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Sorry I'm late.
I had to stop by the Wax Museum again and get the finger that FDR.
We know Al-Qaeda, Zawahiri is supporting the opposition in Syria.
Are we supporting Al-Qaeda in Syria?
It's a proud day for America.
And by God, we've kicked Vietnam syndrome once and for all.
Thank you very, very much.
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 a 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, man, 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.
Aren't you guys introducing Nasser Arabi?
He's a reporter from Sanaa, Yemen, and he's been helping us keep up with the events in the war there almost three years now, since the U.S. and Saudi Arabia launched this war.
Welcome back to the show, Nasser.
How are you doing?
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Scott.
Very happy to have you here.
Now, of course, we really had a CIA and JSOC drone war against Al-Qaeda targets, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula there.
But the last three years, since 2009, the last three years we've had this war against the Houthis, who combined with the former president, Saleh, and his forces had come and taken over the capital city.
And Saudi Arabia launched this war to reinstall their puppet, the former vice president, Hadi, to the throne there.
And the war's been pretty much a stalemate up until now for three years.
I guess, can we start with the latest developments in the South where, am I right, that the UAE-backed forces and the Saudi-backed forces have now split in their goals and in their cooperation with each other?
They've gone from trying to take over Sana'a to just trying to declare independence for the South.
Is that right?
Yes, very good start, because now the war in Yemen is no more coalition.
It is no more, I mean, it is very clear now it is not for restoring the legitimacy, as they said at the beginning.
It is not also for helping Yemenis.
It is very clear now after what happened last January until now between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, it's very clear that it's only occupation.
And they are now conflicting over the influence and over the wealth of Yemen.
And now Yemen is no longer one Yemen.
It is three at least.
It is at least one in the North, one in the South, and one in between.
That is in the desert of Marib.
And the United Arab Emirates now has the upper hand over the Saudis, especially in the South, because there is no more government there.
Hadi is still in the luxurious hotel in Riyadh, of course, for three years.
But his government, also some ministers, were coming back and forth to Aden.
Now they are not in Aden.
They are not there after the so-called call by the United Arab Emirates, who had its own militias outside the Hadi or the Saudi legitimate government or the so-called legitimate government.
So now it's very different than the beginning.
It's now a conflict between Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.
Although they try to hide a lot of things, they try to say they are in agreement, but it is very clear because United Arab Emirates have the separatists in the South and Saudi Arabia have the Brotherhood.
And Brotherhood, as everybody knows, I mean the Muslim Brotherhood, are the enemy of Emirates.
So they are fighting now.
We can say it's a war within a war.
It is a conflict within a conflict.
Yes.
And now, as far as the Houthi alliance with the former Saleh government goes, of course, in December Saleh tried to betray them and align with the Saudis against the Houthis.
And the Houthis backstabbed him first and killed him.
But I wonder then, have the Houthis been successful in consolidating power over his forces since then?
Yes, this was very clear.
Houthi, when Saleh changed sides in December, he didn't last even two days.
I mean, in the second day he was killed and Houthi now is consolidating, of course, and Houthi is controlling almost all the North and some parts of the South.
And the security in Sana'a is much better than it was.
And Houthi now is rolling alone.
And with some, of course, with Saleh, but he is still there.
He's still in the government.
They did not withdraw.
They did not boycott the parliament sessions.
Houthi, the so-called salvation, the national salvation government is still functioning and it's working.
And this government is divided between Houthi and Saleh almost 50-50.
And it is still working.
This means that Houthi is still now controlling and at the same time still has good relations with Saleh despite what happened.
Well, you know, I think probably even if you go back two or three years, I probably asked you, hey, what about just letting the country break apart again?
If the core, because it's the country is much wider East-West than it is North and South.
They say North and South Yemen, but it seems like the divisions are greatly, there's North and South, but there's East and West too.
So why not go ahead and just break the country up into three and stop fighting over who controls the capital?
How about that?
This is what can happen or this is what could happen at the end.
But now the big players, the big players are still hoping to, I mean, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates in particular, United Arab Emirates has the hope to control the Yemen South and North, even if it is divided, but they want to control everywhere, especially the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Of course, Saudi Arabia is interested in the North because the North is very clear to its South.
So it is very, Saudi Arabia is very concerned about Houthi in Saada, in the North of the North, which is very clear, which is very close to Saudi Arabia borders.
So they are still, they want to say that they are successful, they are victorious, but unfortunately at the end, I think this could could happen because there are a lot of people now when they see this still met for three years now that the UN envoy didn't do anything.
And now we have a new envoy.
So a lot of people outside Yemen would see it as a solution to let Houthi in the North, let the separatists in the South and Al-Qaeda in Marib in the East, because Al-Qaeda is now, when we say Al-Qaeda means brotherhood and the Saudi backed forces.
So at least three Yemenis would be there, at least.
Yeah, well, and as bad as that is, America, you know, I don't know about Saudis, but if we could, if the country split into three, then America would only have one war left to fight there against the Al-Qaeda forces, which of course would only backfire and make them more powerful as it has since 2009.
But it seems like that's better than fighting against them and fighting for them simultaneously, as we're doing right now.
Yeah, but I think that's it's losing, whether it's three Yemenis or one under the Saudi conditions.
If it's three Yemenis under Saudi conditions in the United Arab Emirates, it means that there will be big Yemen for Al-Qaeda.
And if it is one Yemen under Saudi conditions, also, it will be all Yemen under Al-Qaeda.
At least the most influential group would be Al-Qaeda linked brotherhood or their sympathizers.
In addition to the Al-Qaeda of Britain, who are now working everywhere and in many parts of Saudi Arabia.
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All right, Nasser.
So I don't know how far-fetched this is, but what about the possibility then that the Huthi forces in the capital of Sana'a would then possibly ally with the transitional national government, the southern government there in Aden, against the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda forces in the east?
This depends largely on the United States.
If the United States would support Huthi and the United Arab Emirates as a political player, I think it would be okay, because this is what the United Arab Emirates is doing.
When I say United Arab Emirates, I mean the one that the United States loves very much, because the Trump administration encouraged the United Arab Emirates very much, and they trust it very much, sometimes much more, as I judge it.
The United States trusts the United Arab Emirates more than Saudi Arabia.
So if the United States would support this, I think it would be okay, because now we see what is happening in Aden.
What is happening now in Aden is only the United Arab Emirates, and it did what it wants in two days, like al-Huthi in the north.
So they just gave a deadline for the Hadi or the Saudi-backed government to leave, and when they did not leave, they forced them to leave.
They took over the the military bases and the presidential palace and the headquarters of the cabinet in two days.
What does this mean?
This means that the United Arab Emirates has everything, is controlling everything in the south.
So I think it would be okay if the United Arab Emirates and its allies cooperated with al-Huthi against al-Qaeda, because no one is more hostile to al-Qaeda than al-Huthi.
It is very clear.
And in this case, the United States would achieve some of its goals.
All right.
So now, what about the humanitarian crisis there?
I interviewed the guy who's the main coordinator for Doctors Without Borders there a couple of weeks ago, and he was saying that the cholera epidemic is subsiding for now, at least.
Is that right?
Yes, it's subsiding now, but of course, the impact of the health in general, the health situation is still very bad for cholera and many other diseases because the health facilities are almost not working and not functioning.
So if the cholera is over, if the cholera is subsiding, it doesn't mean that the health situation is improving.
Of course, because we have a problem in medicines and hospitals and in health facilities and in everything.
I mean, the blockade is still there, and Saudi Arabia is still using the diseases and the blockade and banning the medicines, the food, the fuel, and everything from entering Yemen as a weapon.
So the problem is still there.
The humanitarian situation is still there.
It's even getting worse and worse.
So Saudi Arabia is using it as a weapon, as I say, always, unfortunately, and at the same time, Saudi Arabia is telling people that they are helping and they are sending aid to Yemen.
This is the most deadly thing one can imagine, to hear Saudi officials saying something like this when they are killing and destroying Yemen.
Yeah.
And now, so ever since the war started three years ago, there's been a blockade at the port of Hodeidah there.
I don't know exactly the status of the trade down in Aden, but at the port of Hodeidah on the Red Sea, there's been a complete blockade against all commercial traffic, all trade.
The only ships allowed in are Red Cross type aid ships.
Is that correct?
Is that still correct?
Yes, of course.
As I told you, the blockade is all around, from land, from air, from sea, from everywhere.
But Hodeidah is under the focus, especially outside Yemen, because from Hodeidah, Yemen exports 90 percent of its goods before the war.
But now it's 100 percent.
Nothing is coming from anything else, from anywhere else.
So Hodeidah is blocked completely, then no life there.
And Saudi Arabia is trying this from time to time.
But because of the international pressure, and especially from the Trump administration, Trump tweeted about this, of course, about the blockade of Hodeidah.
And Congress also talked about the blockade of the Hodeidah sea boats.
So now it's on and off.
It's on and off.
I can't tell you now it's open, but it's on and off.
Saudi Arabia feels that the pressure is mounting, and the pressure is great, then it opens, and then it closes.
This is what Saudi Arabia is doing, unfortunately, in Hodeidah, the only lifeline for Yemen.
And as you said, at the airport, too, it's completely closed to commercial traffic and trade there.
Yes, the airport is closed, of course.
The most important thing is about what's happening in the south now, about what's happening between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The people who are with Saudi Arabia, I mean the brotherhood now, all the leaders, the top-level and the middle-level leaders of brotherhood in Saudi Arabia and inside Yemen, they now say that it is occupation.
They say that United Arab Emirates is occupying Yemen and Iraq.
And some of them now, some of them say that Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates have come to Yemen not to help Yemen, not to restore the legitimacy, not to do anything else but to divide Yemen and to lose its wealth.
And this is something that we have been telling them from the very beginning.
And this also proves what we are saying, that Saudi Arabia came to Yemen only to divide it and to lose it and to, at the end, to make a government that is in the interest of its, I mean, in the Saudi interest, not in the interest of Yemeni people.
And now, so are the oil resources in the east, in that land controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda there?
Yes, everything.
In Mareb, when we say east, it is Mareb.
It is in the east in Mareb and Hadhramaut, where al-Qaeda is there.
Al-Qaeda has been there for more than two decades.
East is the same haven of al-Qaeda.
Mareb, Hadhramaut, Shabwa, it's the same haven of al-Qaeda.
And the people there are either operatives of al-Qaeda or sympathizers.
They don't know anyone else.
Or the Brotherhood leaders, who are now Brotherhood leaders, are based in Riyadh, and they are receiving the money and weapons from there, from Saudi Arabia, and they keep sending the money and weapons to their followers and their operatives on the ground in the east.
And they can't go.
No one can go to the south.
No one can do anything.
No one can do anything for the south, or even, you know, they are just enemies for the people in the south.
Forza for United Arab Emirates.
So we can say in summary that Yemen is already now divided, that the United Arab Emirates is ruling in the south, and Saudi Arabia is ruling in the east.
And now, where's the oil?
The question was, where in the country is the oil?
You talked about Saudi wants Yemen's oil resources.
The oil is in the eastern part of Yemen.
The oil and the gas.
In Mareb and Shabwa.
I see.
Well, so that makes a lot of sense.
You will unite the way Saudi Arabia wants.
Saudi Arabia is focusing on this, and this is what it is doing.
But it can't do anything to help, even to make it clear.
No, they can't, because Mohammed bin Salman is still in need for the experience of Mohammed bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates.
So it is scary.
And the Qaeda is taking advantage of this.
Well, and so now that it's, I mean, we have been talking about a stalemate between the two major factions here for three years, but now it sounds like it's a stalemate between three major factions.
And I wonder if you think, do any of the factions on the ground or in the air have a real advantage in terms of being able to move the lines, or is pretty much everything set the way it is, even if they fight for another few years?
I think now it's only if the big players outside Yemen want to do something.
You know, they are now trying, as I told you, they changed the new UN envoy, Wilde Sheikh.
They changed him with a British envoy, Martin Jesus.
But I don't think he would be better than Wilde Sheikh.
And if the United States keeps ignoring Yemen like this, it would be not only three Yemenis, it would be five or six or even more.
And it would be out of the control of anyone, even Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, because the United Arab Emirates is very naive in war, and they don't know what Yemen means.
And they think that if they have money, they would do everything.
But unfortunately, they would not do anything.
So if the United States wants to help Yemen and to help the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, the United States and Trump administration must do something.
They must act.
And how they must act, I think they know how to convince Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to first to look at the interests of Yemen before their interests.
Yeah.
All right.
Well, listen, man, I'm really sorry about my country bombing yours this whole time.
I don't know what any of us can really do about it here.
No problem.
We are freedom fighters everywhere, and we know that how dirty politics is.
So we'll keep fighting until the end, until justice is achieved.
All right.
Well, thanks again for your time on the show.
I sure appreciate it, Nasser.
You're most welcome.
Thank you very much, Scott.
Good luck to you.
All right, you guys, there you go.
Nasser Arabi, reporting from Sana'a, Yemen.
And you know me, I'm scotthorton.org, youtube.com, slash scotthorton show.
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