(C'est pitoyable ! note de rené)

Saudi offers Houthis economic support in exchange for halting attacks on the kingdom

April 29, 2021 at 10:00 am | Published in: Middle East Monitor

April 29, 2021 at 10:00 am

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman said on Tuesday that Riyadh is ready to support the Houthis in Yemen if the movement expresses readiness to stop attacking the kingdom.

"The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia proposes an offer, including economic support and whatever they need in exchange for ceasing fire and sitting at the negotiating table," Bin Salman said in an interview.

Speaking of Houthi leader Abdel-Malek Al-Houthi's ties to Iran, Bin Salman said: "There is no doubt that he has strong ties with the Iranian regime, but Al-Houthi is Yemeni, and we hope that he will eventually take the side of his homeland and Arabism, and his country's interest before anything else."

The crown prince however retracted his previous statements in which he threatened to eliminate the Houthis in a short space of time.

International calls have been intensifying recently to end the Yemen war that Saudi Arabia waged seven years ago to reverse Houthi gains after the group took control of the Yemeni capital Sanaa and other urban areas in the north.

In the same interview, the crown prince said that Saudi Arabia aspires to establish good relations with Iran, and expressed his country's willingness to take a step forward in this direction if Tehran agrees to let go of some of its ambitions in the region.