'Saudi intervention failed', senior aide to Yemeni president says in 'unprecedented' public remarks

An aide to Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi called the Saudi-led intervention in his nation a 'failure', after the recent recapturing of Socotra island by UAE-backed separatists.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab Staff

22 June, 2020

Senior members of the Hadi government recently accused Saudi Arabia of 'betrayal' [Getty]

A senior Yemeni official said the intervention of a S audi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen's civil war has been a failure, in unprecedented critical remarks, a report said on Sunday.

Ahmed Bin Daghr, an aide to Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and a former prime minister, said the war "has achieved nothing of its objectives, destroying Yemen as a state," according to Bloomberg.

"The military option is no longer a viable means," Bin Daghr reportedly said in a statement, calling for direct negotiations to be supervised by the United Nations.

Bin Daghr's comments come just days after UAE-backed southern Yemeni separatists gained control of the strategic Socotra island and started implementing self-rule.

Forces loyal to the Saudi-backed government, led by Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, withdrew from the Socotra battle in what they said was an attempt to "deescalate the situation."

The withdrawal was blasted by Yemeni officials who viewed the move as a "betrayal" by the gulf kingdom, which had recently announced an initiative aimed at resolving the deadlock between the warring sides.

Read also: Yemen in Focus: HRW says UN move to remove Saudi-led coalition from child-killer blacklist 'shameful'

The coalition's intervention in 2015 was aimed at restoring Hadi's administration against Iran-aligned Houthi rebels. The intervention has resulted in the worst humanitarian crisis, killing over 100,000 people.