Slain Yemen strongman’s son calls for revenge
DUBAI: The son of Yemen’s expresident Ali Abdullah Saleh has called for revenge against the armed Houthi movement that killed the veteran leader after he switched sides in the civil war, Saudi-owned al-Ekbariya TV reported yesterday.
The intervention by the exiled Ahmed Ali Saleh, if confirmed, could shift the balance of power yet again after a dramatic week that saw the elder Saleh abandon his Houthi allies, who responded by killing him and routing his family’s forces from the capital Sanaa in street battles.
Yemen’s civil war, pitting the Iran-allied Houthis, who control Sanaa, against a Saudi-led military alliance backing a government based in the south, has led to one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with the United Nations warning of a potential famine that could threaten the lives of millions.
Yemen’s capital Sanaa was quiet yesterday after five days of fighting and 25 airstrikes overnight, and UN and Red Cross aid flights had landed at the airport, UN humanitarian coordinator in Yemen Jamie McGoldrick said.
Arab states, which mainly support the Saudi-backed government, condemned the killing of the ex-leader, saying his death could cause an “explosion” in Yemen.
It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the report of comments by Saleh’s son, a former leader of the elite Republican Guards who has been exiled in the United Arab Emirates, a country that backs the Saudi-led coalition.
“I will lead the battle until the last Houthi is thrown out of Yemen. The blood of my father will be hell ringing in the ears of Iran,” Ahmed Ali Saleh was quoted as saying.
He called for his father’s backers to “take back Yemen from the Iranian Houthi militias”.
The Arab League’s general secretariat condemned the Houthi movement as a “terrorist organisation” and demanded that the international community view it as such.