Alwaght- The time in no way is going in favor of the Saudis as Yemen's Ansarullah movement and its allies are making advances both in southern Saudi Arabia and in some key fronts inside Yemen, and it is becoming clearer that the kingdom finds no exit to escape the war.
In such conditions the published reports suggest the US is trying to get Iran's approval to discuss Yemen peace and make concessions to Ansarullah in a bid to pull Al Saud regime out of the Yemeni war quagmire.
According to the news outlets, the Americans have sent a letter to the Iranian embassy in the Omani capital of Muscat through the Omani officials, demanding dialogue with Tehran over Yemen.
Iran's Fars News Agency (FNA) has reported, quoting an informed diplomatic source, that Washington handed over the message to the Omani government just before John Kerry's recent visit to Saudi Arabia to present his peace plan for Yemen to the Saudis. The date was said to be exactly August 12.
The US Secretary of State Kerry visited Saudi Arabia late August to discuss Yemen crisis with Saudi leaders and carry a new roadmap to end the conflict in Yemen. According to FNA's report, the Americans in their letter to Tehran have demanded holding tripartite expert-level talks between the US, Russia, and Iran.
The demand for Yemen talks without presence of Riyadh shows that Washington seriously seeks ways to end the Yemeni conflict. Over 18 months have passed on launching Saudi Arabian military campaign in Yemen but not only the kingdom declined to make any specific gains but also it witnessed massive retaliatory attacks of the joint Yemeni forces at its southern areas.
Abdul Sattar al-Mattri, a top Ansarullah commander, on Friday announced that the Yemeni forces captured largest Najran region's military base of Saudi Arabia with all of its weapons including missiles and tanks.
"The Yemeni forces after clashes launched assault at the military base near Najran airport deep in Saudi territory and seized all of the weapons it contained, and at the same time the Yemeni revolutionary committees threatened to reach and attack the oilfields deep in Saudi lands", Ansarullah commander added.
On the other side, Ali al-Hamadani, a commander in Yemen revolutionary committees, has talked about ongoing progress of Yemeni forces towards Saudi army's positions in Jazan, Saudi Arabia.
"In time with Eid al-Adha the Al-Faridha military site as well as other military sites in Al-Khuba, Jazan, fell to Yemeni fighters following clashes," al-Hamadani told the media.
Haykal Bafana, a prominent Yemeni media activist, has called the Yemeni advances in Jazan a great strategic win. The progresses of Ansarullah and allies are not confined to Saudi Arabian southern regions. The Lebanon-based Al Mayadeen news network reported that the army and popular committees of Yemen succeeded in seizing control of Hamat Al Hayraj and three other regions in the Western heights of Sarwah in the Yemeni province of Marib.
While it appears that the Saudis are failing to confront attacks by Ansarullah forces in southern Saudi Arabia, they have returned to UN for exit. They have sent a letter to the Security Council, calling Iran as the major reason for their losses in Yemen. Riyadh in its letter has accused Tehran of violating UN resolution 2216 and providing support for Ansarullah forces during their assaults at southern Saudi Arabia. It also claimed that Ansarullah and its allies killed hundreds of civilians in the kingdom by launching missile strikes at south of the country. The letter continued that the strikes damaged infrastructures and civilian places including schools and hospitals in the three Saudi southern provinces of Najran, Jazan, and Asir.
According to a report by the BBC, Riyadh in its letter to the UN has called the international community to seek ways to “stop Iran's illegal measures in Yemen”, as it at the same time called for the international body to recognize the kingdom's right to take appropriate actions against Iran-backed Ansarullah movement and the forces of the former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
US truce proposal to Ansarullah
The battlefield developments pushed the experts to think that there is no military victory in sight for Saudis in Yemen war. The conditions are getting worse for the Saudi as they feel the pinch as a result of unprecedented drop in oil prices. On the other side, continuous indiscriminate strikes of the kingdom in Yemen have raised the civilian tolls, especially the children and women, a challenge that drew massive internal and external criticism of the key allies of Saudi Arabia, namely Britain and the US.
The current situation made the Americans more than any other time put diplomatic moves top on agenda to stop a war that by no means goes in favor of Washington's Arab ally. Quoting a member of Ansarullah peace negotiation team, the Reuters has reported that the American officials in a meeting in Oman have offered a proposal of comprehensive truce in Yemen to Ansarullah delegation. According to the report, the US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Alfred Shannon has met Ansarullah delegation and leaders in General People's Congress Party in presence of an Omani mediator in Muscat on September 8 and 9 to discuss ending a war that so far took lives of 10,000 and injured over 3 million others of Yemenis.
