Al-Mukallaa – The Yemeni government, whose authority is recognised internationally, has praised Saudi Arabia’s significant diplomatic efforts to put an end to the more than eight-year conflict between the government and the Houthi militia.
Yemen’s minister of information, Muammar Al-Eryani, stated that his country supports any peace initiative that would put an end to the suffering of Yemenis and that it applauds Saudi efforts to resolve the crisis in Yemen and restore stability to the nation.
The Yemeni minister said, “We express our gratitude for the extraordinary efforts made by the brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to bring peace to Yemen, as well as our full support for their efforts to achieve peace in the region and move it from a stage of conflicts and internal strife to one of stability and security.
The military intervention by the Arab coalition in Yemen in March 2015, he continued, had stopped Houthi military advances and tipped the scales in favour of the government, enabling them to drive out Houthi forces from nearly 80% of Yemeni land.
Al-Eryani claimed that Saudi Arabia has supported the GCC peace initiative for more than ten years, sponsored numerous rounds of peace talks between political parties in Yemen, offered a peace initiative in 2021 to end the war, supported Yemeni-Yemeni consultations in Riyadh in 2022, and injected billions of dollars into the Yemeni economy. This effort led to the resignation of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
“We highly value the political, economic, and humanitarian support the Saudi-led Legitimacy Support Coalition has provided to the Yemeni government and people.”
The Houthi commander Mahdi Al-Mashat and the Saudi envoy to Yemen, Mohammed Al-Jaber, met on Sunday in Sanaa to discuss the final draught of a peace accord to end the violence. This is when the Yemeni minister made his remarks.
The plan calls for a two-year transitional period, direct UN-sponsored negotiations between the Yemeni government and the Houthis, a six-month renewal of the UN-brokered truce, and a halt to all fighting on all fronts. Delegates from Oman and Saudi Arabia who came in Sanaa over the weekend took the plan before top Houthi officials after the Yemeni government approved it.
Nasser Kanaani, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, expressed confidence that his nation’s reconciliation with Saudi Arabia will pave the way for peace while reiterating Iran’s support for extending the cease-fire in Yemen and putting an end to the conflict.
The Iranian official was quoted by Iran’s Tasnim news agency as stating during a press conference in Tehran that he hoped the current circumstances in the area would lead to the development of a long-lasting truce in Yemen for the benefit of the Yemeni people.
