Less Stability After Foreign Interventions
Yemen’s government farer away than ever from restoring political stability
Sanaa, 22 December – Saudi Arabian Deputy Defence Minister Khaled bin Sultan admitted that his country’s military intervention in neighbouring Yemen has so far resulted in 73 soldiers killed and 470 wounded, while 26 are missing. According to him, 12 of the missing are believed to have been killed, while the fate of the remaining 14 is still unclear. Following these announcements, the Deputy Defence Minister said his country’s armed forces are mulling an attack on the border village of al-Jabiriya, where the al-Houthi movement is still present.
It seems however that the alleged goal of Saudi Arabian and US intervention in Yemen to help Sanaa restore political stability, is farer away than before the operation Scorched Earth began on 11 August. Today Yemen’s Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad al-Shadadi suspended his membership in Parliament protesting against the killing of at least 63 civilians, among them 28 children, during the government’s military assaults in the southern Abyan province last Thursday.
Al-Shadadi’s decision came after Yemeni Deputy Defence and Security Affairs Minister Rashad al-Alimi failed to appear in Parliament to answer questions raised by the Abyan operation. Meanwhile, the operation in Abyan had prompted thousands of Yemeni citizens to head towards the two affected areas of al-Maajana in the Mehfed district to stage an open-end protest against the government, which, echoing US statements, had declared this attack as a success.
