'War against Saudi Arabia has yet to begin'

Saa, Dec 28: Yemen’s former President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Sunday said that the war against Saudi Arabia has yet to begin, vowing his supporters to continue fight unless the Saudi-led coalition halts air and ground campaigns against his country. Saleh made these remarks in a meeting with representatives of his General People’s Party and Shiite Houthi group who took part in recent UN-sponsored peace talks in Switzerland, Xinhua reported.

He said Saudi Arabia should be ready for a long war that would began soon. “Only if the war halts, we will go for a direct talks with Saudis themselves, not their merceries,” he said, referring to the upcoming UN-sponsored peace talks that set to be held at mid January.

“War has not started yet, and it will begin if Saudis and their followers (Yemeni government) did not choose peace under the auspices of Russia or the United tions,” he added.

Last week, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, special envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Yemen, announced the end of the latest peace talks on Yemen, saying that the parties agreed on framework for the negotiations and will meet again on January 14 for a new round of talks. (IANS)