Saudi Arabia seeks Yemen reconciliation to subdue Houthis
After months of fierce fighting in Omran, the city fell under the control of armed Houthis, while Saudi Arabia was seeking to achieve national reconciliation in Yemen.
SANAA, Yemen — After six months of fierce fighting north of Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, the strategic city of Amran fell on July 8 to the armed Houthi group and with it a large army faction. Reactions have come successively, along with predictions of what will follow. This is particularly the case since the event comes amid a severe political crisis in the capital, interruptions in basic services such as electrical power and the lack of oil and its derivatives.
Attempts to contain the repercussions of the event started as follows: Two weeks after Amran's fall, Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi visited the Amran province with pictures of the visit circulating in the media under the headline, “The state has regained control of the city.”
Nevertheless, this was nothing more than propaganda since the city governor has not returned to his post, demanding the expulsion of the Houthi militias first. This declaration followed the news that the Houthis were assuming the states’ functions in Amran, such as the issuing of a death sentence against a city resident.
On July 28, on the eve of Eid al-Fitr, Hadi gave a speech in which he stressed “the need for national reconciliation.” This call seems understandable for the head of a state where many wars and conflicts have occurred. Yet, what is Hadi’s concept of the national reconciliation he called for? Everyone understood his meaning the following day when, during the prayers to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, Hadi, his military adviser Ali Mohsen and former President Ali Abdullah Saleh were brought together during the prayers for the first time since the outbreak of the 2011 revolution.
