Al-Assad said the Saudi regime’s policy was not motivated by its desire to retain certain individuals as instruments to be used against the Yemeni people whenever its interests required.
He said Riyadh was seeking to preserve the mercenary elements under its protection for use in any future escalation against Yemen and to employ them in carrying out its hostile agendas and policies.
Meanwhile, al-Assad said the Saudi measures formed part of its continued efforts to influence the situation in Yemen and prolong the conflict.
He said the kingdom’s attempts to alter the balance of power on the battlefield or impose new political realities had been proven unsuccessful over recent years.
Al-Assad said such policies could not continue indefinitely and that the Saudi regime would ultimately be forced to abandon those individuals and hand over the remaining elements to Yemen’s judicial authorities in Sanaa in light of the shifting balance of power and the diminishing options on which it had relied.
He said Saudi Arabia’s security and stability were contingent upon respecting Yemen’s security and sovereignty, ending interference in its internal affairs, and abandoning efforts to dominate the country’s national decision-making.
“We once again warn that the continuation of these hostile policies will only deepen the crises and further complicate the prospects for establishing relations based on mutual respect and good neighborliness,” al-Assad said.
He added that the next phase would impose new realities and that respecting Yemen’s sovereignty while abandoning policies of interference and tutelage represented the Saudi regime’s only option if it genuinely sought security and stability in the region.
Al-Assad also said the Saudi regime’s procrastination and evasion in handing over Yemeni “traitors and mercenaries” to judicial authorities in Sanaa stemmed not from affection for them, but from its intention to use them as fuel for a future war against the Yemeni people and as sacrificial pawns to defend itself.