Leader’s Top Aide: Yemeni People to Decide Own Fate

“People of Yemen will decide about the country’s future. The Yemeni people have resisted for over two years against the relentless and barbaric bombing of the Saudi regime and meantime, they are taking care inside their country so that the hypocrites who were disguised as allies don’t lead the fight into a failure, and the plot organized by the UAE and Saudi Arabia so that Ali Abdullah Saleh (the former Yemeni president) can stab the Yemeni fighters on the back was foiled,” Velayati told reporters in Tehran on Tuesday.

He said that Saleh was punished for his deeds, and added, “This (Saleh’s killing) was done as a result of a decision by Yemen and the decisions will continue.”

Velayati expressed confidence that the Yemeni people would finally succeed like the people in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.

The Yemeni interior ministry confirmed on Monday earlier media reports saying that Saleh has been killed while escaping from Sana’a to Ma’arib province.

Saleh was fleeing Sana’a on an armored vehicle when his vehicle was hit and destroyed.

Saleh was also accompanied by his deputy Aref Zuka and Secretary-General of the National Congress Party Yasser al-Avazi when their car was hit in Khoulan al-Tayal security point.

A Yemeni reporter said that Saleh had an appointment with Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, one of the former military men affiliated to the former regime and Saudi Arabia, to help him escape from Ma’arib to be transferred to the UAE.

Meantime, after reports on Saleh’s death, the Saudi-led coalition of several countries released a statement, calling on their citizens in Sana’a to distance at least 500m from Ansarullah bases.

The new change in the course of the Yemeni conflict came after Saleh and his supporters turned their weapons against Ansarullah movement.

Meantime, Ansarullah leader Abdul-Malek al-Houthi accused Saleh of “betrayal,” vowing to keep fighting against the Saudi-led coalition.

The coalition later welcomed Saleh’s new stance and offered to provide support to fight the Ansarullah fighters, according to Al-Arabiya.