeni army?

There are huge gaps in this plan and the thing is they have not said anything about the crisis and the human cost in Yemen. While they were meeting in Jeddah, Saudi conducted a strike as I mentioned on a market in Sa’ada killing nine and injuring other 17. So what about all these people that have been killed during this war? What about cluster bombs? They are now using white phosphoric munitions in north of Sa’ada and Hajjah.

The Saudis have been defeated really, really badly and the United States, they want to keep this war, they want to fuel it more and that is why his statement, as he was mentioning only about the Saudis because they want to keep selling weapons …

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