How Yemenis react to Biden backing Saudi extension of truce in Yemen

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Sitting on a sidewalk in Tahrir Square, Neyaz Abdul-Zamad Issa was having lunch with his 14-year-old son Loay after they escaped Saudi-UAE-occupied Aden 20 days ago to become IDPs in Sanaa under allegations of "spying for Ansar Allah."

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"The truce is a waste of breath," said Issa.

"We want an end to the Saudi aggression, not an extension of the truce that has deeply affected me to the extent that I am having my lunch in the street."

"Ending the war is in the interest of both the poor and the rich," Issa added.

"Ansar Allah should accept extending the truce only in case Sanaa airport is opened with no limits, restrictions on Al-Hudaydah ports are lifted, and salaries are paid," Issa told Al Mayadeen English at the noon of July 20. "If the Saudis refuse these conditions, we must go to war."

US President Joe Biden who promised to end the war in Yemen said on July 15, during his visit to Jeddah of Saudi Arabia, that the Kingdom has committed to extending and strengthening an UN-mediated truce in Yemen and will engage in talks to end the war.

On July 19, Ansar Allah spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam slammed the extension of the truce, saying in a tweet, "As the truce is about to end, the aggression countries have treated it in a reckless and arrogant manner. Only 18 of the 32 agreed flights took place, one destination was activated [Amman-Sanaa], and another was disabled [Sanaa-Cairo], and the [fuel] ships were detained for 20 days, which doubled the costs, and only 24 of them arrived [in Al-Hudaydah] out of 36 ships that are supposed to arrive [during the truce]."

Issa is one of the hundreds of Yemenis not interested in extending the fragile truce because Saudi Arabia has been violating the truce by imposing restrictions on Al-Hudaydah ports and Sanaa airport and is not ready to allow the payment of salaries from the revenues of Yemeni oil and gas.

"All Gulf countries do not bode well for Yemen. [Late President of Egypt] Jamal Abdul-Naser said 'Yemen will not have peace as long as its neighbor is Saudi Arabia,'" Issa said.

"I want a return to war"

"This truce shouldn't be repeated. I'm against extending it," said Rabe'a Mansour from inside a Cafeteria in Tahrir Square on 20 July.

"What we observed during the truce is hunger and famine and soaring prices of basic commodities," Mansour added.

Following Biden's remarks on July 15 that Saudi Arabia is committed to extending the truce in Yemen, the Supreme Political Council (SPC) in Sanaa expressed its rejection of any outcomes issued by Biden during his visit that affects the "sovereignty, security, and stability of Yemen."

In a statement issued on July 16 published by the state-run Saba news agency, the SPC "deplored talking about understanding about extending the truce."

"The truce, in which the side of the aggression did not abide by the implementation of its terms, represented a shocking and disappointing experience that cannot be repeated in the future, with the constant readiness to strengthen any credible and secured efforts," stressed the statement.

Mansour said Biden and Saudi Arabia agreed to extend the truce during the Jeddah Summit because that is in their "interest".

"Their interest is that oil facilities are not attacked from Yemen so they provide the West with oil and gas supplies amid the global oil crisis," Mansour told Al Mayadeen English.

"I want a return to the war to strike Saudi oil facilities until it stops its aggression on Yemen," said Mansour before he left the Cafeteria. 

"I have offered three martyrs from my family and don't fear to offer more during the next phase of the war," added Mansour and left the Cafeteria.

"Digging a grave"

Rashad Naji Al-Shoaibi, who was on his motorcycle in Tahrir Square waiting for passengers, said he has benefited from the truce that stabilized "prices of wheat, rice and sugar," pointing out that the fuels' prices have soared because of a global hike not because of the truce.

"If the war returns, the prices will soar more," Al-Shoaibi told Al Mayadeen English. 

"I don't want a return to the war nor an extension of this fragile truce. I hope there is an end to this aggression," he noted.

"By continuing this war, Saudi Arabia is digging a grave for itself in Yemen that is known to be a graveyard for invaders."

"If it does not stop its aggression, we will return to a war of ballistic missiles striking its oil facilities in a way never seen before," stressed Al-Shoaibi. 

Raid Al-Ma'aribi, an accountant in a private company in Sanaa, said Ansar Allah should go to extend the truce in case it can lead to ending the Saudi aggression.

"If extending the truce can stop the aggression, opening airports and seaports, lifting the blockade on the country, and paying the salaries, we should accept the extension," Al-Ma'aribi told Al Mayadeen English. He has been an internally displaced person in Sanaa since 2016 when he left Al Abdiyah District in Marib fleeing Saudi-backed militias.

"If these things are not met, we should go to war until we achieve our independence," noted Al-Ma'aribi. 

Displacement from Aden

Neyaz Issa is from Krater District of Aden governorate. He said he has been in Sanaa as an internally displaced person (IDP) for 20 days with his son and wife after the UAE-backed Southern Traditional Council (STC) "burned my car and confiscated my home" for refusing to join their ranks.

"They did that because I refused to join them. I lived in a neighborhood in Krater District, home to the office of Shalal Shaye'a, former Aden's security director."

"They [separatists] wanted me to work with them for 1K UAE dirhams. I refused because their work is to let you drink drug pills and then order you to abduct this and kill that. I refused, so they accused me of being a spy working with Ansar Allah because my wife is from Taiz, not Aden," Issa noted. 

Taiz is a northern governorate where people from the north are not welcomed in Aden by the UAE-backed separatists.

"So they insulted me, burned my car, and confiscated my home," explained Issa. "Sanaa is paradise because people in it are from all governorates: Aden, Taiz, Abyan... etc., unlike Aden which is home only to separatists."

"Truce exists in media"

Sami Al-Omeisi, an employee at the Anti-Corruption Authority in Sanaa said the "truce means the two warring parties are benefitting from it and implementing its terms." 

"But I don't know what kind of truce is this as the roads continue to be blocked and airports and seaports remain under restrictions," Al-Omeisi added.

"There is a truce in mass media, channels, and UN Security Council briefs, but on the ground, there is nothing; even oil ships are detained by Saudi Arabia," Al-Omeisi told Al Mayadeen English. 

"We can say this truce is an act of media consumption," noted Al-Omeisi.

He stressed that going into extending the truce should be met with "prioritizing the interests of the Yemeni people," not the interests of Biden and Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.

"We can't trust Biden to end the war in Yemen, because Biden and all US companies are making money from this war by selling weapons to Saudi Arabia to target Yemeni children and women," Al-Omeisi explained.

"Since the truce didn't provide services for the Yemeni people like opening airports and seaports and paying salaries, we should continue the war to restore our independence because the truce didn't stop the war; it is just a pause," said Al-Omeisi.

"Stopping the war is a stoppage of the bloodshed, if the Saudi war does not stop the war, we are left with one option: continuing the war," he explained.