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Can 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 they army, we killing them.
We be on CNN like say our name been saying, say it three times.
The meeting of the largest armies in the history of the world.
Then there's going to be an invasion.
All right you guys, introducing Nasser Araby.
He's a reporter from Sanaa, Yemen and he runs Yemen Now, yemenalan.com.
Welcome back to the show Nasser.
How are you doing?
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much Scott.
Happy to have you back on the show.
Really appreciate you joining us here and now there's been a massive escalation in the war.
The United Arab Emirates and their mercenaries attacking the Hodeidah port.
Can you please update us everything you know here?
Yes, let me first clarify something.
The battle in the western coast of Hodeidah is not new.
It has started 32 months ago.
They started with the Bab al-Mandab straight and they are in the same western coast of Yemen for 32 months so far.
So it is not new.
But what is new is the city, the city of Hodeidah.
We can say this, the city of Hodeidah which has about 1 million people.
The Emiratis, let me say this time Emiratis in particular, not Saudis, the Emiratis jammed to a point which is 10 kilometers from the airport of the city of Hodeidah, from the sea.
So this is the point that the people outside Yemen do not understand it very well.
So the Emiratis forces came to a point close to the airport from the sea, which this does not mean that they came along the coast, no.
But they came from this point, Duraim, which is 15 kilometers from the airport of Hodeidah and they opened a battle there.
And now there are, I mean, the battle or the fierce clashes and the fierce battles are going on there for five days or six days now.
Which means they wanted just to strangle and to starve more and to strangle the Yemenis under the leadership of Houthi, Houthi forces.
They wanted them, they wanted to push them even more and more to the table, but with their conditions.
So this is the very new thing only.
And what is happening now is clashes, is battles, very, very, very adventurous and very reckless step.
And, you know, a lot of tanks and armoured are being destroyed and a lot of invaders are being killed every hour or by hour.
So, I mean, heavy, heavy human losses, military losses, I mean.
And these losses may also include the city, if they wanted to, if the Emiratis wanted to move or to shift the battles into the city.
They are very, very close to the city now.
But as I told you, about one million people are there and the board, the Emiratis cannot take control over the board, the harbour, without entering the city.
Because the point I told you, they started from the point south of the airport, which is south of the city of Hudaydah.
So they are going now towards the north, airport, city and the board.
So if they want, it would take a long, a long, a long time.
It is not easy.
And the Emiratis wanted it to be very easy, but it will not be very easy.
It would take a lot, a lot, a lot of time if they want.
But now I think I can assess very honestly and very neutrally that Emirati forces are very, in a big, in a big quagmire, a new quagmire, and they are entrapped and they are even blockaded from three directions.
They couldn't have any reinforcement from any place on the ground, because they have people in the ground, but they couldn't come, they couldn't have any reinforcement from the ground.
They can only have reinforcement only from the sea, from the point they came from.
So they are in a big problem.
And if they couldn't, let me say very honestly, if they couldn't end it in two or three days, then they will, they might all be killed.
So this is the problem.
And let's see what happens, because the top leader, the Houthi top leader is speaking now on TV when you called me, and he said this, they, if they mean by this to push us or to push us to surrender, we will not surrender, even if they came with the armies of the world, because we should defend our countries, our country from the occupation, its occupation.
And so this is the most important thing that I can see, I can tell you now, and I'll let you now ask the questions in your mind.
Okay, sure.
Thank you very much for that update.
So, well, one question is, is the Saudi-US air war coinciding with this attack?
Are they providing air cover in the same battle, or they're still just bombing Sana'a?
No, now that they are focusing on Hodeidah, because Hodeidah, they call it, or they consider it the biggest ever since this aggression started about four years ago.
So everything now is focusing there.
But I told you, even though the first day, one week ago, they started to drop people from the sea, from the warships, and an Emirati warship was destroyed, because, you know, if you come close, they would hit you.
So they tried, but they failed.
Now the only thing they have is only the point, the point they entered from, which is 15 kilometers from, 15 kilometers south of the airport.
But no, on the ground, no place, I mean, they can't receive, as I told you, any reinforcement from any place.
So they are, practically, they are, they are blockaded from three directions, and they can only move in and out from the sea.
There are people who are in the, for example, in Bab al-Mandab, or in al-Makha, they can't reinforce, they can't help them, they can't give any more troops to help or to do anything.
So this is the situation now.
Well, okay, so I mean, skeptics, before this attack started said, well, listen, the Houthis are only going to withdraw into the mountains, and you're not really going to have much of a victory against them anyway.
You're saying that the entire battle is, is tilted toward the Houthis at this point, and that they even threaten the entire army of the UAE that is opposed to them there, huh?
Let me tell you, let me tell you one important thing also that will help you to understand what, why they did this.
Because the, the, the UN envoy was shuttling back and forth between Sana'a, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.
He came here three times recently, shuttling back and forth, as I told you, between Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Sana'a, trying to convince Houthi to surrender Hodeidah to United Nations or to any third party or whatever.
They refused, they completely refused, completely refused any new conditions, any new conditions.
They just told him very clearly until yesterday.
He left only yesterday, the day before, here from Sana'a.
They just told him, even, I mean, after the battles here on Hodeidah started, they told him the condition we told you three or about four years ago in Geneva or everywhere are still the same, the same.
They told him very strongly and very confidently, and this is why Emirati was very embarrassed and because Emirati thought that the Houthis would, would, would, would agree on all conditions after they did this step in Hodeidah.
But it is a big problem for them.
I mean, it is only a beast, a beast of brave or a war forever, at least for Yemenis, at least for Yemenis, for Houthis.
Yes, so it is, Emirati now is in a very, very embarrassed, in a very difficult situation that it, it wanted to, to, to do something to the, the, the, the media, Emirati media is, is still saying everything that he control their body, control the city, while the reality is completely different because the readiness and the, all the readiness of the Houthi fighters and the Yemenis in general, who are working with Houthi are, you know, they, they say they, they did, they did not start the, the, the battle yet and they know how important it is and if they want, they are ready to continue war inside the city or in the province or in the airport or wherever they want.
It is not just, it is not a day battle as they said, it is not a swift battle and it will not be at all.
And now have they bombed the cranes and the infrastructure at the actual port as they had done before?
Let me, let me tell you something.
Let me also clarify something.
The airport is completely, completely destroyed from four years ago or since four years, about four, four years ago.
I mean, since the very beginning of this aggression, right?
The air, the, the harbor or the port is partially destroyed because they bombed it, bombed it very many times, many times.
Now they did not strike the harbor during these six days at all because it is very far from the battle.
So they are focusing on the point which they are in.
They think that if they take control the airport, they would, they would control the city.
It is not right because the, the, the airport now is like, is like any, any place.
It is, it is any position, any place.
I mean, it is not that important and even though they couldn't do anything, they just keep bombing the airport now for six days and they say, we, we took it, we took, we, we controlled it, we controlled it, we controlled it and they didn't because if they controlled it, they would, they would show themselves there.
They are not.
And the Houthi leaders and the media people, they went many times there and they said, no, the airport is still there, is still there.
But of course, you can't go there safely because, safely because they would bomb anytime.
They bomb all the time anyway, but they bomb anytime they couldn't move.
They couldn't move.
They don't have enough troops.
They are in a problem.
So this is the situation.
Well, that's certainly an interesting take and I'd take your word for it.
I mean, certainly the Houthis have been underestimated going back for years and years here and have held out.
I mean, obviously the big story here is, you know, other than, you know, the recent developments on the ground is what it's going to cost in humanitarian terms because the Hudaydah port is so important to food imports for the entire country.
And so.
What is not, what is not clear to also people outside is, is that Hudaydah is fortified like Sana'a.
And they have been around the airport of Sana'a for four years now, four years now.
They were, they were four years ago, or let me say about three years ago, they were seeing the airport from the point they are now in, in the eastern, in the eastern part of Sana'a.
They can see the airport of Sana'a and they can also film it and they can tell you if you want to believe them, we can see the airport.
The airport is in the ring of our artillery.
The airport is in the, in the ring of our snipers or whatever.
And, and they are even now closer to the airport of Hudaydah, but it is not easy if they want to, to have all that cost.
And I'm not talking only about the, the civilian cost, which, which United Nations estimated at 250,000 civilians who could be killed if the battle continues into the, into the city.
And I, we can even, we can even expect more because there is no displacement.
I mean, people don't displace because it is difficult.
It is, you know, it is difficult to displace for, for many, many reasons, economic reasons and war and a lot of things.
So they are staying there in the city.
No one fled until now.
And the people know, people and the human rights groups and everyone know that it, if the battle started in the city, the, the Emiratis and Saudis and all invaders will be the losers because Houthi people are very experienced for this kind of fighting, guerrilla fighting.
And for the airport, for the, the board, it is also fortified because they, they have their own missile, land sea missile that can prevent and stop any warship that from, from getting closer or from approaching the, the board.
Like, like if you are in a, in a mountain here in the eastern of Sana'a, that you can, you can, you can rebel a very big army with, with, with just one clashing cove or with RPG or whatever, or mortars or whatever, because it's, you are in a mountain and it is the same Houthi that is also fortified and they are now controlling the situation from three places, as I told you, from three places.
I mean, the point which Emirati enter is blockaded, blockaded from three directions.
Only the sea direction is open for the Emirati invaders.
Well, and I've read, is it right that traditionally, plain old Yemeni civilians have the right to bear arms, just like Texans?
And so everybody has their own rifles.
The, the civilians, you mean?
Yeah.
As compared to most countries where civilians don't have their own rifles.
I've read that in Yemen, they really do.
As I told you, yes, yes, yes.
Yeah.
It's an important point to clarify, because people say, what's it good for?
One point is also that the city now, the city now is, you know, full of, I mean, of ditches and barricades and all kinds of, of readiness.
So if they want to choose, if they want to choose, the city will just turn over to, to some kind of mountainous place and, and a new battle, new battle, but not easy.
So Emiratis also would fail, if not failed until now, they would fail as they failed when they, when Saleh was killed here in Sana'a, when they told him to switch against, to switch with the, with the, with the Saudi Emirati invaders.
All right.
So now listen, as far as the future goes and some kind of possible ending to this war, we've seen that the Saudi and UAE goals are simply to win outright and put their guy back on the throne, which is obviously impossible, or, you know, to force the Houthis to the table, you know, very much on their terms, which doesn't really seem like they're in a position of strength to demand that, even in the, the smaller view, as well as the larger view, when you look at Hodeidah or look at the whole war, for example, here.
But so what about the Houthi side?
Because they've tried to take Aden and failed and withdrew.
And I wonder, are they willing to say, you know, give, let us rule Sana'a and we won't take Aden and split the country in half?
Or they're saying that they are determined to have total victory and consolidate power over the entire country?
See, this is what the Emirati is planning.
It is very clear.
But for Houthi, it is not like this, because it is completely different from Aden.
Aden, he did not, Houthi did not have any popular incubator in Aden, because it's completely different culturally and a lot of things.
But here it is, it is, you know, Hodeidah is connected, is well connected with three, with four important, four or five important provinces that are directly connected with Hodeidah.
And this is what Emirati mistakenly thought that they would cut the reinforcement rods by bombings from the sky and then Houthi would fail.
But now everything is okay.
Houthi were not worried when Emirati was approaching the airport, from the airport, or getting closer to the airport.
No, Houthi fighters were focusing on their places, on their places, I mean, their positions that are connected with the provinces of Sana'a, Damar, Hajjah, Sa'dah, and all these places, because they wanted to continue the war.
This is what they want.
Easily, they want to continue the war and they know that Emirati is drowning, foolishly.
So they want him to drown.
And it is not only this chibli, they now, they now capture, they capture, I'm saying not only destroy their, their armored vehicles, but they capture dozens of, of, of Emirati armored vehicles are already captured and everybody saw them on the, on the social media or TV or whatever.
They captured them because they have, they had that chance to capture, not only to destroy or to set fire to them as they did every time.
So they armed themselves from the invaders because they don't have any other place to help them or other place to have the reinforcement.
They have only the sea, only, even if they, if they take their injured people or dead people, they, they, they take them through the sea only.
All right.
Hang on just one second.
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As you say, though, if the Houthis have so little support down near Aden, is it truly their goal to consolidate power over the whole country?
Are they willing to compromise on that and have at least autonomy?
In other words, the Saudis and UAE seem to have an all-or-nothing set of goals here, and I wonder whether the Houthis are any more willing than them to compromise.
Yes, let me tell you what the outside wants, what the Saudis and the Emirates want.
They want two things, generally.
Let me just generally speak.
They want either United Yemen they make, I mean, United Yemen they make, not Yemenis make, or divided Yemen they make.
I mean, they want the easy way, they want to control Yemen in a way or another, so they don't care about unity or division, no.
What they care is how to control Yemen south and north.
But it is not that easy.
The Emirates want something and the Saudis want something, so they are conflicting.
If they are in one mind in this, they would have obtained something, they would have achieved something, but they are in complete conflict.
Now, the Hudaydah battle, the new battle I told you about, it only started when the Emirates went to Riyadh to satisfy or to appease and blockade Hadi and to tell people that there is no problem between him and the Emirates, because the Emirates did not recognize even his legitimacy.
But now, before the battle of Hudaydah, they locked or they told the world that they come along, they get along, they have no problem anymore, Emirates and Hadi and Saudi Arabia.
This is not right.
This can't last.
It is fake.
And it will not last, I'm sure.
If it is a good thing, they would have done something.
They would have even taken control over the airport, which is very near now.
They are very close to them, and they control them at least from the air.
But they couldn't, because they can't walk, they can't send the troops, they can't send the soldiers.
They are afraid.
So, Saudi is different than Emirati, and Hadi is different from all, and they hate them all.
I mean, Emirates and Saudi Arabia hate Hadi, and they don't like him, and they know that he is very, very weak, and they can't do anything.
What he has is only the name of legitimacy, only, not more.
Yeah, well, I mean, that's certainly been clear, even from the beginning of his presidency there, when they held the one-man election and everything.
But you're still not answering exactly, though, my question, which is, what do the Houthis want, and what are they willing to settle for?
Yes, the Houthi, yes, when they, Houthi want to keep Yemen united, because Houthi is not representing himself.
Well, as you said, though, when they tried to move on Aden, they really didn't have support from the people there, and so they backed off.
They weren't going to be able to win and hold that territory, so.
Yes, yes, it is not that, when I said popular support, I said popular support, the houses and all logistic things.
But politically, Houthi have leaders of the separatist movement here in Sana'a, who are even more important than those in Riyadh or in Abu Dhabi.
So they are from the south, and they want to keep unity.
They wanted to keep unity, they wanted only to correct what they call the path of unity, to correct the path of unity.
So wait, so what you're saying is, then, that the Houthis aren't interested in or don't need to conquer the south, because they have alliances forged with leaders in the south already, if the UAE would just butt out.
Is that what you're saying?
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
I mean, the people, the southerners here in capital Sana'a, whether normal people or leaders, they are more than any place, they are more even than Aden itself.
And they have, and the UN envoy, when he comes here, he meets them, and he knows that there is also separation movement in Sana'a, who are under Houthi leadership.
So generally, Houthi want to keep united Yemen.
But if they want to ignore Houthi, whether by military solution, or political solution, or wherever, they couldn't do anything without Houthi.
They couldn't do anything without Houthi also.
I mean, the people, the outside, the United States, UK, France, who are supporting what they call the legitimate government, they can't do anything without Houthi.
Houthi knows this, whether he's alone or with his political allies now.
Houthi is not easy.
Houthi now has the support of all the north.
And when I say all the north, I'm speaking about 75% of the population, more than 75% of the population of Yemen, south and north, are in the north.
So they know that they need Houthi anyway.
They need Houthi anyway in any state.
They could not work without him.
Well, and you know what, is it okay if we talk about a little bit of the history of how all this broke out?
Because, you know, I remember, well, there's been quite a bit of journalism.
Which one?
Which one?
Which one?
Which one?
You mean south and north or what?
Yeah, well, okay.
So, for example, I'm sure this is oversimplified to a degree, but Obama and the CIA really ratcheted up the drone war in 2009.
And they give a bunch of guns and money to Saleh, the dictator at the time, in order to, as basically the cost, the bribe, to let them wage their drone war against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which I know you covered for the New York Times back then.
Yes.
And then they, but Saleh then turned around and used the money and the guns to keep attacking the Houthis, but he kept losing.
And they kept getting more and more powerful as the result, just as al-Qaeda in Iraq, I mean, pardon me, just as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula got more and more powerful, the more they bombed them with drones, the Houthis got more and more powerful, the more Saleh used those guns that he was being bribed with against the Houthis.
They grew in response to that and all of that leading up to the Arab Spring and the Days of Rage and all this stuff in 2011.
So, I mean, could you take us back to some of that?
And do I have that right about the early cause and effect of this crisis?
Yes.
See, let me start with the United States.
Yes, the United States was focusing from the very beginning on al-Qaeda since very, since September 11.
Yes, since 9-11.
They focused on Yemen for many, many reasons, for many, you know, as a big threat to the United States.
So, they, as you said, they supported Saleh to to hand al-Qaeda, but Saleh exploited them, unfortunately.
And when Saleh was in war with with Houthi, they supported him because they supported him at the time because Saudi Arabia wanted this to happen, wanted this to happen because Houthi was, you know, Houthi is a threat to Saudi Arabia because Houthi is nearby Saudi Arabia or at the border with Saudi Arabia.
So, when Houthi won the war, not Saleh, Houthi proved that he was very strong because of the failure of Saleh and the failure of the United States also.
The United States was doing, was supporting the wrong person at the time.
So, when Houthi, when they made, when they ended the war between Saleh and Houthi, then the other problem came, that was the problem of the brotherhood.
The problem of brotherhood, they wanted then to, to support Houthi against brotherhood.
And even Saleh, when Saleh also was deposed and unseated from his presidency, he also tend to support Houthi to help him against his rivals, brotherhood rivals.
So, the brotherhood was the rival or the enemy of Saudi Arabia, the enemy of Saleh, and even the enemy of everyone outside because they, they support Al-Qaeda.
Now, Saudi Arabia has the brotherhood in its side and United Arab Emirates has the separatists.
They are enemies, they are completely enemies, but they say they are not, they are enemies.
Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates are enemies because United Arab Emirates has the separatists, the South separatists, and Saudi Arabia has the brotherhood, which, who are the enemy of United Arab Emirates.
And this is why United States is supporting blindly and foolishly, supporting what is, everything rebounces against United States, everything in Yemen.
So, because it is now the support, the American support in Yemen is in favor of, in favor of Qaeda, ISIS, the enemy of, of United States.
They don't, do not understand this because they feel they are, they love, let me say, Trump loves Saudis and their money.
They don't, he doesn't know what supporting, what supporting Saudi Arabia means.
It is supporting Saudi Arabia means supporting brotherhood, which means supporting Qaeda and ISIS now.
I mean, and they keep doing strikes against Al-Qaeda and ISIS too, and mostly just killing civilians when they try.
But I guess that's how they, you know, tell themselves that it's okay to fight this war against Al-Qaeda's enemies, the Houthis, is that, well, at least we're still doing the drone war and special forces wars against them.
Yes, they now, they even, they even talk about Iran as a big thing.
Also, they talk, you know, they, they, I mean, they say Iran, Iran, Iran, Iran.
Iran is, as I, as I always told you, and as I, as I have said all along, that it's, Iran is just gaining and not losing anything because it's happy.
Iran is very happy with what's happening here in Yemen now because it doesn't, Iran doesn't lose anything and it's only getting happy because Saudi Arabia is being depleted and in a big, big, big attrition war.
And so it's not even against Iran at all, what they are doing at all.
And as you said before, all their claims about Iranian intervention there have actually done more to boost Iran's power and influence than anything they've actually done, which is credible.
I mean, what are we supposed to believe, that they have a complete blockade on the country, but somehow Iran is getting missiles in?
I mean, it's crazy to think so.
This is very crazy.
This is very ridiculous.
It is not, because it's a, it's a, it's a big flaw.
It's a big, it's a, it's a shame on them to say something like this because they know that every single ship is inspected by them everywhere.
So how can the missiles can get, I mean, how can you get the missiles in?
No, it is not right at all, but it's just justification to continue their aggression.
Not, not right.
Yeah.
All right.
Now, so take me back though, to 2011 and 12, when all the protests broke out against Saleh.
I mean, I think it was pretty much all different kinds of factions, including the Houthis, wanted him gone.
And before America and Saudi intervened and, and put Hadi on the throne, was there really an alternative, a compromised government that was coming into, into being there that Hillary and them forced out?
Or, I mean, somehow the field was open enough for them to get away with putting Hadi there, right?
Yes, there, there were two things.
There were two things.
One government after, after Saleh was forced from power, that is at the end of, at the end of 2011, beginning of 2012, that was a government that, that, that, that was a Saudi backed government, like the one that Saudi wanted now, exactly, with brotherhood, right?
Saudi backed government, right?
Then Houthi was completely against that government at the time, completely, like now.
Okay.
So Houthi now has a big experience politically, militarily, and everything.
So he refused that.
And he kept struggling alone.
Brotherhood who were in the, in the square, in the revolution square, they said, okay, they were happy with the government, with the Saudi, with the Saudi backed government.
Houthi completely refused it publicly and privately and everything, right?
And he kept, he kept struggling, protesting, protesting, protesting, protesting.
Then he culminated, culminated his protests in the, in what he called the revolution of 21 of September, 2014.
So this is the Houthi, the Houthi revolution, 14, 20, 21 of September, 2014.
When he, when he took over, when he took over Sana'a and unseated Hadi and the brotherhood outside Yemen.
So it is like this.
But, but also Saleh, when I guess see what happened was there was an assassination attempt.
And so he was out sick for a while.
And then when he came back, he went and allied with the Houthis.
You're right.
This point is clear.
And brought army divisions with him.
So talk more about that.
Yes.
I should have, I should have mentioned this point because when, when, when Houthi refused the Saudi backed government, he did not refuse Saleh because Saleh was already unseated.
He refused Saudi backed government and Hadi president and all those people.
Saleh was very happy and he, he sided with Houthis.
He sided with Houthis until the end, until he was assassinated, until he switched the sides.
Yes.
Yeah.
Last December, when he tried to make a deal with the Saudis and stabbed the Houthis in the back, when it seemed like, and you know, you and I had at least joked about this on the show that, listen, if the Houthis can have an alliance with Saleh and he's the former Saudi American puppet, then they can deal with him too.
So why not put him back on the throne or one of his guys has a compromise deal.
And then instead of doing that, instead of saying, Hey, let me be a ally of both.
He tried to turn on the Houthis and make a deal with the Saudis behind their back.
And so then the Houthis This was, uh, this is, this was the biggest mistake in his life.
Unfortunately, the biggest ever, the biggest, biggest, biggest ever, because, um, you know, maybe because of his age or whatever, you know, I respected him.
I supported him.
I, I, I always, uh, uh, considered him as a, as a, as a witful, as a, as a very smart, but in this, in this step, he was very stupid because he did not calculate anything at all.
He didn't, he didn't even plan for what, what would happen at the door of his house.
So it was, it was, it was a big mistake.
Yeah.
All right.
Well, so man, it seems like, um, overall a pretty big stalemate and, uh, with the Americans, the Saudis, the UAE refusing to back down, but you're saying that, uh, back to the original point here about this battle at Hodeidah port, you're saying that it looks to you like the UAE and their forces are going to lose here and be forced to retreat, uh, rather than the Houthis are going to have to head for the hills.
This is if they want, this is if they want to sacrifice the city and the, and the population of the city and everything, they would also lose.
And they, I mean, they would not take control over Hodeidah without war at all.
And the war would be very long, like any war, like the Sanaa and even more difficult because now they know, Houthi knows that, uh, uh, Hodeidah, uh, I mean, uh, handing over Hodeidah is like handing over Sanaa, no difference.
And even, even more important, Hodeidah is very more important.
So it's, you know, to die is better than to be a slave.
This is the slogan that Yemenis are now raising, like the Vietnamese people, when they raised the, the, the slogan in 1968, when American invaded them.
Well, and importantly, you're saying that the population of Hodeidah, because they're just so poor.
And I guess because of the geography, they really can't flee.
And so that they can't flee.
Yes, but they turn over, they tend, they tend to fighters, everyone.
So poverty is, uh, with two faces, so they can't do anything, but where can they go?
They can go to battles, just to fight.
And this is what's happening.
And not only this, people from everywhere, but the people of Hodeidah, Hodeidah is the second largest in terms of population, second largest after Taiz, about 4 million, Hodeidah not the city, Hodeidah the province also.
So about, about 4 million.
Well, but Nasser, I mean, are you worried that if things go this well for Houthis and then with civilian militias rising up to support them, that maybe that'll really unleash a massive air war?
Because the Saudis, the Americans will just, they'll agree with you in a cynical way and say, yep, see, they're all insurgent fighters.
And so they're not civilians any longer.
Now we can bomb their whole city.
Yes, but they are very foolish.
I'm expecting something like this to happen, but, um, but, um, to, uh, to push you around this way, you can, you, you would, you would sacrifice anything.
Um, uh, you would sacrifice anything, not only Yemenis, anyone.
So they're just pushing around now.
Pushing around this way is, is very, is, is, is very hurting and not acceptable.
And, uh, it makes people even more determined to fight and to resist and not to surrender because it's, you know, I want to tell you that, uh, Houthi and all people who support Houthi like me, we talk about peace all the time.
Also, we want peace for everyone, but Saudi Arabia does not, does not want peace.
It wants also a peace in its way.
It wants, uh, it wants to form Yemeni government in the way that would serve Saudi Arabia only.
And not only serve, uh, form government, but first of all, they want you to surrender completely.
And then to go to the prison, they close, they lock you, uh, inside, and then they would tell you what you want, or they, they would give you.
This is very, this is what Saudi Arabia want.
They want you to complete surrender and they give everything and then go, just walk.
You walk into the prison, they lock you, they lock you in, and then they tell you what they can tell you, what they want, or what they could do for you.
This is what Saudi Arabia wants.
It's very easy.
It's very difficult and not easy to accept.
Yeah.
Listen, uh, I understand your point of view on that.
Uh, no doubt Americans would feel the same way in the same position.
And now, listen, before I let you go, can you just talk a little bit more about it?
And by the way, by the way, it's the same thing since for, for, for, for years, the same point Saudi raises and the same point Houthi raises every day.
And to the, to the, to the extent that people outside of the observers, they, they, sometimes they, uh, some analysts from outside Yemen, they say, both sides are overconfident, overconfident of this and this.
No, it's a, it's a matter, it's a matter of dignity also.
We, the Yemenis at the end, at the end of the day, they don't have anything to lose.
They don't have anything to lose now, but they, they want to, they, they want to, to, to live in a dignity and freedom and they sacrifice.
So, so it is not easy.
So the more the, the, the, the, the longer the war, the, the, the, the harder it gets, the solution gets not, not.
And it's, you know, it's, it's important, uh, and, and interesting to see too that, you know, we know the Houthis are not the majority of the country at all.
And yet, uh, we certainly have the same as America experienced after September 11th, of course, that rally around the leader and rally around the flag when you're being attacked.
They are not the majority.
Houthis are not the majority, yes, but they are leaders now and they have popularity.
Yeah.
I mean, that's really an important point because I think the Americans would try to say that, yeah, we're going to try to, you know, get the Yemeni people to blame the Houthis for their plight.
Many people outside don't understand that Houthis are indigenous people.
They are Yemenis, 100%.
So, so, and the majority is, is majority.
Saleh was, was, I mean, a minority.
Saleh was only one family and he was ruling Yemen.
How he would rule, how he rules, how Saleh ruled Yemen.
So Houthi now is a family or, or a sect.
So, but he's leading now, he's leading in a way or another.
Yeah.
All right.
Listen, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you continuing to come on the show and keep us up to date on the war there, Nasser.
Thank you again.
But I can't thank you enough for your interest in Yemen.
Thank you very, very much for you, for your interest in Yemen and for helping.
This is a very good thing to help Yemen by the word, by spreading the word.
Okay.
Take care.
Thank you again.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right, y'all, that's Nasser Arabi.
It's Yemen Alon, YemenNow.com and reporting from Sana'a, Yemen.
All right, you guys, and that's the show.
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