PLC President: IRGC Directly Involved in Managing Houthi War to Offset Losses of Regional Proxies

  Riyadh

His Excellency President Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi, President of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), has warned of the growing role played by Iranian Revolutionary Guard networks in the Houthi militias’ war against the Yemeni people and their threats to international shipping. He cautioned against turning Yemeni territory into a platform for blackmailing the regional and international communities.

President Al-Alimi made these remarks during a meeting today, Tuesday, with Mr. Clemens Hach, Director for the Middle East and North Africa at the German Federal Foreign Office, and his accompanying delegation.

The PLC President pointed out that these networks include dozens of experts involved in planning and managing military operations, developing missile and drone capabilities, and threatening international shipping. This reveals an intervention that goes beyond financing and supplying weapons to direct involvement in managing the war and threatening waterways.

President Al-Alimi stressed that the Iranian regime and its militias are seeking to compensate for the declining influence of their proxies in several countries across the region by intensifying their investment in the Houthi militias. They are exploiting Yemen’s strategic location and its proximity to international trade routes. He warned that allowing further transfers of expertise, weapons, and technology to these militias would significantly increase the cost of deterring them. It would also prolong the suffering of Yemenis, and leave regional security and international shipping hostage to the calculations of cross-border destabilizing projects.

During the meeting, the PLC President praised the distinguished historical relations between Yemen and the Federal Republic of Germany. He commended Berlin’s steadfast support for the Yemeni people and their legitimate government, as well as its valuable interventions in development, basic services, and heritage protection.

President Al-Alimi also expressed his appreciation for the stances of the German Federal Chancellor, the government, and German political forces in rejecting the Houthi escalation and attacks on civilian facilities in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. He expressed his hope that these stances would be implemented into practical steps that increase the cost of continued attacks for the terrorist militias.

The President also reviewed the latest domestic developments, foremost among them the escalation by the Houthi terrorist militia on all fronts, including its crippling siege of residents in Taiz Governorate and its shelling of residential neighborhoods and civilian facilities.

President Al-Alimi affirmed that (Dawn of Yemen) Operation would continue until all its objectives are achieved, namely restoring state institutions and extending its authority over the entire national territory. This would be achieved with the steadfast support of the Coalition to Support Legitimacy, led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

In this context, the PLC President renewed his profound thanks and appreciation to the Kingdom for its comprehensive economic and humanitarian support under these exceptional circumstances.

He also highlighted the war crimes and gross human rights violations committed by the Houthi militias, including killings, abuse, abductions, enforced disappearances, and the detention of UN personnel and human rights activists. He noted that the threat posed by these militias has surpassed, in its reach and methods, that of Al-Qaeda and ISIS, necessitating an international response commensurate with the scale of this threat.

President Al-Alimi expressed the Yemeni government’s aspiration for Germany to play an active role in building consensus within the European Union to designate the Houthi militias as a terrorist organization. He also called on Germany to encourage EU member states to take whatever measures their national legislation allows against the militias, their criminal networks, and their incitement platforms operating around the world.

The meeting was attended by Dr. Yahya Al-Shuaibi, Director of the Office of the Presidency of the Republic, and Mr. Thomas Schneider, the German Ambassador to Yemen.