New York (South24)

Aidrous Al-Zubaidi, President of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) and a member of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), said on Tuesday that “a rise in Middle East hostilities makes it all the more urgent for regional and international stakeholders to define a new strategy to contain the increasingly well-armed Iran-backed Houthi rebels,” in an interview with Reuters.

Al-Zubaidi stated that Houthi attacks on the Red Sea have frozen efforts to reach a peace deal in Yemen, and he saw no prospect of peace talks in the near term. He added: “The international community, or Britain and the United States, are only working on the Red Sea so it's important to join up all these approaches and have a comprehensive one that would be effective".

Al-Zubaidi expressed concern that the coordination between the West, local, and regional actors is insufficient to stifle the Houthis militarily or economically, highlighting the danger the escalation poses.

According to Reuters, Al-Zubaidi could not confirm whether Iran had supplied the Houthis with hypersonic missiles, but he mentioned that Tehran is using the Houthis as a testing ground for its own military capabilities. Hodeidah port, he said, serves as a gateway for smuggling equipment to the Houthis.

Al-Zubaidi, who is attending the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York as part of the PLC delegation, also made statements to the Guardian, acknowledging the existence of political divisions within the PLC, pointing to this as a reason to reform it.

He pointed out that "the past peace process is no longer viable," stressing the need to change the approach in dealing with the Houthis. Al-Zubaidi called for a strategy to re-export oil and build national revenues independent of Saudi grants.

He spoke of ships arriving at the ports of Hodeidah and Salif, which are under Houthi control, that pass without inspection and carry advanced weapons from Iran [...], which have enabled the Houthis to target Israel.

He stated that US and UK air strikes in Yemen have not significantly diminished the Houthis’ military capabilities, and said these strikes had backfired, allowing the Houthis to rally popular support and portray the US and UK as aggressive powers.

Al-Zubaidi highlighted the absence of a coordinated strategy involving regional actors and the PLC, criticizing the current military operations led by the US and UK as lacking effective regional cooperation. 

On the political process, Al-Zubaidi said that the Houthis now see themselves as a legitimate state in Yemen, refusing to recognize the Yemeni government in Aden, and prefer engaging in dialogue solely with the West. He added that the Houthis have successfully instilled their sectarian ideology in the younger generation, making it difficult to expect an internal revolution against them in the near future.