A senior Yemeni political official has rejected Saudi calls for southern provincial forces to engage in military confrontation with Sanaa, describing the appeals as part of a broader project to keep Yemen under Riyadh's political, security, and economic influence.

Abdulaziz bin Habtour, a member of Yemen's Supreme Political Council, said in a statement to the SABA News Agency that the Saudi invitations "have nothing to do with defending the south or serving its causes at all."

Bin Habtour said the calls are part of a wider project aimed at "preventing Yemenis from possessing an independent national decision."

Saudi aiming to prevent formation of any Yemeni authority

"The essence of Saudi hostile policy in Yemen is not based on opposing a particular Yemeni faction, but rather on preventing the formation of any Yemeni authority that possesses an independent sovereign political decision, whether in the north, the south, or any local entity capable of managing its affairs away from Saudi influence," bin Habtour added.

He noted that past experiences have demonstrated Riyadh's targeting of multiple Yemeni forces and currents, including southern forces that raised specific demands, whenever they sought to have their own national decision or adopted projects inconsistent with Saudi will.

Bin Habtour stated that the attempt to push southern provincial residents into a new war against Sanaa does not serve the southern cause, but rather aims to "drain their human, military, and economic capacities, deepen division, and weaken the chances of reaching an independent Yemeni political settlement."

He said that involving the southern cause in a conflict serving external calculations "empties it of its content and turns it into merely a card used by external forces according to their interests."

Sanaa confronting Saudi project of hegemony

Bin Habtour reiterated that the confrontation Sanaa is engaged in today is not with the residents of the southern provinces or any Yemeni component, but rather with "the Saudi project of hegemony and influence in Yemen," emphasizing that it is a battle related to the right of all Yemenis to possess their national decision.

During his remarks, Bin Habtour assured residents of the southern and eastern provinces that Sanaa does not target them, but is fighting a war against "Saudi Arabia, which represents an enemy to both the north and the south alike." He added that any just handling of the southern cause cannot take place under continued Saudi guardianship.

Bin Habtour concluded his statement by saying that Yemen's future must be shaped by Yemenis themselves "through dialogue and national understandings, away from external dictates," in a manner that ensures every issue is discussed within an independent national framework.

He affirmed that this will not be fully achieved "except by ending Saudi influence and removing foreign hands from the Yemeni decision across all parts of the country."