Al-Houthi's spokesman ranged from expressing his hope for normal relations with Saudi Arabia to demanding the handing over of the Hijaz to Iran

English - Saturday 04 February 2023 الساعة 03:12 pm
Sana'a, NewsYemen, exclusive:

A press statement by Yemeni Foreign Minister Ahmed bin Mubarak revealed that the ongoing efforts between the coalition and the Houthis for weeks to renew the UN armistice, which ended since the beginning of last October, have faltered.

 Ibn Mubarak said, in statements reported by the Saudi "Al-Hadath" channel, that these regional and international roles and efforts have yielded nothing, adding that the Houthi group continues its violations on the battle fronts, and its continued pressure on the economy, the seizure of resources, and the plundering of the revenues of the port of Hodeidah.

The foreign minister's statement is an official confirmation that the ongoing indirect negotiations, mediated by Oman, between Saudi Arabia and the Houthi group have faltered, despite media reports in Gulf newspapers confirming that an agreement to renew the armistice is near.

During the past weeks, an atmosphere of optimism prevailed about the possibility of ending the war file in Yemen 8 years after its outbreak, with indications of that, the most prominent of which was the noticeable change in the Houthi group's discourse towards Saudi Arabia, which leads the Arab coalition in Yemen.

A change has reached the point of complete reversal from the language of threat and hostility to the Houthi group declaring its willingness to discuss a relationship of "safe neighborhood and securing the borders" with Saudi Arabia, according to a statement by the group's spokesman, Mohammed Abdel Salam, in mid-November.

A spokesman for the Houthi group said, at the time, that Saudi Arabia's fears of his group are unrealistic and illogical fears resulting from an incorrect reading, expressing his hope that there will be normal relations with Saudi Arabia on the principle of good neighborliness and that the interest is in understanding, coexistence, dialogue and the removal of problems.

The group's spokesman flirted with Saudi Arabia with "good neighborliness" with the beginning of the Omani mediation between the two parties. It seemed like a political offer by Al-Houthi to Saudi Arabia by abandoning his subordination to Iran in exchange for recognizing his coup authority over Yemen.

With indications that these negotiations have faltered, the group’s spokesman, on Friday, published a statement on his official channel using the “Telegram” application to establish an alleged entity called the “Hijaz Parliament” in reference to the Hijaz region in Saudi Arabia, which is a geographical area that includes the most important religious sanctities for Muslims (Makkah Al-Mukarramah and Medina Al-Munawwarah).  

The statement, which was published by the media of the Houthi group in Yemen and Iranian media, strongly attacked the Saudi authorities, and included a call for incitement against them by accusing them of demolishing religious monuments sacred to Muslims during the past years.

While the statement included an explicit call for violence by calling for the liberation of the land of the Hijaz, it was remarkable that the statement echoed the Iranian calls that have been going on against Saudi Arabia for decades under allegations of politicizing the rituals of Hajj and its demand for an Islamic administration for it, which is the same demand that was mentioned in the statement with its expansion to include the land of the Hijaz.