Ja’far Qannadbashi said in an exclusive interview with IRNA that "everything in Yemen is now under the influence of the ongoing military engagements in Marib, that has been sieged by the Yemeni Army and that country’s resistance forces for months and as the ring of siege gats tighter, the probability of defeat of the Saudi-backed coalition that supports Abdu-Rabbeh Mansur Hadi, too, gets stronger."
He said that the Saudi Air Force bombardments, too, are now under the influence of Marib armed clashes, as the Saudis are trying to rescue the allied forces of Mansur Hadi and have therefore intensified their attacks against various Yemeni cities to dishearten the Yemenis and encourage them to abandon support for Ansar-Allah and the Yemeni Army and force them to end the siege of Marib.
The West Asia analyst said that thus far Ansar-Allah has managed to respond to Saudi air raids resorting to its drone attacks. “Ansar-Allah has launched an unprecedented volume of fire against Saudi targets at the vastest possible geographical sphere during the past days in response to the Saudi attacks against Yemeni cities.
***Fall of Marib equals the end of Saudi intervention in Yemen
Qanandbashi added that both the volume of Yemeni armed forces’ fire and the unprecedented vast area under their fire have created great horror for Saudi state officials as the scene of the Yemen war has changed into a scene of very vast asymmetrical, full-scale battles.
On the great significance of Marib, he said that the Marib region and city is the main corridor for the presence of Mansur Hadi’s ailed forces and their supporter, the Saudi Army and allied forces, as well as the entry passage of Saudi-allied forces into Yemen.
“Marib region is also the man center of Yemen’s oil and gas resources, and the large dams of the drought-stricken Yemen are also located in Marib region,” he added.
According to this Yemen affairs analyst, capturing Marib will drastically boost Ansar-Allah’s power, end the way for the continuation of Saudi forces and their allies, and generally speaking, pave the path for ending the Yemen war.
***Americans do not wish to be Saudis’ partners in defeat in Yemen
According to Qannadbashi, the winner of the Marib battle will be the winner of the Yemen war and that is the reason why the Saudis are fighting teeth and nails to deprive the Yemeni people, army and Ansar-Allah of regaining control of the Marib region.
Focusing on US President Joe Biden’s announcement of the end of US support for Saudis’ intervention in Yemen and American arms and munitions to Riyadh, he said: The Americans know that the Saudi coalition has faced defeat in Yemen, and is in act caught in Yemen quagmire. Therefore, they do not wish to be the partners of the defeated Riyadh and its allied forces there.
He, all the same, noted that the end of US support for Saudis in Yemen does not mean the end of Washington’s strong support for Riyadh, since when the Americans noticed that the Saudi flag was on the verge of being pulled down in Yemen and replaced with Ansar-Allah’s flag they rushed to Riyadh’s rescue by giving them the clue to pull its force out of Yemen, before facing defeat in Marib.
***US fears Yemen’s post-war status
Qannadbashi said that on the contrary of the US and Saudi allied forces’ plans, Iran’s plan has always been an immediate ceasefire aimed at forwarding emergency humanitarian aids there.
He, all the same, mentioned the US-Saudi fears of the emergence of a new Hezbollah in Yemen and turning Yemen into a ring in resistance axis with the victory of Ansar-Allah.
“The Americans favor a guided end to Yemen war in which they will have control over every affair, while that is not what the war-stricken Yemeni people will yield into, after suffering so many years of a devastating war in which the Americans have been one of the Saudi allies,” he concluded.
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