SAUDI Arabia-led Operation “Decisive Storm” will help save Yemen from Iran's hegemony, President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has said. The military operation was launched early Thursday against Houthi militants in response to an appeal from the legitimate Hadi government. In an exclusive interview with Okaz/Saudi Gazette at Al-Maasheeq Palace in Aden, Hadi admitted that the Houthis' coup virtually resulted in dismembering the country's capital Sanaa, and made the country's coffers empty. While blaming a large number of armed personnel for disloyalty and treachery, Hadi urged all Yemenis to stand united and rally behind the legitimate government in defeating those working to weaken the country's security, stability and unity. Hadi said the Yemeni people won't accept Iran's machinations to destabilize the country. “I am fully confident that the Iranian Twelvers' experiment that was agreed upon between Houthis and those supporting them won't be acceptable to the people of Yemen. On the other hand, the wise Yemeni people believe in maintaining the country's security, stability and unity, and thereby they agreed to the Gulf Initiative and its executive mechanism,” he said while hoping that the people will reject those advocating sectarianism, regionalism and factionalism. Hadi is of the firm view that the Gulf Initiative and its executive mechanism is the best way for Yemen to get out of the current crisis and restore peace and normalcy in the country. He lamented at the turn of events after turning a peaceful revolution led by youths to a conflict involving various power centers and a split in the armed forces into various factions, each with a military arsenal with the capability to destroy the capital and inflicting colossal damage to the country as a whole. Hadi expressed his gratitude and appreciation to the Gulf states, especially Saudi Arabia, for supporting the Yemeni government and people on political, economical, security and other fronts, especially in the current critical juncture through which the country is passing. “We are profoundly thankful to the quick positive response from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states for our appeal to make a military intervention to save the legitimate government of Yemen and prevent the aggression of Houthi militias. I also urged the United Nations Security Council for a ‘binding decision' to halt the march of Houthis to Aden after making it the temporary capital of the government.” Hadi praised Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman for the Kingdom's unwavering support to its Yemeni brothers taking into account considerations such as brotherhood, neighborliness, religious responsibility and broader regional interests. “There is nothing unusual in the position taken by the Kingdom in lending a helping hand to the Yemeni brothers, and this could be seen in the readiness to host the conference of all Yemeni parties involved in the conflict in Riyadh,” he said while stressing that the conference will be based on the Gulf Initiative, decisions of the UN Security Council and the Yemeni Constitution. Hadi pinned great hope that all Yemeni parties and forces, who have shown their keenness to safeguard the nation's security and stability as well as to restore peace in the country, would support the initiative because Yemen has suffered a lot and is desperately in need of peace and stability. “It is high time that every Yemeni be aware of his national and historic responsibility toward the people who are eager to see the prevalence of peaceful coexistence and harmonious relations among all segments of society within the framework of a single nation that embraces all of them on the platform of justice and equality and real partnership in power and prosperity, away from discrimination and deprivation. He said the Kingdom always stood by Yemen in supporting it on different occasions. “King Salman's positive response to hold the conference on Yemen at the GCC headquarters is a continuation of the policy of his predecessors, especially King Abdullah who hosted a meeting of different Yemeni parties during the 2011 crisis and the subsequent signing of the Gulf Initiative to solve the crisis. This shows the keenness of the Kingdom to achieve Yemeni unity and cohesiveness,” he said while thanking the international community and global organizations for their political and financial support to Yemen. Hadi blamed Houthis for the current political crisis in Yemen. “Houthis carried out a coup by taking control of Sanaa and some other regions through the language of arms and not through the language of dialogue. “The people of Yemen have chosen the language of dialogue as the ideal way forward to build the nation and work out its future roadmap.” On his flight to Aden, Hadi said: “I left the capital when the armed Houthi militia took control of the capital and laid a siege to my residence. It was virtually a siege on all Yemenis and thus carrying out a military coup, disavowing all the efforts to have a political reconciliation with the parties concerned,” he said adding: “The Yemeni people's rejection of the coup, and their standing by the legitimate government to prevent the country sliding into a civil war are the major factors that encouraged me to continue discharging the constitutional powers by saving the ship through the Gulf Initiative, its executive mechanism and the outcome of the National Dialogue that calls for the endorsement of the new constitution and holding presidential and parliamentary elections as part of a time-bound plan.” Hadi said his departure to Aden and making it the temporary capital came as a step to defend the rights and fulfill the obligations of legal organizations and establishments and completing the transitional phase in line with the Gulf Initiative to end the political crisis in the country. He asserted that his continuation as president is not in any way clinging to power but discharging his constitutional responsibility in safeguarding Yemen's unity and working to end the division and disunity, eschewing violence and halting calls for sectarianism. “Our arrival in Aden was not a decision of my own choice but rather the culmination of a number of factors and situations. We are forced to declare Aden as the temporary capital after Sanaa came under fire from the Houthi militia following the coup carried out by them and the subsequent invasion of the ministries and other government institutions,” he said while noting that it was very difficult for the legitimate government to function under such a dangerous situation. “Sanaa has become dismembered among the conflicting parties and the ministries are under occupation, infrastructure is under ruin, state coffers are empty, security is shattered, and above all the army's loyalty is not to the state but to some individuals.” He also pinned great hope on the Yemeni people that they would embark on a peaceful way and will be successful in ending the current crisis without bloodshed. Referring to the decision taken last year to transform Yemen into a six-region federation as part of its political transition, Hadi said: “Out of six regions, five have announced their readiness to go ahead with the decision of the National Dialogue and stick fast to implementing it.” He also hinted at making alterations in the draft constitution for the sake of the country's unity and integrity.
