Nasrallah: Saudi-Led Strikes Failed in Yemen

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah gave a speech on May 5 denouncing the Saudi-led military campaign against the Houthis in Yemen. Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shiite militia and political party backed by Iran, has openly expressed support for the Houthis. On April 13, Hezbollah even buried prominent Houthi spiritual leader Mohammed Abdel Malik al Shami in Beirut. Nasrallah accused the Saudi-led campaign of attempting to return Yemen “to U.S.-Saudi hegemony.”

Saudi Arabia, along with nine other nations, launched airstrikes against the Houthis on March 26, accusing the group of fomenting instability. The Sunni Gulf states largely view the Houthis through the same lens they see Hezbollah, as an Iranian proxy. But Iran has denied allegations that it has provided arms, training and financial support to the Yemeni movement. Saudi Ambassador to the United States Adel bin Ahmed al Jubeir said the campaign was “designed to protect the people of Yemen and its legitimate government from a takeover by the Houthis and a Houthi violent and extremist militia.” Officials declared an end to the campaign on April 21, but sporadic airstrikes continued. On May 8, Saudi officials announced a five-day ceasefire to begin on May 12.

Nasrallah also commented on the unrest in Syria and Iraq. The following are excerpts from Nasrallah’s speech, translated by Al Ahed News.

Yemen

“Was it able to achieve any of the goals it mentioned?...Were they able to achieve the true goal - spreading their hegemony over Yemen? They weren't. Did they expel or end the supposed, claimed, and alleged Iranian hegemony?

"The first reason behind this Saudi failure is - Praise be to Allah Al Mighty - the steadfastness, firmness, determination, courage, and coherence of the Yemenis and their incubating of the Yemeni Army and the popular committees. This is the reason which prevented the achievement of any of the goals of 'Firmness Storm.'"

"The second point is the second round under the name of Hope Storm. This is also another deception attempt to cover the failure that took place in the first round and to cover the deficiency manifested in the first round."

Anyway, for the new operation "Renewal of Hope", they set new goals which seem modest and achievable. So the deception here is in changing the name of the operation or the war from "Firmness Storm" to "Renewal of Hope". They considered that all the goals of "Firmness Storm" were achieved, and they put humble targets for "Renewal of Hope" so that they won't be asked for their failure later on as these goals are modest, and they may claim that they achieved them.” 

“In fact, the true goal is…controlling Yemen, making Yemen succumb, and returning Yemen to the US-Saudi hegemony. Now it is made clear that if they failed to achieve hegemony and to make Yemen succumb, they will destroy Yemen on its people. This is what is taking place.”

“Even more, they are using internationally prohibited weapons as was revealed by some international organizations to the effect of using cluster bombs which are the most dangerous weapons against civilians. In Lebanon, we have lived this experience, and we are still suffering from them following July 2006 Aggression.”
 
“Fighting Terrorism is one of the goals of "Renewal of Hope". What is the outcome? They are offering arms and artillery to al-Qaeda, making coalitions with al-Qaeda and Hadi Militia, broadening the range of al-Qaeda hegemony, controlling areas in which they did not exist before, and bombing the Yemeni Army and the popular committees to prevent them from reaching the regions where al-Qaeda is operating. So in the contrary, they are acting opposite to the claimed topics.” 

“Let's see now their claim of intensifying humanitarian aids for example. What took place so far? They have prevented any humanitarian aid from any place in the world? Even worse, they are resorting to hitting the airports and especially Sanaea Airport and destroyed plane routes. The event is well known. An Iranian civil airport violated the Yemeni skies in an attempt to land in Sanaa and deliver humanitarian aids. They hit the airport to prevent this plane from landing. Is this called facilitating and intensifying humanitarian aids?” 

“What they have done so far is complicating the political operation and making political dialogue seem remote because instead of waiting for the UN envoy to come and call all the sides for dialogue on a neutral land or a country which is not participating in the aggression on Yemen - this condition was announced and observed by the Yemeni Islamic and national forces which are against the aggression - Saudi Arabia ordered Abed Rabbu to call for a dialogue conference perhaps on May 17 in Riyadh! What does this mean? They don't want this dialogue to take place and this table to be formed and this political operation to be launched. This is called complicating and crippling dialogue and not pushing it forward.”

“More than any time in the past, today the goal of this aggression is made clear. It is also clear that the Yemeni people, the Yemeni Army, and the national forces in Yemen refuse to succumb and yield and go back to the time of hegemony, and they insist on their sovereignty, freedom, and the independence of their country and on confronting the aggression.” 

“I tell these aggressors: All what you are perpetrating on the humanitarian level will not change the struggle equation. It will only make your faces uglier and more dreadful, and it will make the Yemenis more convinced of your aggressiveness, oppression, and tyranny. It will make the Yemeni people unite behind these who are fighting to defend the sovereignty, independence, unity, and dignity of Yemen.”

Iraq

“The true goal of the USA is to fragment the states in the region on sectarian and ethnic basis. So imagine that we are before states which are weak and divided in an equivocal way. They are conflicting states which provoke each other. So we are heading towards a region where civil wars are legalized for hundreds of years. This is what America and "Israel" wants for us, for our peoples, for our states, and for our governments. This is what we said with the onset of Daesh events and Mosul.”

“Since the beginning of the events in Mosul and Daesh, we all remember that the supreme religious authority in Holy Najaf called for defensive Jihad and for confronting Daesh. It did not call for defending definite areas or definite provinces or definite components. It rather called for defending all of Iraq, all of the Iraqi people, all of the Iraqi territories, and the Iraqi sovereignty without any discrimination.”

Syria

“Lately, and following the fall of Jisr al-Shughur in Idlib Province in the hands of the armed groups, we - the Syrians, the Lebanese, and the region in general - witnessed a wave of rumors being pumped on satellites and the mass media: articles, news, and social communication sites. That is part of a vehement psychological war. You know that in this region and for long years by now there are black rooms that run a psychological war. This psychological war is renewed as it makes use of any chance or gap or incident through which it can penetrate to wage new rounds of psychological war on people. Some of these rumors focused on sectarian sides or dimensions. All what was said had a goal which they expressed and talked about in the media and in some articles. I will try to be realistic as I will talk with transparency. They said that the fall of Jisr al-Shughur that followed the fall of Idlib in the hands of the armed forces means the end of the regime. The regime is living its final days and weeks. That is what they were working at, and I wrapped it to comment on it. I do not want to be part of the psychological war though. The Syrian Army lost its ability to confront. It collapsed."

"In the framework of this war, some said that Syria's allies had abandoned it. Iran sold it for the sake of the nuclear program, and Russia bargained for it somewhere else. Syria's allies abandoned Syria. The situation inside Syria is also difficult according to these rumors and lies. People are thinking where to flee and find refuge. So the image was depicted in a weird way. One of the lies was to the effect of putting the Syrian shore on the verge of collapsing, and consequently, large numbers of Alawites are heading from the Syrian shore towards the Lebanese borders and the Lebanese government is preventing them from entering Lebanon at a time Hizbullah is pressuring on the Lebanese government to allow them to enter Lebanon. So they approached the issue from a sectarian perspective through free uncharged lies. Other rumors say that the regime in Syria called on the Alawites in Damascus and in a definite region in Damascus to leave it, and this is groundless."

"First, I want to comment on this issue. We must not listen to these lies, rumors, propagandas, and psychological war. This is the main topic. All of us - especially the Syrians and the Lebanese - must realize that all what is said is in fact a psychological war, and this is not something new. The battles in Syria, in Damascus, in Aleppo, in Homs, in other towns, and in many of the regions, the regional situation, and the international situation are very different now. Moreover, many internal, regional, and international changes and developments took place over these years what makes us very far from such forecasts."

“As for Hizbullah, I would like tonight to tell our dear people in Syria: We were with you, and we will remain with you and by your side no matter what the developments are. We were where we must have been, and we will be where we must be. Lately, we went to places we weren't in during the past years. We believe that this is not the battle of the Syrian people. This is what we said when we first got engaged in this battle. We did not get engaged in the battle for emotional or personal or sectarian reasons. We got engaged in the battle pursuant to a clear diagnosis which never did change; it was rather asserted by daily evidences; it is defending ourselves, Syria, Lebanon, and the entire region.”

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