By staff and agency

Saudi Arabia lost the war to Iran: ex-Yemeni minister

June 26, 2020 - 19:37

Former Yemeni Minister of Transportation Saleh Algabwani said on Thursday that Saudi Arabia has lost the war in Yemen to Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

He tweeted, “When we evaluate the performance of the regional powers in the Yemeni war, we find that the beneficiaries are Iran and the UAE, however the loser is Saudi Arabia.”

Hossein Dehghan, a military advisor to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said in an interview with Aljazeera that Saudi Arabia should admit defeat in Yemen and adopt new policies.

What is happening in Yemen is military chaos for which Saudi Arabia is responsible, the military advisor remarked, IRNA reported on Monday.

Saudi Arabia launched a military campaign against Yemen in March 2015 with the aim of eliminating the Yemeni opposition groups who had toppled the government of President Mansour Hadi.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had vowed to restore the toppled president in a matter of weeks.

In a report on its website on March 24, Amnesty International said, “Gross human rights violations, including what could amount to war crimes, are being committed throughout the country. By the end of 2019, it is estimated that over 233,000 Yemenis would have been killed as a result of fighting and the humanitarian crisis.”

Meanwhile, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has documented more than 20,000 civilians killed and injured by the fighting since March 2015, the amnesty said. 

A man-made humanitarian crisis has spiraled with approximately 16 million people waking up hungry every day, the amnesty regretted.

NA/PA