Al-Mashat: Yemen’s options to be escalated until Saudi aggression, blockade end
SANAA, Sept. 20 (YPA) – President of the Supreme Political Council in Sanaa, Mahdi Al-Mashat, said on Sunday Yemenis’ commemoration of the 12th anniversary of the September 21 Revolution is not merely a celebratory occasion, but an annual reminder of the struggle of a people who chose to break free from foreign tutelage, domination and dependency and preserve Yemen’s dignity and sovereignty.
In a speech marking the 12th anniversary of the revolution, Al-Mashat said the September 21 Revolution came in response to a national need to end decades of corruption and foreign dependency and restore the objectives of the September, October and November revolutions, following years of squandered national resources, manufactured crises and the subordination of national decision-making to foreign powers.
Al-Mashat stressed that Sanaa had not closed the door to peace, saying it had taken the initiative in good faith and made concessions to end the Saudi aggression and blockade.
He said Sanaa had called on Saudi Arabia during the period of de-escalation to implement the roadmap and complete the peace process, but Riyadh chose intransigence, procrastination and tightening the blockade. He noted that the suffering of the Yemeni people resulted from the aggression and blockade, as well as the deprivation of Yemen of its national resources.
Mr. President added that responding to the people’s demands had moved Sanaa from a phase of calls to a phase of action through the declaration of the blockade-for-blockade and escalation-for-escalation equation.
Al-Mashat rejected Saudi allegations that the Yemeni army had targeted Makkah, stressing that the Yemeni army does not target the holy city and describing such claims as an attempt at political posturing.
He said the actions carried out by the Yemeni armed forces in some coastal areas constituted a national operation to assert Yemeni sovereignty, expel Saudi military buildups and end the aggression and blockade.
Al-Mashat said the Sanaa government, army and people were moving toward ending the Saudi aggression and blockade, reopening airports and ports, recovering national resources, securing compensation, respecting Yemen’s sovereignty and withdrawing from Yemeni territory.
He stressed the Yemeni people’s right to end the aggression and blockade and restore sovereignty and independence, saying Yemen’s options would escalate to end the aggression and blockade and would take more painful forms. He added that Yemen harbors no ambitions or hostility toward neighboring countries or Arab and Islamic states.
Al-Mashat said Yemen’s seat at the United Nations and its representation at meetings of the UN General Assembly were vacant, arguing that anyone claiming to represent Yemen in this capacity does not represent Yemen or the position of the Republic of Yemen.
He reiterated that maritime navigation and international commercial traffic in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab remain safe and will not be endangered by Yemen, with the exception of Saudi vessels, under the blockade-for-blockade equation.
Mr. President stressed that genuine and just peace would remain Yemen’s strategic choice, calling for relations to be organized on the basis of good-neighborliness, mutual respect and shared interests.
Al-Mashat also reaffirmed Yemen’s steadfast position in support of the Palestinian people and their cause, its support for the Iranian people, and its backing for Islamic resistance movements in Lebanon and Palestine and across the fronts of the axis of jihad and resistance, within the framework of the principle of unity of fronts and enhanced cooperation in the interests of the Arab and Islamic nations.
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