Yemen: While the indications of a return to military confrontation between Sanaa and the Saudi-Emirati alliance rise, the United Nations and European Union countries intensified their diplomatic efforts to save the truce from collapse.

The head of the Saudi-UAE Council of agents, Rashad Al-Alimi, ignored the European delegation’s demands regarding the detention of fuel ships and preventing their access to the port of Hodeidah, focusing only on the recent military parade of the Armed Forces.

Al-Alimi considered the review of Sanaa missiles and naval mines as a threat to the security of the Red Sea and international navigation. He did not show any willingness to push the peace path forward, but rather talked about the three peace references represented in the Gulf Initiative and the “Peace and Partnership Agreement” signed between the Yemeni parties in late 2014, and International Resolution 2216, which legitimized the aggression against Yemen and placed the country under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations.

In an interview with Al-Akhbar newspaper, Yemeni political sources said that Al-Alimi's reply "is an escape from the implementation of the entitlements of the truce, and an indication that the Saudi-Emirati aggression coalition wants to return to the option of war” as the official "Saba" agency loyal to Riyadh, reported that the meeting has nothing to do with peace. 

What reinforces these indications is that the "coalition" began arrangements of a military nature more than a week ago, which was represented in a high-ranking military meeting that included the commander of the "joint forces" and the deputy staff of the Saudi army, Lieutenant-General Mutlaq Al-Azima, and the commander of the Emirati forces in Yemen, Muhammad Al-Amiri, followed by summoning Al-Alimi from the headquarters His residency in Riyadh to the headquarters of the "coalition forces", late last week. 

In addition to the above, the Chief of Staff of the forces affiliated with the government loyal to the “coalition” from Marib, Lieutenant-General Saghir bin Aziz, was summoned to Riyadh.

On the other hand, Sanaa confirmed, through the head of the Supreme Political Council, Mahdi al-Mashat, that it might take military action if the detained fuel ships were not released. 

In a meeting with the Minister of Defense in the “Salvation” government, Major General Muhammad Nasser Al-Atifi, Al-Mashat affirmed that no breach of the truce will be accepted, stressing the need to disburse all salaries of state employees, and restore the looted oil and gas resources. He pointed out that the facts in front of the US-Saudi aggression necessitated it to release the detained ships, and to stop detaining them.

For his part, Al-Atifi affirmed that “the Armed Forces are fully prepared and ready to implement any directives, whether with regard to the aggression’s violation of the terms of the truce, or the comprehensive confrontation with the US-Saudi aggression to liberate every inch of the homeland.”