Sorry I'm late.
I had to stop by the Wax Museum again and give the finger to 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 fact.
He came, he saw, he died.
We ain't killing they army, but we killing them.
We be on CNN like Say Our Name been saying, saying 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, again, happy to welcome Nasser Arabi to the show.
He is a reporter from Sana'a, Yemen.
And his website is yemen-now.com.
Yemen Alon at yemen-now.com.
Welcome back to the show, Nasser.
How are you doing?
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
Okay, so the news here at antiwar.com this morning, Saudis pound Yemen after Houthis truce offer.
And the Houthis said they would stop firing and they hope that the Saudis would follow suit a couple of days ago.
And the Saudis instead decided to bomb the capital city as well as launch a new operation at the port of Hodeidah as well.
According to, sorry, it's at china.org.
There was a story saying that there were 27 airstrikes in the last 24 hours there.
That's it.
Zinshua, however you say that.
Yes.
According to the Houthis there.
So is that right?
27 airstrikes.
And so whatever you can tell us about, you know, the most recent developments there in Sana'a and Hodeidah.
And then maybe we can get to the drone attack on Saudi in a little while here.
That's right.
Well, let me first catch up with you on the developments on the airstrikes development.
Today, there were five airstrikes, at least here in the north, in the northern part of Sana'a in Harf Zofian.
And they killed five people from one family in a mosque.
They refuged to the mosque after they, I mean, fleeing from the airstrikes.
When the airstrikes started, the family tried to flee to the mosque.
And then they came to the mosque and bombed the mosque to the ground, killing the five people from the same family.
So this is the last or the latest massacre, unfortunately.
This is something that happens almost daily, but this is the last, the latest one.
And for the airstrikes, the Saudis intensified the airstrikes everywhere in Yemen, in Sana'a, in Hajjah, I mean, in the northern part of Yemen.
Sana'a, Hajjah, Amran, and all these places.
And these airstrikes intensify more the more you get closer to the Saudi border.
So, unfortunately, this is a bad sign.
The Saudis did not, or the Saudis seem to be ignoring the initiative of peace.
Houthi, of course, earlier this week offered and they said clearly that they would stop the drones and the missile attacks on Saudi Arabia.
But only if Saudi Arabia stops the airstrikes.
So what happened over the last few days, from Friday to today, indicates clearly that Saudi Arabia ignored the offer of the peace initiative.
And this means that we are going to face more contention and Houthis are highly likely to resume the drone and the missile attacks.
Because this is what they said when they offered the initiative last Friday.
They said if Saudi Arabia does not stop or if Saudi Arabia continues airstrikes, we will resume our attacks by drones and by ballistic missiles.
And they said clearly and defiantly that the attacks this time would be wider and harder and more painful than the attacks of September 14 on the most important oil fields or oil refineries in the far east of the kingdom.
That, of course, shut down more than half of Saudi Arabia's oil and that's, of course, about half of the world's oil supply.
So we are expecting more attention and more attacks from Houthis because they were very confident and they seem and sound very, very confident and they know what to say and when to say.
And this means that the region is going to face more and more tensions.
Can you talk about the escalation at the port of Hodeidah?
Yes.
The attacks on Hodeidah, it was called by Saudis at the time.
This is Friday.
They said that when they carried out that operation, they called it a wide operation and important operation.
And, of course, they carried out, Saudis carried out a series of airstrikes on the northern part of Hodeidah.
And they said they destroyed four sites where boats are reassembled or where bomb boats, booby-trapped remote-controlled boats that are used against the ships in the Red Sea.
So they said that Saudis said at the time that they destroyed everything in these four sites.
Of course, Houthis downplayed the places that were targeted and they didn't say what they are.
But, of course, it's like every time Saudi Arabia, when they retaliate, when Saudi Arabia retaliates something after attacks, they said, we destroyed the airstrikes.
We destroyed the drones, the ballistic missiles.
This is what they always say.
This time they said boats because they are speaking about the sea places and they said these boats were going to carry out some attacks against the waterways in the Red Sea.
And they said that they carried out these attacks to stop the planned attacks of Houthis against the waterways in Bab al-Mandab.
It's now very normal in Hodeidah.
Of course, I should have told you that in Hodeidah there is now talks going on with the UN observers and Houthis and the Saudi-backed forces for implementing.
These talks are for implementing the Stockholm Agreement, which means that they want to continue implementation of the Stockholm Agreement, which says that the Houthis should withdraw from Hodeidah city.
So, the United Nations didn't say anything at the time when the airstrikes happened, but they said, the UN said at the same day, on the same day, they welcomed the peace initiative of Houthis.
And they said that they called on all parties to take advantage of this initiative.
So, in Hodeidah now it's quiet, with exception, of course, with the skirmishes that happened from time to time and some clashes and sporadic attacks sometimes, but very small and very low profile, not big things.
Nothing big in Hodeidah is happening now.
Okay.
So, well, that's good, at least.
I guess that report was a little bit overstated then.
The Defense Post says that they're starting a whole new operation there, but I guess they didn't really say if it's airstrikes or ground troops.
It was overstated.
It was overstated from the first moment by Saudis.
And the Houthis told them at the time that if you continue, the Stockholm Agreement would be null and void, and we would resume our confrontations there.
But they stopped and no more airstrikes in Hodeidah with that size from Friday.
It's normal now in Hodeidah, like every day, but not like Friday when Saudi Arabia said that it's a big operation.
And some of the media, Saudi media, said that it's a big operation to liberate, as they said, liberate Hodeidah.
But now it's nothing.
The airstrikes are in other places, as I told you, in Amran, in Hajjah, in Harad, in these places, but not in Saudi, in Hodeidah anymore.
Hang on just one second.
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All right.
Now, so let's talk about that attack on the refinery in Saudi Arabia last week there, which the Houthis took credit for, but which the Americans said, no, Iran did it.
Even if the Houthis did it, Iran did it.
But actually, no, Iran did it from bases in Iraq.
No, Iran did it from southwestern Iran.
Somehow they missed those missiles flying over the Persian Gulf and over Riyadh, whatever, to get there.
But anyway, so, you know, you and I have been talking for a while about the Houthis' advances in drone technology and the further and further range of their attacks with missiles and with drones into Saudi Arabia.
Are you certain that this was the Houthis and not missiles or drones launched from Iraq or from Iran?
This is not the first time that Houthis fired missiles and drones from Yemen to this ring, to this extent.
This is the third major operation.
The first operation was in May.
It is big.
It was big.
And it destroyed the western or the pipeline that connects the west with the east of the kingdom.
And the second was on, I guess, on the Sheba field, oil field, on the far east of Saudi Arabia at the border of UAE.
So this one of the 14 September, the attack of 14 September is on the same, but they were gradually or the attacks were gradually getting harder and harder.
So it is very, it is 100% from Yemen.
And if it was not from Yemen, the Americans would have detected exactly where from and they would have discovered, they would have had by now all evidence.
But unfortunately, it's only, you know, kind of laying down the importance and the significance of the capabilities of Houthis, because it's a big, I mean, it's a big failure to US and to Saudi Arabia to say it's Houthis.
It's not only embarrassment, but it's, you know, it's shocking things, because Houthis are getting stronger, although they were under aggression and blockade for five years.
So it's better for the Saudis and the US to say it's from Iran.
Although, of course, Saudi Arabia did not say something like, as you know, Saudi Arabia does not say like US, like Bombay or like, like Bombay, let me say, because Bombay is quite sure or sounded quite sure that they came from the south of Iraq or from something between, somewhere between Iraq and Iran or something like this.
But just speaking, they didn't have that evidence.
They should have had evidence if they were right.
But now they are just talking because they don't want, they want to appease, they want to placate Saudi Arabia.
And Saudi Arabia is now very embarrassed.
Saudi Arabia is caught now between, between, between two difficulties, rock and hard place and rock, rock and hard place.
Because they, they, if they say Houthi, it's shocking and it's embarrassment and failure.
And if they are afraid that Iran would continue attacking them, because they don't want to be in, to be in war.
What they want, what Saudis want is only the Americans.
They want the Americans to fight to the last Americans.
And Trump in his turn wants to blackmail them to the last penny, to the last dollar.
So this is, this is, this is how it, this is how it's, how it seems now.
Yeah.
Well, you know, when they announced they were sending hundreds of American soldiers to Saudi Arabia, it was clearly a terrible thing to do and, and a pretty bad error, but it sure seemed like probably, and I'm just speculating here, but it sounded to me like they probably gave the president three options and sending troops to Saudi was the least violent of them.
As opposed to launching strikes on this or that target, which I think Trump is really reluctant to do.
But the pressure is on certainly to, to pin this on Iran one way or the other.
That much is clear.
But so let me ask you, do you think that as they put it, you know, in the media that, well, if it was the Houthis who did it, they must have had Iranian help to do it?
But for Iranian help, the Houthis said clearly in their announcement that, that honorable people from inside Saudi Arabia, from the eastern part of Saudi Arabia helped them.
And they helped them, of course, with their coordinates, with these things.
This is very easy because the eastern province of Saudi Arabia, this is the Abqaiq and Khurais, where the refineries were hit.
These places are predominantly Shia, Shia people, and they are, they are, they are in a big problem with the government.
I mean, government is harassing them and besieging them and putting them on trial, unfair trial.
And the government also, the Saudi government executed some of their, of their scholars and clergymen and Britishers, mosque leaders.
So, the cooperation from the Saudis to Houthi is very probable, is very possible.
Why not?
But Iran, the cooperation of Iran is the same cooperation from the beginning of this, from the beginning of this aggression.
And the cooperation, you know, cooperation, media, political, diplomatic expertise.
Why not expertise, how to do this, know-how, expertise, a lot of cooperation, yes.
But not to the extent that Iran would fire missiles and the drones and then Houthi would say, yes, it's me.
This is very silly things, very foolish.
If Houthi is this foolish, if Houthi is this foolish, then he wouldn't have, I mean, he wouldn't have stood for them or to this aggression five years.
Of course, he wouldn't have stood five years if he, if he, if he would agree something like this.
Iran hit, Iran is to hit and I would say it's me.
This is, this is not, this is not the Houthi.
And if he was this, he wouldn't last even weeks in front of Saudi and U.S. war.
Well, and you know, I have read some speculation about that.
And that obviously does make the most sense, right, that they used friends among the Saudi Shia who happened to live right where all the oil is, and under the oppression of the Sunni kingdom there.
And so that would make sense in terms of the range, because that's what people are saying is, well, but, you know, northern Yemen is just too far away.
Yes, not far away.
Why this time it is far away?
Why, why it was not far away in the last time when Sheba field was hit?
Sheba, Sheba, Sheba field is, is even further than this.
It is the same, they know it.
And Abu Dhabi is also further, Abu Dhabi airport.
But anyway, everything is possible.
I mean, all options are open now to explain what happened exactly.
But those who say that those who blame Iran easily like Bombay has no evidence also on what he's saying.
It's not.
I mean, it's he's just saying that it's Iran, but he doesn't have the evidence and nobody has until now.
But the cooperation from the Saudis in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia could have been in many, in many ways, of course, as you said.
And now, um, I'm sorry, I kind of missed it when you were talking about the local Saudi Shia working with the Houthis here.
Are you saying that that's the Houthis official statement or, or you're speculating that or you know that they were?
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no Yes, this is what they said.
This is officially said, yes.
Not, not, not speculation, not speculation from me, no.
Um, well, and they can expect some severe reprisals.
We just saw where they, the Saudis executed, I think a couple of dozen guys, certainly more than 10 guys who are just protesters.
They call them terrorists, but they were just peaceful protesters.
And one of them, they beheaded him and then crucified his corpse.
Exactly, exactly.
Yes.
This is what happens.
They are very, very repressed, very repressed, the people there.
And everybody knows they can do anything, anything, anything, the people there.
Yes.
Yeah, well, um, it's, uh, it's certainly a severe escalation of the war.
And of course, as you know, you could expect, I'm sure you weren't surprised to see in the American media, they're treating this whole thing like the war just started last week.
And for some reason, these terrible Iranian backed Houthis have launched this attack on, I mean, if they did it at all, if it wasn't launched from Iranian soil.
You know, they've launched this aggression against Saudi and now our good allies, the Saudis must be defended.
And they completely just ignore the history of the last five years.
Pretend history started yesterday.
Exactly, exactly.
And when Houthis said, or when they offered their peace initiative, they sounded very confident.
They sounded very confident and they sounded to say that from a position of strength, not a position of weakness at all.
And by the way, let me add something, if I may.
When Houthis said that honorable people cooperated with them from Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia now has an account or they leaked some information to the American media.
And this was published by the Wall Street Journal.
They said that, Saudis, that some Houthi leaders called them saying that they didn't do it.
Iran did it.
And they were shocked when Iran wanted them to cover up such an attack.
And they said also in the leaks published by the Wall Street Journal, they said that Iran is now preparing for an even more powerful attacks on Saudi Arabia oil.
This is in Wall Street Journal.
But let me tell you what I understand from these leaks.
These leaks are very normal and very familiar to us from Saudi Arabia, because Saudi Arabia is always trying to drive wages between factions, between bodies, between countries every day.
This is the Saudi Arabia policy.
It's always driving wages is the policy of Saudi Arabia.
It was not strange to Yemenis and to observers and to Houthis to hear what they said, because what they said in their leaks, they wanted to say that Houthi now is divided into two factions.
A faction agreeing what Iran is doing, and they are covering up.
And the other faction is refusing what Iran is doing in their name.
And this is what Saudi Arabia wanted to say.
But unfortunately, it was very funny and ridiculous things to believe here, because Houthis are getting more and more state-minded, if I can say, more organized and more security.
And they know this altogether.
They know what Saudi Arabia said altogether.
They just denied that any leader from their side said something like this to anyone or told Saudi Arabia anything.
All right.
Well, listen, I'm sorry.
I'm all out of time, Nasser, but thank you so much for coming back on the show.
I really appreciate it.
That's very good.
Okay.
Thank you very much for your interest.
All right, you guys, that is Nasser Arabi.
He's a reporter reporting out of Sana'a, Yemen.
Sorry, I always say it wrong.
I'm a Texan.
And his website is yemen-now.com.
Thank you again.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
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.
