Saudis, terrorists cooperating in Yemen conflict: Professor

Press TV has conducted an interview with Seif Da'na, a professor at the University of Wisconsin, to ask for his insights into the relentless bombardment of Yemeni cities by Saudi warplanes.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: The question always remains that in this continuing war on Yemen, the Saudis have not yet achieved their goal, so why continue down this path?

Da’na: Well, It is really important to say first that things coming from Ta’izz are very telling while ISIS (ISIL) and al-Qaeda were killing people on the ground. The Saudi air force and the coalition air force were shelling the same area in Ta'izz at the same time, shelling same neighborhoods and they also shell the presidential palace and kill entire families. So, while ISIL and the al-Qaeda are working on the ground the Saudi coalition is actually bombing and shelling from the air. So, there seems to be some sort of coordination between these.

But, so this is very important then, just yesterday we listened to the briefing of the UN Humanitarian Chief Stephen O’Brien about the conditions in Yemen. And O’Brien essentially said that the situation in Yemen is incomprehensible, but the most significant thing, I mean, the suffering is incomprehensible in Yemen, but the most significant thing that he said was his comment regarding the Saudi shelling and bombing of the Hudaydah sea port and he clearly said this is a violation of the international law. And that was said before the UN Security Council. So, the UN and the UN Security Council [are] under obligation to act against the Saudi violation of the international law at this point.

But what is happening on the other side and that’s coming back to your question essentially is that when the Saudis thought they are actually winning in the South and that they are going to be able to press their political demands they are faced by the rivalry between the different groups in southern Yemen that they were supporting. So, at this point in Yemen we have al-Qaeda, in southern Yemen I mean, where the areas they claim they liberated, we have al-Qaeda, we have ISIL, we have Ansar-ul-Sharia, who is a very strong group, who is supporting ISIL, we have Muslim Brotherhood movement Islah, we have the former president Hadi’s forces, the weakest amongst all groups, we have the Muslim Brotherhood as I said, we have the southern forces. And they had one agreement amongst them that they wanted to force Ansarullah out of southern Yemen, but other than that they have all source of differences. At the moment, Aden failed to them, they have been fighting. So, all the Saudi efforts have been lost essentially and what we’re seeing now in southern Yemen is a situation that will be under no control from the Saudis.

Basically, we will see there are same forces in southern Yemen, who were supporting the Saudi invasion and Saudi aggression, are fighting amongst themselves now. So, the Saudis will never be able to ... their political demands on any side. Additional thing that the UN Envoy Sheikh Ismail essentially reached some sort of agreement with many Yemeni forces and there is why this agreement was not actually taken forward is simple, because the Saudis have been pressing against any agreement between the Yemeni forces. What they really want to do is to maintain hegemony and control over Yemen and they want to bring the people of Yemen to submission and that explains the violent and indiscriminate bombing of civilian neighborhoods in Yemen. 

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