South Yemen leader sends messages from Davos

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Wed, 17-01-2024 03:16 PM, Aden

Aden (South24)

The President of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) and member of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) Aidrous Al-Zubaidi said on Wednesday that the continuation of the US-UK strikes against the Houthis is a positive step and should have taken place earlier.

The assertion was made during a panel discussion at the Davos International Economic Forum in Switzerland, in which Al-Zubaid participated with several figures.

The South Yemen leader said in the discussion session: “The Houthi naval attacks have nothing to do with what is happening in Gaza. [The Houthis] are exploiting the tragedy of the Palestinians to cover up their crimes against humanity.”

He warned that Yemen is heading toward a major humanitarian and economic crisis if Houthi attacks against international shipping continue. He said: "There is a need for a strategy that deters the Houthis militarily, politically and economically."

Since his arrival in Switzerland last Monday to participate in the Davos Forum, Al-Zubaidi has spoken to a number of international media outlets regarding the recent developments in Yemen.

He told The Guardian that the US and UK "airstrikes [against the Houthis] on their own are not enough." He called for supplementing the air campaign with the provision of weapons, training, and intelligence information to the forces of the internationally recognized government.

“We do not want the US-led coalition to repeat the same mistakes as the Arab-led coalition in Yemen when they concentrated airstrikes on Houthi positions without sufficient ground forces to supplement those strikes,” he added.

“The de facto ceasefire was already dead. There is relative quiet, but the Houthis are using drones quite intensively, indeed daily, against us,” he told the newspaper.

In statements to Reuters, Al-Zubaidi said that the US-led international coalition to protect navigation in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden “is weak because regional powerhouses Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt did not take part".

Al-Zubaidi revealed to the American network NBC that last September he warned US and UK officials about the Houthis’ preparations for military escalation during the UN General Assembly session in New York.

“They wrote everything down, but they didn't do anything,” he said.

Al-Zubaidi held a number of separate meetings on the sidelines of the Davos conference with several figures, including the foreign ministers of Norway, Finland, and Iraq, the Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, and US Senator Mike Rounds.

Aidrous Al-Zubaidi attending the World Economic Forum (WEF)

South Yemen leader sends messages from Davos