Yemen’s internationally recognised government wants to avoid a military battle for Sanaa, the country’s capital that the Iran-backed Houthi rebels seized in 2015, Yemeni Information Minister Moammar Al Eryani said on Tuesday.
The minister, on a visit to Washington this week, told a group of journalists that his government “wants to spare Yemenis’ blood” and avoid a military battle in Sanaa.
“The government troops are 20 km from Sana’a and have been there for a year… We are capable of achieving victory but we don’t want to conquer it militarily for the sake of the Yemenis,” he said. “We want a political solution and we are serious about the peace process.”
His comments came after the death toll in the country’s civil war reached 91,600, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, as both sides continue to work towards a lasting peace agreement.
But the Yemeni official expressed deep reservations about the UN-led peace process and the track record of the global body’s special envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths.
“Mr Griffiths misled the international community, he wanted to achieve a fake victory [in Stockholm] to claim personal credit,” Mr Eryani said.
The Stockholm agreement reached in December between the government and the rebels was around key understandings involving the detainees, the airport in Sanaa and Hodeidah port.
“Nothing has happened,” Mr Eryani said, and goes a step further in blaming the failure of Stockholm on an increased security impasse with the Houthis.
“Because of the ceasefire in Hodeidah, the Houthis redeployed elsewhere and now are able to carry attacks, fire drones and missiles at neighbouring countries. This is the result of Stockholm,” he said.
When asked by The National if his government had lost confidence in Mr Griffiths, he explained that was not the case and instead it is seeking full implementation of the Stockholm agreement.
When asked about the Houthis increasing weapons capability, such as firing a surface to air missile at a US drone last week and attacking a Saudi civilian airport, Mr Eryani said “the more pressure on Iran, more sophisticated weapons will get to the Houthis. Iran is directing the Houthis , they have full control”.
Global News 
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