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We know Al-Qaeda, Zawahiri is supporting the opposition in Syria.
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It's a proud day for America.
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I say it, I say it again, you've been had.
You've been took.
You've been hoodwinked.
These witnesses are trying to simply deny things that just about everybody else accepts as fact.
He came, he saw, he died.
We ain't killing their army, but we killing them.
We be on CNN like, say our name, bitch, say it, say it three times.
The meeting of the largest armies in the history of the world.
Then there's going to be an invasion.
Okay, you guys introducing Nasser Araby, reporter out of Sana, Yemen.
Welcome back to the show.
Nasser, how are you doing?
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Everything is okay.
Very happy to have you here on the show.
And I'm not sure exactly where you want to start.
So I'll just mention a couple of important things from the news here.
I think we should start by telling your audience where the things stand now.
I think this is the important thing.
Yes.
And then you can ask.
Yes.
Sure.
Go ahead.
Well, that's right.
There's ceasefire now, which enters into effect in a couple of hours, exactly at 12 and one minute.
That is Tuesday in Sana'a time.
And this was sponsored and brokered by the UN and was declared last week in Sweden.
This is very different from all the previous ceasefires.
And so let me say how.
It's different because of many things.
It's different this time because of many things.
The first and foremost is that it came after, of course, I should say that this ceasefire is only on Hodeidah.
So it is only on one place, on Hodeidah, on the Red Sea, on the port and the city of Hodeidah on the Red Sea.
And this is one also, this is one thing why it is different from the previous ceasefire.
So it is focused on Hodeidah seaboard on the Red Sea.
And the second thing is it came after a huge pressure from the West, from US and UK and France in particular.
Why this time?
Why this high pressure?
Of course, this high pressure because of many things.
Because Hodeidah is the seaboard, which is the only lifeline of Yemen, of North Yemen at least.
And this is a humanitarian thing.
But there is also another reason why.
Why Hodeidah?
So it is also because Hodeidah is close to the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the waterway where many oil tankers and commercial ships go every day.
So they don't want the West, the US and UK and France and all the West and the world don't want any curse in that place.
This is also one security reason.
There is another thing also.
Why in Hodeidah?
Why focused on Hodeidah?
Why it is different this time?
The third one is also because the Saudi or majority of the Saudi forces and UAF forces, Emirati forces, are linked in a way or another to Qaeda and ISIS.
I mean, the fighters on the ground are linked in a way or another to the Qaeda and ISIS, brotherhood with Saudi Arabia and Salafi and separatist with Emirates, which means that the gross rights of the Qaeda and ISIS in Yemen.
So these are many things why they focused on Hodeidah and why it is different.
Why it is different this time?
Also, because Saudis and Emirates seem to be fed up, seem to be fed up of the bottomless quagmire they are in.
I think this time also there is another reason why, because there will be peacekeeping forces, international peacekeeping forces.
This is a new thing, right?
So these are the why.
Why it is different and why Hodeidah?
Let me now tell you why, what is the deal?
What is the deal or what is the agreement that was declared from Sweden, from the capital, from the Swedish capital last week?
So they agreed on three major things last week.
Hodeidah is one, ceasefire in Hodeidah is one, and I told you about it.
The second thing is a big prisoners swap to build the confidence.
We are talking about 15,000 prisoners from both sides, not both sides, from all sides, because there are a lot, a lot, a lot of groups in Yemen.
It's only Houthi who is one only group, but the others are many groups.
So 15,000 prisoners and detainees and others.
So they agreed on these things.
Hodeidah ceasefire, prisoners swap, and also they agreed when they are going to meet again.
They're going to meet on January.
Why?
They're going to meet in January again for a broader peace talks.
Initially, they agreed on a framework.
So they are going to meet on January again to talk about a transitional government.
So these things are all completely different than previous things, than the previous ceasefires.
One more thing I want to tell you now is that how they agreed on Hodeidah and what is going to happen tonight after about five hours from now.
They agreed on withdrawing all the forces, all the forces, all from all groups, including Houthi, Houthi and all groups from Hodeidah city and outskirts of Hodeidah city and the boats, boat and Hodeidah city.
The boat will be under, UN will lead or will play a leading role on running the sea, the seaboard, the lifeline of Yemen.
And the city will be run by the official authorities.
This is, this is that, this is the unclear thing, which official authorities.
Now, Houthi agreed on this 100%, but he means by official authorities, his authorities.
Anyway, there will be also monitoring committee, which is joined, which is made of all sides of Saudi Emirati and Saudi Emirati and their people and Houthi.
In addition to the peacekeeping forces, I think this time, I think what, what is happening now is what I have been always telling you all along in your show, especially on Hodeidah.
Hodeidah is a quagmire and the Saudis and Emiratis failed to do anything in it.
Now they are going to get out.
Now, go ahead and ask me.
I hope I, I briefed you on the most important thing about what is going on and what, where things stand now.
All right.
Well, so I guess, let me just say a thing real quick here, Nasser, about where things are in the U.S. The U.S. Senate, of course, has passed finally after a few failed tries.
War Powers Act, well, after, I guess, one major failed try last year.
The War Powers Act resolution, which is unprecedented in history since the War Powers Act was passed over Nixon's veto back in the early 1970s.
And now the Republicans and some Democrats in the House of Representatives have killed the, the similar measure there.
And so we're going to have to at least wait until January to see what happens when the new Democratic Party majority in the House comes in, whether they will also pass the resolution.
But this would be enough, if they did, to make it illegal for the war to continue.
Now, I guess, I had thought that the president could veto the resolution, but apparently not.
It's not the kind of thing where they would have to override a veto or anything like that.
It's just a resolution, not a law.
And he basically has to abide by it, presumably, with a bare majority, 51% in both houses is enough.
But so, short of that, it still seems like the push in the U.S. Senate by very powerful senators, including Bernie Sanders and Bob Corker and others, that this may change.
And I don't really know yet.
I don't think we really know yet.
But this may change the political dynamic, even though legally it won't force an end to the war.
We already have seen the Trump administration at least claim that they'd like to see this war wrapped up in about 30 days, and that was more than 30 days ago now.
So, I don't know whether we'll see any big announcements or anything like that.
But it seems like when the U.S. Senate passes a resolution like this, it really should change the temperature of the whole debate.
And, you know, certainly the New York Times is now publishing more and more about it all the time.
Nicholas Kristof, which, that's a double-edged sword, but he can be really dangerous, too.
But now he's decided he cares and is writing about it.
And he's saying correctly that starvation is being used as a weapon here deliberately, and this kind of thing, in the major papers.
So, you know, nothing concrete, but the conversation has certainly increased and has shifted much more to the negative since the killing of Khashoggi.
For whatever reason, his life is, because he wrote for The Washington Post, he's worth that much more than all the people of Yemen, I guess, to the Americans of our East Coast.
But I guess we'll have to settle for that.
Yes, we should not lay down these things.
I know that what the resolution did, what the Senate did, is much, of course.
It's already doing a lot of things.
We are not waiting until January.
They are helping now by saying what they said, by doing what they did.
Yes, of course.
And what Nicholas Christophe did in The New York Times and The Washington Post, what they are doing in the media in general, what they are doing now is a big thing.
It helps us a lot.
But there are, as I told you, there are a lot of more things that helps to make this time, the ceasefire, different.
And I mentioned the most important thing.
Of course, Khashoggi was a big thing.
The murder of Khashoggi was a big thing, and it made a lot of things inside the Congress, and also in the media, and inside even the Saudi Arabia.
And now Mohammed bin Salman wants to get rid of these things as soon as possible, because he knows that his reputation is being damaged every day, so he wants to finish it.
I think what's going to happen now is what UN said, because they said that they want this to happen in 21 days.
That's about three weeks from tonight.
What?
This is just for the withdrawal of the forces.
And, of course, this is considered to be a big victory for the Houthi side and for the Yemenis in general, because the Yemenis, Houthi, and the people under the Saudi emirate, they are happy with this.
Of course, there are some people who talk about why Houthi was equal to the legitimate government and all these things.
But at the end of the day, it's okay, because they know now there is a big well, there is a real well that wants to end the war.
And this is good.
This is good at the end.
Saudi Arabia, I mean Mohammed bin Salman, received a call from Stockholm, from Sweden last week, before that, the agreement was declared.
And this is also a good thing.
And the media of Saudi Arabia and the Emirates talk positively now, because they are fed up of the Qajmar, Houthi.
Houthi is not easy.
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Well, and you know, that really is an important point, too, right?
If we go back to almost four years ago now, when this war started, this really was the pet project, in a sense, of, at that time, the brand new deputy crown prince and defense minister, Mohammed bin Salman, who launched this war.
I mean, I don't know, you know, to what all degree the rest of the Saudi establishment and government and royal families, the Nayefs and the Abdullahs and whoever, were all agreed on this.
But it looks more and more like he's being blamed for it all.
It's been such a disaster.
It's gone nowhere.
They're no closer to winning the war than they have been this whole time, really.
And, you know, some different Saudi princes have been quoted in the media, really kind of harshly blaming it all on Mohammed bin Salman and disavowing the policy themselves and that kind of thing.
So at least it seems like, I guess that could cut either way.
But in a sense, that probably bodes well, that the Saudi establishment is trying to sort of divorce themselves from the conflict and hang it all around this one guy's neck who we'd all like to see drown anyway.
Yes, yes.
Mohammed bin Salman, at the beginning, he wants to ascend the throne over the rebels of Yemen, over the dead bodies of Yemenis.
And he always wanted to get out from the war, but he wants to look victorious.
But now I think he wants to get out anyway, because everybody in the world is linking the atrocities in Yemen, the war in Yemen, with the Khashoggi brutal killing, the brutal murder.
So everybody now looks at Mohammed bin Salman, that what he's doing in Yemen is the same as he did to Khashoggi.
And he wants to get rid of this, because he wants also to keep some of his reputation, if there is any.
So I think this time, if the U.S. administration supports the U.S., because we are expecting now a resolution from the U.N. Security Council, because what all I told you about, about the U.N. agreement, ceasefire, and all these things I told you about now, would be nothing if the U.N. Security Council did not issue a resolution that cancels the previous resolution that allowed Saudi Arabia to invade Yemen.
And I think this is what's going to happen, because there is a peacekeeping force coming to Hodeidah this week, and they would not come without that Security Council resolution.
The commander of the peacekeeping forces is already named.
He's from Holland.
His name is Major General Patrick Comard.
So everything is clear, but the new resolution of the U.N. Security Council is not yet issued.
You say he's from Oman, is that right?
From Holland, from Dutch.
He's Dutch, not from Yemen.
Oh, from the Netherlands.
Netherlands, yes.
I see.
Okay.
Yeah, that was what I was going to ask you, was where these peacekeepers are from.
Do you know how many of them there are supposed to be?
No, no, just the commander.
Just the commander, but the forces, as you know, the forces are from many places.
But I mean the commander.
I see.
The commander.
So, oh, okay.
Yeah, the peacekeeping forces themselves will be made up of troops from different national armies around the world, I guess.
Yes, yes.
Well, and you're right.
I mean, that certainly does bode well for the ceasefire actually meaning something and not just being some kind of delay or public relations measure.
And this is all important, as you say, to this port is absolutely the lifeline for at least the entire northern half of the country.
And, you know, a lot of the rest of it, too.
I mean, these goods and services are fungible in a way.
But, you know, something that we've talked about, Nasser, on the show, I think with you before, and certainly with some of the different, you know, humanitarian organization representatives and that kind of thing, is that the inspections process that the Saudis have mandated for imports makes it so that even when imports are allowed, the food is always spoiled.
And, you know, in a sense, it's a cheat to continue the blockade even while pretending to allow shipments in.
I wonder if in the agreement, do you know if that has changed at all?
Yes, there is a lot of things.
But what I mentioned is the most important thing.
There is a lot of things about the commercial and about the relief ships that are coming to Hodeidah.
Now, UN would be monitoring.
UN would be running the seaboard in particular.
It would not be running the city, but it would be running the seaboards.
There are three seaboards in Hodeidah, Salif, Ras Issa, and the board of the city.
So three seaboards would be under the administration of the UN, which means they inspect everything.
And there's one more thing that we should mention is about the airboat of Sana'a.
The airboat of Sana'a is also almost like Lifeline.
It's because, you know, people now dine in thousands because of the airboat, because of the closure of the airboat of Sana'a.
So airboat of Sana'a and the salaries, airboat of Sana'a and the central bank is going to be discussed also this week, as the UN Secretary General himself was in Sweden.
And this is what he said.
So they wanted to come out with the airboat and the salaries also solved, but they could not.
So they delayed the airboat and the salaries, although they are more important, especially the salaries, very important than any other things.
People are dying.
But I think they are going to do it in the few coming days because they said they are not going to spend time on Christmas.
They are going to work also because they need to solve the airboat of Sana'a and the salaries of the people.
We are talking about one million, one million health workers and teachers and those people who depend completely on the salaries.
So I think because the revenues of Hodeidah, there are a lot of revenues in Hodeidah, the revenues of Hodeidah will be deposited in the central bank of Hodeidah and it will be distributed as salaries.
So there are a lot of good things that we haven't heard before.
A lot of good things.
You sound very optimistic here, Nasser.
Do you think that this is really the beginning of the end of the war?
If you want me to tell you on behalf of the people, people are very optimistic and it's completely different.
But I would also, if you ask me about myself, it's also, it would depend on Mohammed bin Salman.
If he's really fed up, yes, it will be the beginning of the end, the beginning of the end and a lot of things will happen.
But if Mohammed bin Salman is not yet fed up, so everything can be spoiled in minutes because they have a lot of things, a lot of justifications that can be used to spoil what is achieved.
Yeah.
Well, that much is certainly true.
Let me ask you this.
If we had our way and the Saudis backed off with the UAE and the Americans with them and the war came to an end and let's just say the foreign intervention came to an end all around and it was left to the separate Yemeni factions to work out their differences one way or the other.
Do you think that the war would continue, for example, between the Houthis and the factions in the south near Aden?
Or do you think that they could come to some kind of power sharing agreement?
It doesn't seem very likely that the Houthis would be able to conquer the south of the country, right?
Luckily, you know, it is not only about Houthis and separatists.
It is also about Saudi Arabia and the Emirates.
And this is why I am optimistic.
And this is why we should be optimistic.
Saudis can't leave Houthis and others to fight and kill each other.
They can't.
So, Emirates and Saudis and the U.S. should also support a final deal, a final agreement, a final solution, a comprehensive solution for everyone.
Why I'm saying this?
I will tell you.
Saudi Arabia and the Emirates are in a big conflict, in a real conflict.
Why?
Because of what you are saying.
They are united only over Houthis, but they are divided over the Salah party, the Brotherhood.
That is the biggest Islamic party after the Houthi movement now.
So, Saudi Arabia is supporting the Brotherhood, the Salah, the Salah party, whose leaders are in Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia.
And the Emirates is supporting the separatists, who are the enemy, separatists and Salafis, who are the enemy of Brotherhood.
So, it's connected.
I mean, you can't just separate one thing and leave the other thing.
No, you should only find a solution for everything.
And we know this.
We know that Saudi Arabia and the Emirates know that the people fighting with them on the ground are very fractious, very fractious groups.
And they can fight endlessly if there is no solution.
So, there must be a solution for everyone, including, and the most important of which is that Yemen must remain united.
Otherwise, it will be a problem.
And Houthi now, Houthi can help in uniting Yemen, because most of the leaders of the separatists are with Houthi in Sana'a.
And they can do a lot of things, everybody knows.
And they are represented in Stockholm in the last talks in Sweden.
And everybody knows.
So, I think now United Arab Emirates is toning down in terms of the separation and all these things, because they know that they are going nowhere.
They are not going to find something that can be concrete or that can help them also, even if they want to occupy or to extend their influence in Yemen or something like this.
It's a problem now.
It's a chaos.
Everybody knows that the government can't stay in Aden.
The UN can't stay in Aden.
The diplomats can stay in Aden.
But in Sana'a, they can, because of their security.
So, there should be a comprehensive solution or not.
Or not at all.
Because of many, many things.
I just mentioned you, I just mentioned the most important thing.
There is a conflict between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
A big conflict that can be seen.
We mentioned a lot of things.
We mentioned that Hadi can't return to Aden, because Emirates doesn't want him.
And nobody can stay in Aden.
No UN, no diplomats, no one can stay.
Because it's assassinations, bombings, every day.
Every day.
We are talking about 35 Mosque leaders who were assassinated by the Emirati forces.
Because they are, they label them as Brotherhood.
So, it's very dangerous.
And they know it.
They know that there is no end in the, looming in the horizon for this chaos.
If they are not going to do a whole solution or a comprehensive solution for everything.
For Yemen, South and North.
And so, and now this divide between Saudi and UAE on the ground there in Yemen.
In effect, because they're backing proxies.
So, in this case, the Saudis are backing, well, wait, the Al-Qaeda guys are backed by UAE.
And the Muslim Brotherhood this time is backed by the Saudis.
Even though usually the Saudis don't like the Muslim Brotherhood, right?
Yes, although everybody knows that Saudi Arabia hates Muslim Brotherhood 100%.
But, practically and pragmatically, they can't now talk about the largest Islamist party in Yemen.
And they call them Brotherhood and we don't want them.
Saudi Arabia sees it differently.
And this is the Al-Islah faction, right?
Yes, Al-Islah faction.
But then the Saudis, I mean, pardon me, the UAE, they prefer the Al-Qaeda guys.
And they're using the Al-Qaeda guys.
Also, we've read from Aram Rostam's reporting and so forth, American mercenaries to hunt down and kill the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood there.
Exactly, exactly.
For UAE, it's completely crazy.
And, I mean, they are killing everyone.
They don't want them at all, at all, at all, at all.
But Saudi Arabia is not like this.
Because the leaders now are based where?
The leaders of this Islam, of the Brotherhood, are based in Riyadh.
Including those who have links to Al-Qaeda and ISIS, of course, as I've always been telling you all along in this show.
Of course, this conflict can be seen sometimes by us here in Yemen when they clash, when they use their airplanes against each other.
Not only just a conflict or diplomatic or...
No.
They kill each other sometimes on the ground.
And it's a big thing.
We know that.
All right.
Hold it right there.
Just one moment.
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Well, and now, so but the al-Islah faction, I mean, they have a real constituency there compared to Al-Qaeda and ISIS, who are really just a product of the war, right?
Yes.
Yes.
When we talk about Islah and brotherhood, Islah now keep saying to Saudis, I'm not brotherhood, I'm not brotherhood, I'm not brotherhood.
But, of course, everybody knows that they are.
But I just mean that they, I mean, they really are from there and they have, they're a major faction that has to be dealt with, negotiated with at some point by the Houthis or whoever controls Sanaa.
Whereas the Al-Qaeda guys, they're not, they will never be part of any kind of ruling coalition or none of the other factions would even feel like they need to accommodate them.
But the al-Islah faction, I mean, they're really not going anywhere, right?
And this is what's happening.
This is what's happening, of course.
And Houthis called Islah many times because Islah means, you know, it's a big party in Yemen, in North and South, and you can't ignore it at all because it's people.
It's Yemenis.
It's, yes, of course.
But United Arab Emirates does not see this this way at all.
They want to kill even all of them.
It's a crazy thing.
And this is why I'm saying they are in a big conflict now.
All right.
And now, so, but it seems like also the, the, am I right that the major faction that rules Aden, I don't know how much they rule, but the major faction there, that's more the leftist faction that that opposes Al-Qaeda and the Houthis as well, right?
Yeah, let me tell you what is in the South.
The major faction is, is Salafist, separatist and Salafist.
When I say separatist, they are Qaeda and ISIS veterans, the leaders of them, Qaeda and ISIS veterans, or Salafist.
Salafist is the enemy of brotherhood.
Salafists are also the closer to Qaeda and ISIS than brotherhood.
Salafists.
So they are Salafists.
They call themselves Salafists.
The leader of the separatists are Salafists, who is based in Saudi, in United Arab Emirates.
He's wearing the same thing as the Emirates is wearing, and he's Salafi.
He's calling himself Salafi in his clothes and everything.
So this is the major, the major.
Let me tell you one, also one thing.
Well, tell me about the socialists, too, because, you know, I think we talked before.
I saw some video where the guys, the guy on horseback with an AK-47 saying, Viva Hugo Chavez.
And, you know, and I don't know a whole lot about it, but I have read for years, actually, that there's this whole socialist faction left over from the days of the Soviet Union, I guess.
Let me tell you, they have only the flag left.
The socialists, unfortunately, have only the flag.
Their flag is still used with the angels, with the stars and the seagull and all these things.
Yes, but socialists are very fragmented and they are very divided and they are very, you know, disadvantaged and they are fed up of everything.
But, yes, their name is still there and some of their leaders, of their leaders are still there.
But the big, the big base is Salafis and Brotherhood.
Brotherhood is with Saudis, I mean South.
Brotherhood are with Saudis and Salafis and separatists.
Separatists are mixed of everything.
When I say separatists, I mean mixed of everything, Qaeda, ISIS and socialists.
Socialists, I mean the veterans, but the young people are completely different now.
Young people are Salafis, Qaeda, ISIS or Brotherhood, Salah.
So it's not like the time of Shafi'is and all these things and the Red Star and all these things.
No, it's completely changed.
Well, I was actually contacted by some PR firm, basically, obvious, you know, paid lobbyists for some of the southern socialists who were saying that, you know, their side of the story was they're grateful that the UAE is there to help protect them from the Houthis.
Yes, without UAE, all these groups, all these groups would be more fractious and Islah will be, Islah, the Brotherhood, will be the biggest.
This is the problem because Islah is not that big in the south, but the other groups are very fractious, are very divided, are very split, you know, are very weak.
But now because of the Emirate's money and because of the Emirate leadership, they look like one thing.
They are not one thing.
Well, so let me ask you this then, because I mean, I guess just say I could have my way and all foreign intervention would just cease on all sides there.
And it was left only to Yemeni factions to work out their differences.
From what I understand, the Houthis have never ruled the capital city before.
They obviously have major differences with other factions around the country and particularly in the south, the Salafi al-Qaeda types, as well as the socialists and others.
And so, but I wonder, do you think that they have enough common ground that if the intervention, if the foreign intervention stopped, is there enough common ground to be negotiated between?
I mean, it sounds like, well, for example, between the Muslim Brotherhood, Islam group and the Houthis or the socialists and the Houthis.
It doesn't sound like anybody's going to bring al-Qaeda in from the cold.
But so could the Houthis, the Muslim Brotherhood and the socialists work together in order to marginalize al-Qaeda, something like that?
Simply, Houthi have no popularity in the southeast.
This is for sure.
But Houthi has a big and strong card to use.
What is it?
The socialist leaders who are in Sana'a now, who are represented in the Sana'a team everywhere.
In Sweden and now in Kuwait in January and everywhere.
So it's a big thing.
Houthi has the leaders who are more effective and who can negotiate and who can, of course, talk about the south and nobody can ignore them.
This is the most important thing.
But Houthi can also negotiate with the Salah in the south and north because of many things.
They have many common ground things, of course, because they know how to deal with these things and they have many common things.
Yes.
Well, I'm glad to hear you say that.
I certainly don't want to see any more fighting.
But I mean, I think, well, can you talk about just how much al-Qaeda and ISIS groups have grown in Yemen since the war began almost four years ago?
I think al-Qaeda, ISIS in Yemen has not had this chance since it was established.
Al-Qaeda and ISIS in Yemen has become the strongest than ever before because now it's working safely.
It's working without any worry, without any concerns.
Al-Qaeda is using the Saudi money, the Emirati money and the American weapons because they are within what is called the National Legitimate Army.
And they receive their salaries from Saudi and the Emirati and everybody knows this.
So they are now, they are also, they are safe, they are also safe even from Trump drones.
They are very safe.
Now, drones can't kill al-Qaeda and ISIS because they know where to hide, where to stay and where to save themselves.
So they are very happy, very, very happy.
And they want, they don't want this war to stop any at all.
They don't want this war to stop at any cost because they know that they are now benefiting from this chaos.
Yeah, well, you know, as Mark Perry has reported, at the time that this war began, when Obama gave the Saudis the green light to launch this thing, the Pentagon was actually in the middle of working with the Houthis to target al-Qaeda guys.
They had to turn around and tell the Houthis, sorry, we're bombing you now.
And now, they wouldn't, Pentagon, let me, let me tell you, believe me Scott, the Pentagon and CIA and everyone would not find better than Houthi to find al-Qaeda.
Now, and in the past, and in the future, they would not find.
So Houthi is a state now, and they know how they, I mean, they have been trained on the things that they were not trained on, like diplomats and diplomacy and all these things that they were not familiar with.
Now, they can help anyone in cracking down al-Qaeda more than anyone else.
And they know this.
They know.
They know.
The diplomats would not go to Aden.
They would only come to Sana'a because they feel safe.
The teams, the journalists who I myself coordinated to come to Sana'a, they told the American media that they were very safe in Sana'a.
They were very safe in Sa'ada, much, much more than in Aden.
In Aden, they would not even get out from the hotel.
And I'm talking about people who I coordinated to come to Yemen.
Well, that's exactly, I mean, you must be speaking about Nicholas Kristof because that's exactly what he wrote.
Yeah.
And all the others and all the others.
Yeah.
Yeah.
In fact, people should look at this.
Thank you.
I forgot who it was, but someone posted this in my Reddit group, this very important New York Times story, tracking the bombs from Arizona to Yemen, something very close to that, about the bomb factory in Tucson, Arizona, where they make these bombs.
And where the locals lie to themselves that the bombs are used to protect American soldiers on the ground.
This ridiculous mythology has nothing to do with the reality at all.
And especially for the New York Times, grading them on a curve.
They've been silent about this thing for years.
Now they're finally starting to cover it, thankfully with your help there, Nasser.
And they're doing a pretty good job of that.
I think when people read that, you know, because what they do is in this report, they have an in-depth kind of report about this one bombing of this businessman who was digging a well and killed all these villagers and his brother and all these innocent people.
And just what it's really like.
Quotes from the survivors whose bodies are still full of shrapnel and just all the real reality of the war that Americans don't ever get to see on an individual level.
Reported on the level of these individual human beings with first and last names instead of just statistics.
And speaking of statistics now, let's get into this because Save the Children has recently come out and they said that their estimate is that 85,000 children have died in the war because of deprivation, essentially from cholera and other diseases and malnutrition and starvation.
85,000 children already.
And it could be far more than that.
And speaking of that, and I'll turn it over to you in just one second, but there's this group called Ackled Data and I interviewed Andrea Carboni, their lead statistician on Yemen.
And they recently came out with their updated numbers that they estimate that 80,000 people have been killed in violent attacks since the war began in 2015.
This stage of the war, I should say.
Yes, this is very good to conclude.
But the 85,000 children, not only children, children and people who died of starvation, of Saudi-made starvation, is only according to the statistics of the Save Children organization.
But I would tell you that the number is more, is more, is higher than this.
Oh, I don't doubt it for a minute.
I mean, I think and I think they would say that this is the best that they could do and that they really don't know.
I think they would admit that.
But I think, let me just say, I think that the way that they measure this in terms of what they call excess deaths and the increased death rate compared to before, later on when those studies are done, there's no question that we are going to find out that hundreds of thousands of people have died in this thing.
Of course, of course.
And we thank them anyway.
We thank Save Children and everyone who counts, right?
But the problem is that the UN itself is not counting anymore.
But anyway, let me tell you now about the other statistics.
We talk about about 1,000 Yemeni civilians who were killed by airstrikes, not including those who died of starvation.
We talk about 15 million.
We talk about three, three million who are homeless now, who are in the middle of nowhere.
We are talking about about 15,000.
That's the half of the population of Yemen.
15 million, sorry, 15 million Yemenis who are at the brink of starvation.
By the way, I'm sorry to interrupt.
But the first thing you said was 1,000 killed in airstrikes.
I think that you misspoke there.
Sorry?
The first statistic you cited there, you said 1,000 killed in airstrikes.
I believe you misspoke there.
No, no, 100,000.
100,000.
100,000.
Not that.
About 100,000.
OK, I'm sorry.
That's what I thought you meant.
I want to give you a chance to make sure.
Yeah, yeah.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Well, and the other thing, so 15 million, 15 million at the brink of starvation.
And about 100,000 people, mainly children, have already died.
Have already died in front of our very eyes.
Right?
So it's now a matter of either to rescue Yemen or to leave it die.
I mean, it's a big thing.
And it's a stain.
It would be a stain of disgrace on humanity, on U.S., U.K., France, and everyone.
Because it's a problem.
They shouldn't leave Saudis do that at all.
You're absolutely right.
And it's so important.
You know, the blackout here, up until recently anyway, is just unforgivable.
I mean, this is absolutely, without question, the worst thing that the U.S. government is doing on the planet Earth right now.
And that's saying a lot.
But you know what?
Even in Iraq War II, when there were comparable numbers of casualties, it wasn't deliberately inflicting a famine on the poorest people you could find on the planet.
That's what this is.
Medieval siege warfare, outright banned by the Geneva Conventions for 100 years or more.
This is medieval siege warfare.
This is genocide.
What do you call it when you deliberately inflict a famine on people?
It's genocide.
And I'm from here, too, but that doesn't make that not true.
The American government is the greatest purveyor of violence on the face of the Earth, and this is the ultimate example of that.
Yes.
But thanks to the free people, thanks to the free people, the free senators and the congresspeople and all kinds of activists, there are a lot of things that are being changed now in U.S. and in U.S. foreign policy, and we should not give up.
We should keep working and telling people about what's going on in Yemen, and I'm very, very happy with what's going on because a lot of things changed.
Khashoggi helped us a lot, helped Yemen a lot, because just they told who Mohammed bin Salman is and how he is brutally killing and destroying Yemen.
All right.
Well, listen, my very best to you, Nasser, and to your family, and appreciate all your great work that you've done and all the time that you've spent on the show explaining what's going on over there.
Can't tell you how much I appreciate it.
Thank you very much, and Merry Christmas to you and all those who celebrate this.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
All right, you guys, that is Nasser Arabi, reporter out of Yemen.
Isn't that great to know when The New York Times is finally covering this, they're going to him.
He used to write for them back when the war was just against al-Qaeda there.
They didn't want to know what he had to say about what's going on with the rest of this war until now, finally.
Thank goodness.
But you guys can check out all the recent coverage in The New York Times, et cetera, there.
And then his website is YemenAlan.
It's YemenNow, YemenAlan.com.
Oh, and follow him on Twitter, as well.
He's got a great Twitter feed, if you're into that.
At Nasser Arabi.
That's A-R-R-A-B-Y-E-E.
All right, y'all, thanks.
Find me at LibertarianInstitute.org, at ScottHorton.org, AntiWar.com, and Reddit.com slash ScottHortonShow.
Oh, yeah, and read my book, Fool's Errand, Timed and the War in Afghanistan, at FoolsErrand.us.
