All right, y'all, welcome to the Scott Horton Show.
I am the Director of the Libertarian Institute, Editorial Director of Antiwar.com, author of the book Fool's Errand, Time to End the War in Afghanistan, and I've recorded more than 5,000 interviews going back to 2003, all of which are available at scotthorton.org.
You can also sign up for the podcast feed.
The full archive is also available at youtube.com slash scotthortonshow.
All right, you guys, on the line, I've got Nasser Arabi.
He is a reporter out of Sana'a, Yemen, and he runs yemennow.com, yemen-now.com, that's Yemen Alon, and Google will translate it for you, very important page there.
And also, I'll ask you to to look at news.antiwar.com, where Jason Ditz does such a great job of keeping up with all the news about the war in Yemen as well.
So you guys can keep up.
Welcome back to the show.
How are you doing, Nasser?
Thank you very much, Scott.
Thank you very much for having me.
Very happy to have you here.
We're almost five years into this war now.
Sorry about that.
I don't know what to tell you.
It's unbelievable to me, as it is terrible to you, I'm sure.
We are together.
We are together.
You've been with us from day one.
Yeah, well, we saw this thing coming.
You know, I know you used to cover the war against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula for the New York Times back before that turned into all of this.
So we were covering that, too, and saw step by step how this whole thing kind of fell apart.
And in fact, I know there's so much important news to cover, but let me just mention here, I think we should talk about this every single time, is that the Houthi group that has taken over the capital city there at the end of 2014, beginning of 2015, that they never did anything to America.
They've never threatened us.
They don't have an anti-American slogan they chant sometimes or something.
They've never done anything to us.
And in fact, in January of 2015, Al-Monitor and the Wall Street Journal both reported that America was working with the Houthis and giving them intelligence to use to target and kill al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the guys that had bombed the coal, the guys that tried to blow up the plane over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009.
And then just two months later, in March of 2015, Barack Obama turned right around, stabbed the Houthis in the back, and took al-Qaeda's side against them.
And America's been fighting with the Saudis and the UAE and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula against their enemies.
In fact, so here's a good way to phrase this in the form of a question for you, Nasser, to pick up and run with.
It was in the news that Donald Trump ordered a drone strike that killed a powerful al-Qaeda commander in Yemen just a couple of weeks ago, which would lend toward the narrative that actually, no, we're still fighting al-Qaeda there too.
And the Houthi thing isn't distracting from that, and that our government's priority is keeping us safe from those terrorists.
So what do you have to say about that, sir?
Well, thank you very much, Scott.
For the Iranian leader that the US officials said they killed here in Yemen is not right.
No, no, no.
Pardon me, pardon me.
I'm sorry.
There's a misunderstanding here.
I want to be clear, because I know that they did try to kill an Iranian commander, but I'm talking about a different strike.
They said that they had killed an al-Qaeda commander in a drone strike there a couple of weeks ago.
Ah, this is something else.
Yes, this is the chief.
This is the chief.
This is the top leader of al-Qaeda.
This is Qasem Reimi.
And I think it's 99% right, and not only because of what we heard from the Pentagon and from White House, but from the people here in Marib.
And it's almost right that he was killed in Marib, yes.
This is the second, I mean, he was the second man in command after the Nasser al-Wahishi, who was also killed in 2017.
So now he was the number one.
He was the top leader of al-Qaeda, and he was killed last month, yes.
So the U.S. does continue to fight against al-Qaeda at the same time that they're fighting an entire war for them.
Yes, this is the problem.
This is the problem that I always raise with you here in your show, that they help them by one hand, and they hurt them by the other sometimes.
I mean, Marib is almost under the control of people who are in a way or another, Marib, in the eastern part of, in the east of Yemen, I mean, about 200 kilometers east of the capital Sana'a.
It is now under the control of a Hadi Saudi-backed government.
And the people actually who are on the ground are in a way or another, the rulers, I mean, the people who control Marib are in a way or another with links to al-Qaeda and ISIS.
And this is a fact that everybody knows.
And every time there is an escalation in Marib, the al-Qaeda operatives gather in Marib from everywhere, from Beida, from Abyan, from Hadhramaut, from everywhere.
So unfortunately, what the U.S. is doing is not a real thing, is not effective war against al-Qaeda if they say, if we assume that the number one objective for them is fighting al-Qaeda, what they are doing on the ground is something that is in or to the advantage of al-Qaeda, unfortunately, regardless of this operation that killed the top leader of al-Qaeda, Qasem al-Remy, who has been hiding for about, say, for about 12 years, 12 years since he escaped from a maximum security, no, not 12 years.
That is about 15 years, 15 years, 15 years since he escaped out from a maximum prison here in Sana'a, along with about 20, 21.
So they were 22 and he was this one who was killed, Qasem al-Remy was one of 22 who made that famous jailbreak from Sana'a maximum security prison.
So the problem is that the U.S. is helping al-Qaeda more than they are hurting them.
This is what I can say now.
So this group that the Americans call al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula there, are they still essentially just mercenary forces integrated into the United Arab Emirates backed forces on the ground there as it was?
Yes, this is something, this is something that is proved true not only by Yemeni reporters, but also by CNN reporters who came here and who reported about the missionaries who are working with the UAE and about the weapons, about the armored vehicles from U.S. and all the kind of heavy weapons who are under the control of al-Qaeda, ISIS, under the name of the giant brigades.
And they are still in the western coast of Yemen until now under the same name, the giant brigades.
Who are the giant brigades?
They are brigades of al-Qaeda and ISIS affiliates.
This is a fact that is known by everybody in Yemen, not by, it's everybody in Yemen knows this, and CNN reported about this very clearly, and the Congress saw this report, and the senator from Connecticut, someone from the Congress.
Is it Murphy?
From the Senate who talked about this.
That's right, and for people who are doubting it because it was a CNN report, take a look at it.
It's solid journalism, and it comports with everything that we already know from wide and varied sources about the UAE essentially just bringing al-Qaeda into their mercenary ranks in losing this war, continuing to lose this war, and continuing to get nowhere with this war for five years to try to dislodge this group, the Houthis, from power in the capital city.
And still to this day, sometimes even at antiwar.com, they're referred to as the Houthi rebels, even though whatever you think of them, they seized control of the government five years ago.
And it's the government, the so-called government who are the rebels, who are trying to overthrow them.
Somehow the old nomenclature has stuck there, and yet, as far as I can tell, there's been a little bit of movement on the ground in terms of the lines, but not very much since around 2016, right?
They're no closer, the so-called government, the Saudi, UAE, and American forces are no closer to taking the capital city than they've ever been this whole time, right?
Yes, let me now tell you, now we are at the point that we must talk in more details.
You said that they are going nowhere.
I would add to this that they are not only U.S. and Saudi Arabia and UAE, they are not only going nowhere in Yemen, but they are empowering Qaeda and ISIS, whom they say they fight.
And I'll tell you just now what happened now, why there are now escalation, why there is a big, big, big advance for the Houthi or by the Houthi side, because of their disputes, because of the dispute between UAE and Saudi Arabia.
The Houthi, last month, I mean, late January, took control over the most strategic positions in the eastern Sana'a.
They used to say for five years that it is the gate to Sana'a, the gateway to Sana'a.
Now it is with the Houthi, the name place, it is with the Houthi.
And not only this, the Saudi-backed forces and their missionaries from Al-Qaeda and ISIS and others, they retreated to Marib, to the city now, Marib and al-Jawf.
And this is the new thing that happened late last month.
I wanted to ask you about that.
I wanted to clarify.
This is why the escalation is happening.
Is it right, Nasser, that that area, and Jason, everybody, Jason Ditz at Antiwar.com has a write-up about this, the Houthi advance east of the capital city there and the Saudi withdrawal.
And I was curious because I thought I had read, and I don't really know the details, but I thought I'd read that that same area right there east of the capital was the base of the al-Isla party, the Muslim Brotherhood, which is in alliance with the Saudis here.
Is that correct?
Yes.
This is what I'm saying.
It is not, it was the biggest, biggest military base.
They bought, I mean, they bought all their strength there, not only Islah, but Saudi Arabia itself and UAE, because they used it as a, as a big pressure card against Houthi.
We get into Sana'a from time to time.
They say, we are only 35 kilometers from Sana'a.
We are only 50 kilometers from Sana'a.
They used to say this for five years.
They didn't do it, but now they are not there.
They lost it.
They lost it.
They lost it.
It's about 17 brigades.
You can just imagine.
I'm not exaggerating.
I'm not exaggerating, but everybody knows there were about 16 brigades.
All the so-called National Army was there because their final and their ultimate goal was Sana'a.
So they were amassing there for five years.
Now they are gone.
No one is there.
Houthi seized all the equipment and he also captured hundreds of them.
And this was in video.
We saw, and also many, many were killed and injured.
But hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands, were arrested like the battle that happened at the border with Saudi Arabia last year.
So they are always losing, losing, losing.
Now what happened because of that escalation?
I'll tell you what happened today.
Today Houthi carried out a large-scale operation against Aramco.
This is today, only today.
In Saudi?
You mean another drone attack?
Yes, in the depth of Saudi Arabia, in Yanbar.
This is the west of Medina al-Munawwara.
And do you know if it was a successful attack?
Let me just tell you about the details.
We know because it's just still unfolding.
But let me tell you what Houthi said and what Saudi said.
Houthi said that they fired 12 powerful drones and three long-range ballistic missiles simultaneously, okay, to the Aramco oil facility in Yanbar.
That is where, that is west of Medina al-Munawwara.
There is about 1,200 kilometers from Sana'a, right?
Saudi Arabia said they intercepted and destroyed everything.
This is what Saudi Arabia said early morning.
They just said Houthi launched ballistic missiles to our cities, and we intercepted them and destroyed them all, right?
But now when the Uighurs called them, when the Uighurs, just late afternoon today, when the Uighurs called the Aramco to comment on what Houthi said about the 12 powerful drones and about the three long-range ballistic missiles, they did not comment.
They declined to comment.
This is the Aramco.
And you will hear, and everybody will hear tomorrow and from now until we hear, I think there will be a lot of news because Houthi also called this operation, the full-scale operation, and called it the balance of deterrence, number three, which means number two was that one on September 14th that disrupted half of the Saudi oil production, and number one was in August, yes, in August 17th against also Sheba oil field in the east of Saudi Arabia nearby the borders with UAE.
So it is a very dangerous escalation, but Saudi Arabia thought that it can silence Houthis by saying Houthi is receiving weapons from Iran.
And let me just add one thing because it is related.
Last week Houthi announced that he has now advanced anti-aircraft missiles, and he really downed, Houthi downed a torrent, a warplane in Al-Jawf and documented the operation from A to Z.
Everybody saw all over the world.
Everybody saw the operation, the details of the operation from the moment the missile was fired to the moment it hit the torrent to the moment it crashed out and turned into balls of flames on the ground.
Houthi after that responded, I mean not Houthi, Saudis responded by launching airstrikes on residential, actually on very primitive houses, on a village, and they killed about 50 people, most of them women and children.
Al-Houthi today said he launched this large scale operation only to respond to the killing of the civilians in Al-Jawf after the downing of the torrent, the warplane.
So there are a lot of escalations here, but I would tell you that Saudi Arabia seems to be sticking to the informal and behind-the-scenes talks with Houthis despite all these things.
And this is the thing that makes us wonder more and more why Saudi Arabia is doing this and what does they want.
But we'll have only to wait and see what would happen after this large scale operation of today.
Well, I see in the press here, Al-Jazeera and Reuters both have stories saying that the Saudis are claiming they intercepted a couple of missiles.
But if they really did successfully strike the Aramco facilities, they're not going to be able to cover that up from the business press.
They're going to have to admit the truth of that sooner than later, I think, if that's really right.
Yes, but I mean, even if, even if, I mean, Houthi is sending a powerful message that he's going to attack them.
In the place where they, where it hurts them hard.
I mean, this is, this is, this is what, what, what, what, what, what is the, what is there?
This is what is the message, what the message is.
And it's probably more likely that they just missed, I mean, that the Houthis just missed the target rather than the Saudis really intercepted the missiles in the air.
I got to see that with my own lion eyes to believe it.
When they talk about the ballistic missile defense stuff, it's mostly never really works.
There's one more thing to add, the people from the G20, where, I mean, the ministers of finance and banks, and they were meeting today, I mean, in Riyadh, and of course, the meeting of, I mean, the meetings of preparations for the G20 that would be held in November in Riyadh, means a lot to Mohammed bin Salman, means a lot to Saudi leadership.
And they want to end the war because it is very costly and very unpopular for them.
So it means also, it means a lot that these, these attacks of today came as these officials from the G20 are meeting in Riyadh.
Yeah, well, I think that's really important.
Just like with the successful drone strikes on the oil facilities last year, we saw the UAE particularly, and I guess the Saudis both went straight to Iran to negotiate and to try to have them, you know, as a middleman and broker some kind of, you know, ceasefire here, although it sure hasn't seemed to work.
I mean, there's fighting going on everywhere, right?
Right.
And it is still there.
I mean, the Saudi desire is still there to continue talks with Houthis.
But they are, you know, they don't want to seem weak or something like this.
They want to do things that would make them look okay and good and powerful.
Right.
Well, okay, so let's talk about that.
Because, you know, maybe there is a compromise here where the Houthis could join in a coalition government with factions favored by the Saudis to bring an end to the fighting, something like that.
What do you think?
I think this is what Saudi is doing, because, you know, we know that Hadi does not like Saudi Arabia to talk with Houthis with him and not being there.
So the escalation that we have seen now and we are seeing now have something to do with this, because what happened in the eastern Sana'a is very, very strange, you know, to see 16 brigades being defeated in three days.
This is something, I mean, that can't be believed by anyone.
But it is this.
I mean, people, I mean, the forces were just withdrawing.
Why they were withdrawing?
Why they were withdrawing?
And nobody knows until now.
But now it's impossible for them to recapture the places, because it's very, very.
It's about 50 kilometers, stretching about 50 kilometers or more.
And the total area that was captured by Houthis after the Saudi forces retreated to Marib, the city of Marib, is estimated as three times like Al-Bahrain area.
It's a very big area.
We know it.
Yes, it's empty.
Most of it is empty.
And it's deserted, yes.
But it's very, very large.
And it's a big loss to them.
Why did they, I mean, why did they allow?
Why did they allow?
Because it would not have happened if Saudi Arabia or if there was no kind of conspiracy or something like this.
Because however strong Houthi was, he would not have been able to defeat them in three days, given all that forces and all that troops.
There is something.
There is something related to the dispute between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, especially especially that the escalation, the escalation in Marib came after an attack which was not claimed by Houthi, an attack, an attack on a military place in Marib, inside the city, killing 116 soldiers, that is, UAE loyals, 116.
They were killed or they were targeted only one day before they were supposed to head to Aden where, sorry, they were supposed to head to Aden and the UAE did not want them to come back to Aden because they are loyal to Hadi, not to Emirate, as I said.
No, they are loyal to Hadi.
They are loyal to the Islamist party.
And the UAE didn't want them to return to Aden.
The attack came just one day before they headed to Aden, headed back from Marib to Aden, killing 116 at least and injuring many others.
After that, the people in Marib, the Saudi-backed forces, accused Houthi, but some of their factions said, no, it's not Houthi, it was only UAE because UAE benefits from the incident more than Houthi and more than anyone else.
So I want to say here that the escalation in Marib in particular has something to do with the dispute between UAE and Saudi Arabia over the influence in the south.
And also over the big influence of Islamist party, Salah party brotherhood in Marib, because UAE looks at brotherhood as enemy number one, even before Qaeda and ISIS.
This is what they say in their official statements.
The UAE enemy in Yemen is brotherhood and brotherhood is the army, the army of Hadi.
Brotherhood is the army.
Almost all the army of Hadi is considered to be the brotherhood, at least in the view of UAE.
And they bombed them once by airstrikes in Aden, if you remember.
They bombed them and they labelled them, the UAE, bombed them and labelled them as terrorists.
This is what's happening.
It's just what a mess.
So you have essentially for people trying to keep score here, you have the UAE and Saudi are working together to attack the Houthis and yet their proxies are each other's biggest enemies.
And so, or I don't know, biggest enemies for both of them, but certainly the UAE, as you're saying, they hate the Saudis proxies, the Muslim brotherhood.
They favour al-Qaeda instead.
I don't know if the Saudis mind that or not, but then the UAE has had this kind of on and off again alliance with the, what the transitional government they call themselves, the separatist government around Aden, which the Saudis have been bombing, right?
Exactly.
Exactly.
This is, yes, they have opposing sides or their support in Saudi Arabia and UAE are supporting opposing sides.
Yes.
But number one for UAE, it's number one enemy is not Houthi, it is a brotherhood.
So they start with the brotherhood always and they say our enemy in Yemen is brotherhood Qaeda, ISIS in this order.
They don't say in any other order.
They don't mention even Houthi when they say our enemy in Yemen is so and so.
Huh.
And so, well, but they've been fighting the Houthis this whole time though, right?
But now they are not, of course.
Now they are almost back in UAE.
They have only their proxies and their proxies in the Saud, the separatists.
They don't have any priority to talk or to fight Houthi because they have, their enemy is Islah.
And Islah is being backed by Saudi Arabia.
Okay.
So it's this complicated.
Yeah.
So from the Saudis point of view, how do they rank their different enemies in order?
Yes.
They hate the Houthis first and then the Southern separatists and then Al-Qaeda and, but they like the Muslim brotherhood.
Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman is that, you know, he's not as smart as Mohammed bin Zayed because he's still inexperienced compared to Mohammed bin Zayed.
So he's still looking to...
Bin Zayed, he's from the UAE.
For people who don't know, he's the Mohammed bin Salman of the United Arab Emirates there.
Sorry, go ahead.
Yes, exactly.
So Mohammed bin Salman looks at Mohammed bin Zayed, the UAE president, the de facto ruler, is the mentor of Mohammed bin Salman.
And, you know, so Mohammed bin Salman is doing what he wants to do.
And he can't say no to him at all.
And this is known to everyone because he needs him in a lot of political things.
And against Qatar and with the United States and with a lot of things.
So he can't say no to him.
But the agenda is different.
Their agendas are different.
What Saudi wants from Yemen is different from what UAE wants from Yemen.
And this is also very clear.
And it is very clear, not only in Marib and also in Mahra, where there is no battles in the far east of Yemen, when there is no battles with Houthi.
Mahra is in the far east of Yemen.
And Saudi Arabia wants to have a passage there or, you know, a corridor to go from the east of the kingdom to the Arab Sea without going in the Hormuz, in the Strait of Hormuz.
You know, so this is what Saudi Arabia wants.
And what UAE wants is only the boats, the seaboats of Yemen and Sokotra, the island in the Arabian Sea also.
Mm hmm.
Yeah.
You know, Jason Ditz had a good write up about that at antiwar.com about he says it's the Mahra tribe there in the very far east of Yemen.
And he says that so far up until this point, the Saudis had not picked a fight with them.
And now they have a whole new fight on their hands.
They're in the east.
How much trouble did they just get themselves into by attacking this group there?
You know, Saudi Arabia is saying that there are some people who are against the legitimate government.
And we are just trying to settle the accounts with them.
And we are just trying to find a compromise.
We are trying to make a solution or something like that.
But the local people say that Saudi Arabia is occupying us.
Saudi Arabia is attacking us.
When there is no battles here, no Houthi here, nothing here.
Why Saudi Arabia is attacking us?
And Saudi Arabia can't answer except by these things.
There are people who are linked with Al Qaeda or with the so and so.
I mean, they have very weak, very weak justifications to say or to convince people.
As you say, they're just trying to seize the port for themselves, for business interests and for national interests.
Not only from now.
Saudi Arabia has been trying to take this or to make this corridor for years, not from now, even before this war.
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All right, so let's talk about the fighting going on near the Hodeidah port.
This is in the far west of the country on the Red Sea and I guess after Aden it's the most important port in the country and it is the port that, as I understand it, provides most of the imported food resources for the people of the northern half of the country at least.
And yet there's been major fighting south of the Hodeidah port and it's been quite a while since I got a good update from you about, well actually the last time we spoke we talked about the fighting going on there.
But I'm also really interested to know what is the status of international trade at that port?
Humanitarian aid but also just regular, you know, private companies trading and how legal that is nowadays.
First of all, it's the only lifeline left for Yemen, south and north.
Aden port is not working and they take, even the people in the south take more than, I mean most of their needs from here, from the Hodeidah because it's not working well, not functioning well.
And the second thing is that it's calm there, it's still calm but there are some skirmishes and clashes from time to time.
But the calm is there because the UN monitors are there, about 70.
About 70 monitors, UN monitors are there and there is also this joint committee that's the coordination and redeployment and coordination committee.
They are still working there.
They did not achieve any, any, any progress whatsoever on the ground but they achieved a lot of things on paper, of course, but on ground they did not achieve anything whatsoever.
But the only thing that we can say is positive is they are still, I mean, holding the Stockholm agreement.
It is very fragile, very weak, but the UN monitors are still there.
People are okay because UN is still there and they can't, I mean, the escalation can't spiral into uncontrollable things or uncontrollable situation.
So it's a fragile and not more than this, not very calm and not very tense.
But then the ships that are coming in, is it just aid from NGOs and the UN and things like that?
Or is it also private companies are able to do some trading?
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, commercial and dates.
Okay, not, not, and more commercial, of course, because it's, but there are a lot of obstructions, a lot of impeding, a lot of delays, a lot of things, but, but, but they end up, end up in the, in the, in the boat and they, and people are, of course, you know, the, the, the goods, the, the, the Saudi, the Saudi goods in, in, around me here in Sana'a more than any other place.
I mean, you can see everything, everything, food and everything you need from Saudi Arabia.
You can see it here in the, in the groceries around me here in Sana'a.
Yeah, well, in the war propaganda here, you can hear all about how generous the Saudis have been to Yemen with all of their wonderful charity.
I'm talking about commercial now.
They're selling, just selling, they're selling their goods.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I guess helping to keep others out too.
So keeping a little captive market, huh?
And they also, they buy, they buy the best fruits from here, by the way, the best fruits from here, like pomegranates and mango and the best things they, they, they, they buy, the Saudis buy it from here.
Sometimes they smuggled them out or they, they, they, they take it by the, by the, by the trucks, by the big trucks.
And driving up those prices for the locals who they're deliberately starving with their air campaign.
And by the way, I want to mention, because a lot of accusations get thrown around by me.
But it's really important.
People can look up the study by Martha Mundy, M-U-N-D-Y.
And I interviewed her about it and stuff when she documented in depth.
I know you've done your share too.
I know where people can find this real easy, where she shows how they have deliberately targeted the farms, the flocks of sheep in the fields, the grain silos, the irrigation, the everything that it takes to make the food economy of Yemen work.
They have targeted from the bottom up, left to right, top to bottom to try to completely destroy it.
And it's, it's all right there for you to see.
It's no accident.
It's a deliberate campaign.
So then, then they run off with all the best food that you do have.
They smuggle out.
No surprise.
So explain to me this Nasser, what's going on in Aden that the port is completely shut down.
Is that because of the fighting between the Saudis and the Southern secessionists there?
Has the whole port shut down?
There is some, there's just a sense of disruption and everything there, as I always told you and your audience.
It's not, it's not just because there is no war to say that the airport is not functioning well.
The seaboard is not functioning well.
Everything in Aden is not functioning well.
The security is not there.
Assassinations are there.
Bombings are there.
Kidnappings are there.
It's just a kind of chaos because of the government is busy with other things.
The government is divided, not busy, is in Riyadh and the people in Aden are busy with other things.
They are preoccupied with the separation and with the agenda of UAE.
They don't care about what's happening in Yemen as a whole.
For example, let me just give you an example of the, there was a problem in the currency because they printed a lot, billions of riyals to make a problem and to make a problem in the south, in the north here under Houthi.
And Houthi now banned the new print, the new currency, the new banknotes.
They banned it completely.
Now the problem is there.
Where?
The problem is in Aden because they can't use that money because they are only a few population there.
There are only 2 million there and 25 million are here in the north.
So they can't use the money that they just recently printed.
And Houthi said, Houthi said, uh, officially, this is a forged note bank.
Okay.
Anyone who has it will be in the, will be put in the jail.
That's it.
And now they, they, they can't use the money there in Aden.
Yeah, that's interesting.
I mean, that's a great story.
I mean, in and of itself, as far as trying to use inflation as a weapon and then having it blow up in their face like that.
Exactly, blowing up in their face always.
Man.
So, all right, now let's talk about this humanitarian situation because it has been five years of war.
And I know that the country was very dependent on food imports in the first place.
And as we talked about just now with Martha Mundy's study of the deliberate attack on the agricultural economy of the country and all that kind of thing.
At the same time, you've had five years to adjust to pretty much a international blockade and, um, and the, you know, the way things have been.
So there's, must've been all kinds of new systems of food distribution, uh, created to try for, you know, for Yemenis to try to help each other, uh, through this and this kind of deal.
So I was just wondering, you know, if you could give us a thumbnail sketch, um, of the humanitarian crisis as it exists now.
I guess I'll go ahead and say that as of last year, the United Nations, uh, had finally updated their numbers and they said that 233,000 people had been killed in the war and including 85,000 children.
And indirectly, they said this indirectly is 250 years.
Yeah.
So that would be right.
That includes, right.
That's not just the violence, but that includes deprived to death, essentially cholera, lack of local hospitals and medicine and, and the normal standard of living that they would have if they weren't in the middle of a war there.
But, um, so anyway, go ahead and just give us a good education on what we need to understand about how things are going for the civilian population.
Let me catch with you from where the things stand now.
Um, uh, there is a problem now, uh, when it comes to the humanitarian thing.
Uh, this problem is, um, US last week threatened to suspend its aid and the many others would, uh, almost said they would do the same.
This is because, uh, many relief agencies here in Yemen said that Houthi is, uh, impeding, Houthi is obstructing, uh, Houthi is diverting, diverting the aids, uh, to, uh, to people who don't need or to the people who don't need it or to the, to the, to the people who are not in, uh, who are not, uh, the, the, the, the, the intended beneficiaries.
Um, Houthi of course denied all these things.
Houthi said only, uh, that he wanted to coordinate with them, coordinate and, uh, cooperate with the UN relief to, because they need him.
They, they can't move.
They can't do anything in, in North, uh, without Houthi authorities.
This is, uh, this is a fact, right?
And he said, Houthi authorities said, uh, what I want or what we want is only to, is to, to ensure that the aid is, uh, uh, is being delivered to the intended beneficiaries.
I and you together, Houthi authorities and the UN reliefs, right?
Um, uh, and then he said, uh, they said, uh, they need, uh, 2% of the operation of the operation, uh, budget of the UN agencies and the other relief agencies.
And this was a red line for, this was a red line for UN and all relief or agencies.
Uh, in Yemen, they completely refused this and they met in Brussels last week, last week, only last week.
Yes.
Uh, yes.
Last week in Brussels discussing this.
Of course they, uh, they, they, they, uh, Houthi quickly said, uh, I would, uh, they, Houthi sent a letter to them in Brussels, to the UN, uh, relief, uh, to UN relief, uh, chief, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, saying that, uh, I am not, um, I don't want that.
I, I don't want to, uh, levy the 2% tax from this year.
I'll delay it until next year.
Because I don't want to make a problem.
I, I want you to go, uh, your way and to, uh, distribute, and we will cooperate with you without, without any, uh, without any cut for our, uh, for our officials, because Houthi is talking about something to, to also to help, uh, his people who are working with them because they have an army of people working with them to, uh, to coordinate and to manage, to manage and to cooperate and to facilitate and to do all these things.
So now, um, what I want to say now, uh, the problem is solved, almost solved, and everything, uh, has come or has returned to normal and they are doing well.
And Houthi is cooperating without any, uh, tax cut as he wanted, uh, at the beginning.
So it was just a kind of what, uh, leverage or, uh, because they were, they were, uh, they, they wanted to pressure on Houthi to, uh, not to interfere, not to help, not to manage, not because they, they, they, they accused Houthi of, uh, uh, of diverting everything.
Um, for example, if, uh, if, if, if Houthi, for example, recommend some people, they say this is Houthi.
No, this is not right because, um, you can't say that, uh, millions are, are, are Houthi or millions are fighters or no.
Um, but if they say, for example, if there is a poor family and they are in a way or another, uh, close to Houthi or to Houthi fighters or to, um, they also deserve to, to be helped.
You, you, you need to help them.
This is what Houthi is saying.
Um, and this is what Houthi is, is doing.
And, um, and, uh, he told them many times that they, uh, Houthi does not want to take only one cent, but at the same time, he would not agree that, um, everyone who is, for example, um, who has a family or who has people who fight, uh, do not, uh, do not, uh, do not deserve any aid.
This is what Houthi is saying.
And, uh, I think that the donors were convinced and they did not tend to a cut or to suspend or even to delay the aid because they know without Houthi, they can't do anything.
They can't do anything.
They can't distribute.
They, I mean, uh, they can, even if they want to distribute in Aden or in Marib, uh, it's only a few millions are here in the north.
And the, the, the, the aid they have, they have about $3 billion aid.
And, um, uh, the people who need these aid is in the north, not in any other place.
So, uh, you need Houthi to help you to, uh, to, to, to work and to do your work as, as a relief agency or as UN agency.
Right.
Well, so what's next?
Oh, and real quick, I'm sorry, we're out of time, but, um, what's the solution?
What's next is only one thing I can say it easily.
It's only, um, uh, escalation or, or, uh, or cam, but I'm expecting the cam because, uh, there is a lot of, um, signs that we should say a lot of signs.
I should have mentioned for you, these, uh, things that the airport now in Sana'a is almost open for mercy flights.
This is one thing.
This is one of the most, most, most needed things.
Yeah.
And it's open now.
Sana'a airport is open now for, for, for mercy flights.
And also the, the prisoner, the war prisoner, Qing is, uh, is being done, is being done between Houthi and Saudi Arabia and, uh, uh, South Sudan and, uh, uh, and, uh, Hadi back or Saudi backed forces only this week, only this week they signed, uh, uh, they signed on, on, um, on a huge, um, uh, prisoner swap, which is 1,015, uh, 1,500, sorry, 1,500 war prisoners from both sides, 900, 950 from Houthi side to be released to Saudi Arabia, to Sudan, to, uh, to, to, uh, Saudi backed forces and only 500 from all these warring parties from Saudi Arabia, from Sudan, from, uh, Hadi forces to Houthi only 500 or 550, but this is a big, and it was a big, uh, breakthrough.
And it, uh, it was, um, it was, uh, it was a signal that, uh, they are paving the way for ending the war, because there is a big desire, a big Saudi desire now to end the war before the, uh, before the G20, uh, in November.
And, uh, Mohammed bin Salman wants to, uh, to, to, to wind this up because he's very, he seems to be very fed up.
Great.
Well, I'm happy to end it on a high note here then.
Uh, I sure hope that that works out.
And, uh, Yeah.
So the, the, the, the war, the war prisoner and, uh, San, San, San, San higher boat is, uh, are, are big things as, as, as, as, as, uh, I mean, uh, as a good science for, for, uh, for something new.
Right.
Not, uh, not, not, not like before.
Right.
Yeah.
They certainly paved the way they, they could be used as real stepping stones toward a fine deal.
If there is Saudi, if Mohammed bin Salman's desire is there, if Mohammed bin Salman's will is there, everything will be okay.
I'm sure.
And now he, he seems to be willing.
Yeah.
He seems to be willing to end the war because it's very costly and very, and, and, and popular for him in particular.
All right.
Well, thank you so much for coming on the show again, Nasser, and updating us on all this stuff.
I really appreciate it very, very much for your, for, for continuing to have me and for continuing to, to, to, to help Yemen.
Thank you very much.
All right.
You guys, that is Nasser Araby.
He's at yemen-now.com, uh, Yemen Alon.
It's called Google translate it for you there.
No problem.
Yemen-now.com.
The Scott Horton Show and Antiwar Radio can be heard on KPFK 90.7 FM in LA, APSradio.com, antiwar.com, scotthorton.org, and libertarianinstitute.org.
