Yemen
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Press TV has conducted an interview with Ali al-Ahmed, director of the Institute for the [Persian] Gulf Affairs (IGA) from Washington, on a UN-brokered truce in Yemen.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.


Press TV: What do you think about the ceasefire agreement? We've had talks about the whole situation in Yemen before. And you were talking about the Yemenis taking the whole situation into their own hands. What do you make of this new truce that is supposedly going to take place between Yemen's Ansarullah movement and the United Nations?

Ahmed: There appears to be Saudi fatigue, the Saudi government right now, I think, more than ever is convinced that it has reached its end. There is nothing that they can do that can change the realities in Yemen. They have spent over 100 billion dollars in eight months on this war. They have bombed Yemen. They have destroyed Yemen's infrastructure. They have killed more than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, yet although they have many countries behind them, the US, the UK and the mercenaries from different parts of the world from Colombia to Senegal to Jordan, it didn't work. So, there is a realization that is setting in that Saudi Arabia has been defeated. It has not been able to reach its stated goals. So they are trying to find a way out of this conflict.

Press TV: Huge failure as you say on behalf of Riyadh and its allies, they didn't get anywhere with this war, but as we reported Saudi Arabia can't really be trusted when it comes to a ceasefire, because it's violated before. Do you think this is the case now or we can be actually hopeful that peace is restored within Yemen?

Ahmed: You cannot ever trust the Saudi government, ever, but the signs, the writings on the wall, show that there is a Saudi realization that they have been defeated. They are trying to find a way. Today the communiqué in Riyadh of the GCC summit indicated such Saudi desire to end by calling on the warring parties in Yemen to reach a ceasefire. At the same time, there was a disagreement between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait on the final communiqué.

And I think the emir of Kuwait saw an end and he wanted to make it clear, so he can withdraw his forces as well, because now all these [Persian] Gulf countries, except Oman obviously, which have participated in the criminal war against Yemen, will have to pay certain or some price, at least financial, for reconstructing the Yemeni state and the infrastructure.

I really think that it's happening, but again you never ever can trust the Saudi government.