Saudi Crown Prince Wants to End Yemen War: Leaks

Local Editor

Newly-leaked emails written by two former top US officials show that Saudi crown prince and defense minister Mohammed bin Salman “wants out” of the war he started in Yemen.

Email correspondence from April of this year between Martin Indyk, the former US ambassador to the Zionist entity and Yousef Otaiba, the UAE’s ambassador to the US, was obtained by Middle East Eye, in which the two discussed their dealings with Prince bin Salman.

Indyk said bin Salman had been “clear” in meetings with himself and former national security advisor Stephen Hadley that he “wants out of Yemen” and is “OK with the US engaging with Iran,” despite his publicly aggressive stance on both the Yemeni crisis and Tehran.

Otaiba, however, did not reply to requests for comment, while Hadley told MEE: “I cannot comment on what was a private conversation.”

The then 29-year-old Mohammed bin Salman attracted criticism internationally for plunging Saudi Arabia into a bloody intervention in Yemen in March 2015.

The Saudi-led bombing campaign and air and sea blockade has left 70 per cent of Yemen’s 27-million strong population reliant on some form of humanitarian aid, 7.3 million on the brink of famine and caused the worst cholera outbreak in modern history.

The idea that Saudi Arabia is trying to exit its expensive war next door is not a new one, however, co-founder of the Sanaa Centre and non-resident fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington DC told The Independent.

The UN estimates $2.1bn is needed to stop Yemen turning into a completely failed state, but donor governments only pledged half that amount at an aid conference in Geneva in April.

Western governments have also faced criticism for their role in the conflict: arms sold to Saudi Arabia are destined for use in the Yemeni war, rights groups indicate.

Source: The Independent, Edited by website team

15-08-2017 | 09:59

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