Al-Eryani stressed that the Arab countries are the true depth of defense of the Palestinian cause, not Iran (social networking sites)
Sanaa -
The Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism of the internationally recognized Yemeni government, Muammar Al-Eryani, affirmed that “Yemen’s position is firm and principled in supporting the struggle of the Palestinian people to regain their land and establish their independent state with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.”
The Yemeni minister said, in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera Net, that what is required of the Arabs regarding the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip is “unity and the threat of escalatory steps if the Israeli aggression and siege on the Gaza Strip does not stop.”
Minister Al-Eryani considered that the attacks carried out by the Ansar Allah Houthi group in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and Bab al-Mandab are “piracy targeting international shipping,” providing a service to the Iranian agenda, and that they are “trading in the tragedies of the Palestinian people and their just cause.” The group’s goal behind this is to “wash Its crimes against the Yemeni people.”
Regarding the American-British strikes targeting the capital, Sanaa, and Yemeni provinces under the control of the Houthis, the Yemeni Minister of Information said that the Houthis bear responsibility for this, as they have “called in military strikes with acts of piracy in the Red Sea, and brought international forces into this vital and important corridor to the world.”
He believed that what was required was to provide real support to the Yemeni government politically, economically and militarily, to enable it to restore the state and impose its control over the entire Yemeni territory. He considered that peace efforts in Yemen had been “failed by the Houthis” after they sparked confrontations with international powers in the Red Sea and became dependent on the Iranian agenda.
And to the dialogue...
Houthi supporters in Sanaa during a march in solidarity with the Palestinians against the Israeli aggression (Getty)
What is the position of the Yemeni government on the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip?
Yemen's position on the official and popular levels is consistent and principled in supporting the Palestinians' struggle to regain their land and declare their independent state with Holy Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative. Throughout the stages of the conflict with the Israeli occupation, the Yemenis have provided support to the resistance movements and the Palestinian people, as it is their first and central cause.
Despite the difficult circumstances left by the Iran-backed Houthi coup, Yemen has moved since the beginning of the recent events at the official and popular levels to support the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and Ramallah, through official positions, statements and data. Donation campaigns and demonstrations were launched that spread throughout the various liberated areas, in solidarity with the tragedy. The people of Gaza, and condemning the war crimes and genocide committed by the Israeli entity.
How do you evaluate the Arab position towards the Israeli war on Gaza?
The Arab countries are the real and historical depth of defense of the Palestinian cause, and support the struggle of the Palestinian people to regain their land and declare their independent state, not Iran, which has been working since the beginning of the current events to stop the shedding of Palestinian blood and end the siege of civilians in the Gaza Strip, and stands as a barrier against the policies of displacement and attempts to liquidate The Palestinian issue, away from the outbidding, trading, and cheap exploitation pursued by the Iranian regime and its arms in the region.
What is required in the Arab world is to form a unified position on the current events, and to threaten escalatory steps if the aggression and siege continue. There are honorable Arab positions and important and continuing movements on the political and humanitarian levels, led by the brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the Emirates, Qatar and Jordan, with the aim of reaching an immediate halt to the brutal Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip. .
It also aims to put an end to war crimes and genocide committed against women and children, in full view of the whole world, and to provide assistance to them by operating air and sea bridges with humanitarian and relief aid, and to take collective action at the international level to impose a two-state solution.
What is the position of the Yemeni government regarding the attacks of the Ansar Allah Houthi group against Israeli ships?
Piracy incidents and attacks launched by the Houthi militia on commercial ships and oil tankers in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and the Gulf of Aden are not a new phenomenon. Since 2016, the Houthis have previously carried out dozens of attacks and planted mines randomly, in implementation of the Iranian agenda to undermine the safety of international shipping and free flow. For global trade.
Therefore, what the Houthi militia has been doing since last November of systematic bullying and terrorism under the pretext of supporting Gaza is a continuation of trading in the tragedies of the Palestinian people and their just cause, to wash away their crimes and whitewash their ugly face, and to exploit the Yemenis’ sympathy for their central cause, to mobilize fighters, recruit children, and collect money. And employing it to perpetuate the war and coup, and as a tool in favor of a racist agenda that is not consistent with the justice of the Palestinian cause, in addition to covering up the Iranian regime and its arms in the region, which recent events have unmasked and revealed its trading for decades with slogans, speeches and empty sectarianism, to implement its expansionist policies in the Arab region, and to target national security. Arabi.
The criminal cannot be shown as a hero, and the killer cannot triumph over the blood of the victims, and what the Houthi militia committed of killing, displacing, displacing, and destroying homes on the heads of their residents, targeting hospitals, schools, markets, and displacement camps, blocking roads, recruiting children, planting mines, and the unjust siege of Taiz Governorate, is unacceptable. It is less horrific and horrific than what the Israeli occupation machine is committing, and the suffering of the Palestinian people is no less than the suffering of our Yemeni people.
What about the US-British strikes on the capital, Sanaa, the city of Hodeidah, and other areas?
We in the government held the Houthi militia responsible for calling in military strikes directed at a number of areas under its control, and we warned from the first incident of the dangerous consequences of acts of piracy and indiscriminate attacks on international shipping lines, and that they would lead to the militarization of the Red Sea and the bringing of international forces into this important vital corridor. We stressed that the militia Through these actions, Al-Houthi is gambling with the security and stability of Yemen, which has not yet recovered from the effects of the wars it unleashed to please its masters in Tehran.
What is required is to provide real support to the Yemeni government in the political, economic and military aspects, to enable it to restore the state and impose its control, and restore security and stability over the entire Yemeni territory, in addition to taking real deterrent steps towards the Houthi militia, by immediately beginning to classify it as a terrorist organization, and drying up its financial and political sources. And media.
There are fears of environmental impacts on the Yemeni coast as a result of the sinking of the ship Rubymar. What can the government do?
The government formed a crisis cell to deal with the sinking of the ship Rubymar, which was targeted by the Houthi militia on November 18, carrying 41,000 tons of highly toxic fertilizers and quantities of oils and fuel.
There is coordination with the United Nations to assess the damage and address the environmental disaster, which threatens Yemeni fishing stocks and fisheries, which provide livelihoods for 1.7 million Yemeni citizens, and threatens the destruction of the marine environment and biodiversity in the region. We call on all countries, organizations and bodies concerned with preserving the marine environment to support the efforts The government in this regard.
Can peace be achieved in Yemen? Where have the settlement efforts reached?
The government, with all its components, has confirmed in word and deed its constant keenness to restore calm and return to the path of negotiations, as an entry point to stop the bloodshed, put an end to the suffering of the Yemenis, and establish peace and stability in Yemen, based on its national and constitutional responsibilities, while the Houthi militia continues to pursue a policy of political and military escalation, and mobilize fighters, equipment and weapons for various purposes. The battle fronts to return to the war square.
The recent behavior of the Houthi militia in the Red Sea has revealed to the entire world that it is not qualified to be part of a path to build peace in Yemen, due to its complete submission to Iran, its indifference to national accounts, and the disastrous repercussions of its practices on the national economy, such as the possibility of an increase in the cost of insurance for commercial ships, and what will be the consequences. It imposes additional burdens on citizens, and exacerbates the deteriorating humanitarian and living situation in areas forcefully under its control.
The efforts made by the brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Sultanate of Oman to restore calm and revive the course of negotiations in Yemen would have achieved great progress had it not been for the recent events in the region and the Houthi attacks on international shipping lines.
At a time when the Yemenis were waiting for any sign of peace, the Houthi militia set off new confrontations and turned the Yemeni lands, air and seas into a theater for settling regional and international scores, confirming once again its obstructive approach to efforts to stop the war and bring peace, and that it is a terrorist organization that is only good at igniting wars, and is dependent on... As a pliable tool to implement the Iranian agenda to destabilize security and stability in Yemen and the region, and threaten international interests.
How do you view the road map announced by UN envoy Hans Grundberg regarding the peace process in Yemen?
The position of the Yemeni state, led by His Excellency President Dr. Rashad Mohammed Al-Alimi, is firm and firm in supporting efforts to bring about a comprehensive, just and sustainable peace in Yemen, based on the terms of reference agreed upon nationally, regionally and internationally, most notably Security Council Resolution 2216, which guarantees the restoration of the state and the non-recurrence of the conflict, and prevents the recurrence of the coup. On the state, the return of services, the normalization of life, the disbursement of employee salaries, an end to the human tragedy, and the provision of a decent life for citizens.
What is your position on the procedures for opening roads between Yemeni cities that were cut off during the years of war?
We in the government are open to the issue of opening roads, as it is a humanitarian issue in the first place, and we have presented dozens of initiatives in this aspect, the most recent of which is the initiative of Sheikh Sultan Al-Arada - a member of the Presidential Leadership Council - to open the main Sana’a-Ma’rib road, and the initiative to open the main Sana’a-Taiz road, which It came within the framework of the Presidential Command Council’s direction to alleviate the suffering of the Yemeni people, facilitate the movement of citizens, and smooth the flow of food supplies and basic goods.
However, over the past years, the Houthi militia has intended to thwart government initiatives, local mediations, and agreements concluded under international auspices in this regard, the most important of which is the 2018 Stockholm Agreement and the humanitarian truce under international auspices. This has been repeated with recent initiatives, by fabricating complications and pretexts, and evading and maneuvering by declaring its willingness to open side roads. The dirt is unsafe and not suitable for the passage of tankers and passenger buses.
How does the Yemeni government face the economic problems and the collapse of the value of the riyal and the resulting rise in prices?
The Yemeni government has made unremitting efforts to pay the salaries of all state employees and retirees, including those in areas controlled by the Houthi militia, and has striven to find practical solutions to this issue, in accordance with controls that ensure the sustainability of salary disbursement, and a comprehensive treatment of public revenues, including revenues from the ports of Hodeidah, and various... Tax and customs revenues in areas controlled by the Houthi militia.
The government clashed with the militia’s intransigence at more than one stage, as the government unilaterally paid the salaries of more than 120,000 employees and civilian retirees in areas under the militia’s control in 2019, including the health sector and the judiciary, and 50% of employees in higher education, universities, and the civil sector in Hodeidah Governorate, and civilian retirees.
However, in January 2020, the Houthi militia imposed a monetary division, by preventing the circulation of cash issued by the main headquarters of the Central Bank of Yemen in the temporary capital, Aden, which led to the disruption of the course of disbursing salaries, after they had continued to be disbursed regularly for an entire year, as part of the policy of impoverishment. And the starvation it pursues against citizens.
The government found itself facing additional challenges with the Houthi militia waging an economic war since October 2022, attacking ships and oil tankers in oil export ports, in the governorates of Shabwa and Hadramaut, which led to a complete cessation of oil exports, and prevented the sale of gas produced in the Ma’rib Governorate. And the obstacles it placed at land ports to prevent the movement of goods and goods between the liberated areas and the areas forcefully under its control, to disrupt the port of Aden, all with the aim of undermining the government’s ability to carry out its duties, most notably the payment of the salaries of state employees.
Therefore, we in the government, led by Dr. Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, Prime Minister, are making exceptional efforts to confront these challenges in various aspects, by activating government performance, enhancing the principle of transparency and accountability, and adopting an austerity policy to rationalize spending, develop resources, maintain monetary stability, and regularly disburse employee salaries. .
Source: Al Jazeera