Yemen: U.S. Must Stop Saudi War, Siege

SANA’A (Press TV) – The spokesman for Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement says the U.S. administration is not sincere in its calls for the restoration of peace to the country, stressing that Washington must make the Saudi-led invaders end their aggression and siege against Yemen to set the stage for a real political process.   
"It is unacceptable for [the United States of] America to chant the slogan of human rights and express concern over the worsening humanitarian conditions in Yemen as a result of the [Saudi-led] aggression and siege, and then make that (humanitarian issues) subject to military and political bargaining,” Mohammed Abdul-Salam wrote in a post published on his Twitter page on Monday
He was responding to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s comments on supporting what he described as a Yemen free from foreign influence.
During a phone conversation with the UN’s Yemen envoy Martin Griffiths, Blinken claimed that "the United States supports a unified, stable Yemen free from foreign influence, and that there is no military solution to the conflict,” according to the U.S. Department of State.
Washington plans to "reinvigorate diplomatic efforts” to end the war in Yemen, he said.
Abdul-Salam said a political process can achieve success only when it is free from coercion, adding, "We know the U.S. is well aware of what can [truly] contribute to the restoration of peace in Yemen,” but its misleading and unwise statements show Washington does not want such a thing to happen.
The Ansarullah spokesman said "our position is defensive. The U.S. must first oblige aggressors to stop their aggression and lift the blockade against Yemen” in order to set the stage for a real political process.
Moreover, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a member of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, tweeted on Monday that the Ansarullah movement had presented its own vision plan for the cessation of hostilities in the war-torn country to U.S. Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking.
"We are only demanding an end to the [Saudi-led] aggression, and removal of the blockade. We are not opposed to ceasefire and do not refuse any such bids,” he said.
"We are actually confronting an all-out aggression against our country, besides occupation and siege by a coalition which is waging a war, invading our country and besieging our nation,” Houthi added.
The senior Yemeni official noted that Ansarullah has submitted a plan for a nationwide ceasefire in Yemen, through Griffiths, to Lenderking.
The U.S. special envoy for Yemen on Friday said during a webinar with the Atlantic Council think tank that Houthis are a "significant player” in Yemen and that needs to be acknowledged.
"I don’t think you can operate by denying that reality,” he said, adding that the U.S. "never said the Houthis have no role in Yemen.”
Lenderking, who recently returned from a three-week trip to the region, said Washington is looking for the Ansarullah’s response to its peace plan, but claimed that Ansarullah does not appear interested in a ceasefire at this moment, and is supposedly prioritizing a military campaign to take the strategic central province of Ma’rib.
 "I will return immediately when the Houthis are prepared to talk,” Lenderking said.