Houthi defector: Yemen situation ripe for ‘swift completion of liberation’
Abdelsalam Jaber says Houthis turned state institutions into warring islands
Jaber is the most senior member of the Houthi militia to defect since the war began
DUBAI: Conditions are ripe for the “swift completion of the process of
liberation” of Yemen from the control of the Houthis, the militia’s
propaganda chief said a day after deserting the group.
Speaking at a news conference in Riyadh on Sunday, Abdelsalam Jaber, the
self-styled information minister, accused the Houthis of a long list of
misdeeds, including turning state institutions into warring islands
ruled by militias.
“Detainees in Houthi prisons are being treated inhumanely,” Jaber said,
adding that what was happening in Houthi-controlled areas “is the work
of militias” that have competing “centers of power.”
Jaber is the most senior member of the Houthi militia to defect to the government side since the Yemeni war began in 2014.
Jaber arrived in Saudi Arabia with his family after fleeing the capital
Sanaa, Moammer al-Iryani, information minister of the Yemeni government,
said on Saturday.
Confirming the longstanding allegations that the Houthis were being
aided by Iran and other countries, Jaber said Yemenis reject “the
foreign domination of the country.”
Jaber said the Houthis’ dominance was in its final days, adding that the
“Yemeni people have rejected Houthi injustices and are waiting for an
opportunity to get rid of them.”
Jaber’s defection comes against a backdrop of continued clashes in the
Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, a key facility that Yemeni government
forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition are seeking to retake from the
Houthis.
Fighting has flared in Hodeidah’s east between the Houthis and government forces backed by air strikes and helicopters.
“The battles here are turning into street fighting,” a government official said on Saturday.
Government forces on Saturday recovered control of the May 22 Hospital as part of the offensive.
Amnesty International, the international human-rights watchdog group,
has accused the Houthis of “deliberate militarization” of the hospital
after they deployed snipers on its roof.
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