The son of isolated former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been injured with more than half of his body suffering from burns.
Despite this, Saleh — who is allied with the Houthis who support Iran — is the mastermind of the current mayhem in Yemen that erupted months ago. Saleh, the wounded fox, was betrayed by his own intelligence and hasn’t yet comprehended that his chances to return to power in Yemen are minimal. He was ousted following mass demonstrations across the country calling for his ouster. He should have realized back then that he had lost all legitimacy and credibility.
Just like he himself was burned by the revolution, he is now behind the burning of the political future of his eldest son Ahmad, whom he wanted the Yemenis to appoint as their president. What destroyed Saleh’s conspiratorial plan were the leaked details of the secret message, which he previously sent via his son Ahmad to Saudi Defense Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The letter was leaked after Saleh appeared on a Yemeni television channel after the Saudi-led coalition began to bomb his forces. He claimed neutrality and patriotism saying he has always stood by a political solution and that he and his family members have no power ambitions.
He appeared as a lamb before the Yemeni people claiming his innocence in any involvement in the coup and war, which he had in fact caused. His lies pushed Riyadh to leak the details of the secret message. Al-Arabiya News Channel’s report aired details of how two days before the Saudi-led military attacks began, Saleh sent his son to negotiate a deal with the Saudis. The deal stipulated that he would be willing to stand by the Saudis and abandon his Houthi allies in exchange for a series of demands — which were all personal.
He wanted lifting of the UN Security Council sanctions imposed on him — like ending the travel ban and unfreezing his assets in Yemeni and foreign banks and that his son be allowed to govern the country. The aim of making the message public was to show the true face of Saleh to the Yemeni people. In case of not meeting his demands, he threatened to continue his alliance with the Houthis and to sabotage the transitional political process sponsored by the Gulf states and the United Nations. Naturally, Saudi Arabia refused and launched the military campaign.
In the past, we described Saleh as Yemen’s fox. He described himself as “dancing on the heads of snakes” because he governed the country for decades via slyness and not via institutions until the Yemenis revolted against him in 2011. He did not accept to step down until he was forced to after he suffered burns in an explosion, which targeted him in a mosque. When he returned from Saudi Arabia after receiving medical treatment, he conspired against it and allied with its Iranian rivals and their Houthi proxy and stoked unrest in Yemen to sabotage the political process. The Saudis decided that what’s best for them and for the Yemeni people is to go ahead with the reconciliation plan and with the political solution which the UN adopted because this would be the only guarantee for Yemenis and not just for Saleh and his son. This choice is also the best option for Saleh if the latter had wisely considered it. Engaging in the reconciliation for the sake of Yemen’s stability, instead of sabotaging it, would have made him a father figure to Yemenis and it would have also improved the future of his son, Ahmad, who could have been one of the possible leaders of the country.
The stupidity of this isolated fox destroyed his present and his son’s future. He failed at calculating the Saudi reaction since the very start. His slyness led him to using the Houthis because he was confident that while he transfers power to himself and his son, they — like Hezbollah in Lebanon — could assassinate, destroy, invade and cancel out legitimacy without being deterred by anyone. However, he was surprised by the strong Saudi reaction. He did not expect the Gulf countries to become part of the Saudi-led coalition. Saleh was also under the impression that the Americans would reject any Saudi action to avoid upsetting Iran with which the US is negotiating over its nuclear program. He was wrong in his calculations. The “Operation Decisive Storm” brought together the Qataris with the Emiratis on a military level and gained the support of the Egyptians and the Turks. Saleh also saw how the Americans rushed to publicly support the campaign as the American president called Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman to voice support for the campaign. The Americans also offered their intelligence and logistical services. The recent Arab League summit turned into a conference that supported the campaign and the legitimacy of President Hadi who was celebrated as he represented Yemen at the summit and delivered a speech on behalf of the Yemeni people. All this happened while the fox Saleh is in hiding to escape the military operation against his forces and the tribes who are pursuing him to detain him and bring him to justice after he violated the vows of reconciliation and immunity guarantees.
