Saudi seeking to advance its interests in Yemen at the expense of Yemenis: Pundit

Press TV has conducted an interview with Barry Grossman, an international lawyer from Bali about the brief capture of a military base in the Yemeni city of Aden by terrorists.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Give us your assessment of the ongoing violence in Yemen.

Grossman: Well, I think it’s fair to say that Yemen is a mess. I mean the Yemenis have been waiting for more than 50 years to realize their independence. But since independence was first granted, they have been under the Saudi boot and it’s certainly not getting any better, certainly in recent years with this conflict erupting after Hadi won presidency unopposed and then overstayed his term as president for more than a full year without calling an election.

After he was ousted by the Houthi movement, it’s become increasingly untenable and bloody. And of course the UN has played a very key role in this by passing resolutions in effect to back one side, i.e. the Saudi, US and Israeli side, who all are seeking to advance their interests in Yemen at the expense of the Yemenis.

Now, these latest terms of adventure are a little bit difficult to gauge. It seems rather odd to anyone who follows what's going on in Yemen that al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula would be attacking Hadi forces. It seems very odd indeed, and in fact while some 20 of the people who carried out that attack, in addition to 60 Yemeni military forces, there were 20 people killed in the event, one would think it would be fairly easy to work out from the remains of those 20 people exactly who is responsible for that particular attack, although it’s only one of many that happened last week. For example, last week, while Hadi was paying homage to King Salman in Mecca, the US carried out several drone attacks in Yemen that killed a number of people, although we don't know how many. We’re told they’re al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula forces.

To work out just what happened at these bases adjourning the airport maybe it would be wise to ask the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula supporter who represented Hadi’s negotiating team and the US side in the last year in the UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva. He was at that time a designated terrorist by the US State Department and a member - at least a supporter, a financial supporter - of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and while he was in Geneva negotiating on behalf of the Hadi regime, the US also carried out a number of drone attacks killing key members of al-Qaeda in the Peninsula.

So, perhaps that’s somebody how knows what happened today with these attacks. He would be a good person to ask. What it looks like is that this is a lead-in to the planned assault on Sana’a. Certainly, last week it was announced by Hadi’s chief of staff in the military that there was going to be a major offensive playing out in the very near future in Sana’a as the Hadi forces tried to reassert control over there.

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