Houthis Demand $51 Billion and Recognition as Yemen's Rulers to End Attacks on Saudi Arabia, WSJ Reports
Yemen's Houthi rebels have demanded $51 billion from Saudi Arabia and official recognition as Yemen's rulers as their conditions for ending hostilities, The Wall Street Journal reported on November 5, citing people briefed on the discussions. After the Houthis attacked Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea and seized territory commanding the Bab el-Mandeb strait, the kingdom reached out to the group to ask what a negotiated halt to the fighting would take, and the answer it received was $51 billion.
The Houthis said the sum was needed to cover the cost of years of Saudi strikes and a long blockade. Other figures have come up since, the people said, but all have been in the tens of billions of dollars. Recognizing the Houthis as Yemen's rulers would require Riyadh to abandon the internationally recognized Yemeni government and accept an Iranian-backed armed group along its southern border. The Saudi government and the Houthi leadership did not respond to requests for comment.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's day-to-day ruler, is reportedly reluctant to enter full negotiations with the Houthis before Saudi forces make gains on the ground that would give the kingdom leverage. Saudi officials fear that meeting such demands could invite further attacks and further financial demands. The Houthis are meanwhile pressing toward Aden, the seat of Yemen's internationally recognized government.
Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen's civil war in 2015 in support of the internationally recognized government against the Houthis, and the war has lasted more than a decade. In recent months the Houthis have repeatedly struck Saudi oil facilities and seized Red Sea coastal territory, making the price of a Saudi exit from the conflict a focus of attention.
Related: Yemen: Houthis Advance to Within 80 km of Aden
Related: Yemen Government Says 21 Iranian and Hezbollah Experts Directly Command Houthi Operations
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：曼德海峡海面，胡塞武装近期夺取扼守这一海峡的沿岸地带。照片：Richard Weil，CC0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Bab el-Mandeb strait, whose shoreline the Houthis have recently seized. Photo by Richard Weil, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
