Yemeni Armed Forces Ready to Fight Back If Saudi Arabia Wants to Continue War - Spokesman

By Staff, Agencies

Yemeni Armed Forces Spokesman Brigadier General Yehya Saree warned the Saudi-led coalition that Yemeni forces are ready to fight if the war coalition decides to continue its aggression against the impoverished Arab country.

"If the Saudi aggressor coalition wants peace, the negotiating delegation has given more than enough [concessions] and if it wants war, we are ready for it," al-Mayadeen television quoted Brigadier General Saree as saying on Sunday.

Saree’s remarks came as an Omani delegation is visiting Yemen to discuss the extension of a ceasefire between Yemen's National Salvation Government and the Saudi-led coalition in the country.

The initial two-month UN-backed truce started at the beginning of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan on April 2 and was extended for another 2-month on June 2.

In line with the agreement, the coalition agreed to end its attacks on Yemeni soil and end a simultaneous siege that it has been enforcing against Yemen.

However, it has violated the truce on several occasions by attacking the war-battered country, canceling flights, and confiscating fuel ships, to name a few.

Earlier in the day, an official source in Yemen's Supreme Political Council told al-Mayadeen that the Omani delegation will discuss with the Yemeni side "the advantages of extending the humanitarian and military truce in Yemen," adding that "Sanaa will also present its stance towards the renewal of the ceasefire.”

The official said the National Salvation Government will link the extension of the ceasefire to reducing the current problems in Yemen, stressing that the reopening of al-Hudaydah Port and Sanaa Airport is the right of the Yemeni people and should not be conditional or restricted.

Saudi Arabia launched the devastating war on Yemen in March 2015 in collaboration with its Arab allies and with arms and logistics support from the US and other Western states.

The objective was to reinstall the Riyadh-friendly regime of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and crush the Ansarullah resistance movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of a functional government in Yemen.

Although the Saudi-led coalition has failed to meet any of its objectives, its war has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and spawned the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.