Saudi Arabia invites Yemeni parties for urgent dialogue

Saudi Arabia expressed Saturday its deep concern over the development of military events in the Yemeni provisional capital of Aden. It said it has been following the developments, urging parties to act reasonably and stop all forms of sedition.

According to an official source in the Saudi Foreign Ministry, the Kingdom has invited the Yemeni government and all parties to the conflict in Aden to hold an urgent meeting in their second country, Saudi Arabia.

The source explained that the meeting aims at discussing the points of disagreements and use wisdom and dialogue to solve the conflict in order “to confront the Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist militias and other terrorist organizations and restore the stable and secure Yemeni state.”

Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition to restore legitimacy in Yemen called Saturday on all military components and formations in Aden, including the Southern Transitional Council and the Security Belt Forces, which has taken control of the situation there, to immediately return to their positions, withdraw from the positions they have seized over the past few days and don’t destroy public and private properties.

The Coalition also called for an immediate ceasefire as of 1 a.m., stressing that its forces “will use military force against whoever violates these orders.”

Coalition’s spokesman Col. Turki al-Maliki stated that the joint leadership has been following the rapid deterioration in the situation in Aden after a period of calm, asserting that it strictly rejects these dangerous developments.

Maliki urged all parties to prevail national interest and prevent Houthi militias and other terrorist organizations, such as al-Qaeda and ISIS, from dividing Yemenis.

The joint forces have also valued the Yemeni National Leaderships that have responded to the coalition and Yemeni people’s appeals and have chosen to serve their country’s interest.

Few minutes after the deadline, the Southern Transitional Council agreed to a ceasefire and valued Riyadh’s call for dialogue.

A spokesman for the Southern Transitional Council Eng. Nizar Haytham stressed in a statement the council’s commitment to the ceasefire, welcoming the invitation by “our brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to hold dialogue,” and expressing its members’ readiness to proceed.

Saudi Prince Khaled bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, deputy minister of defense, said that the Kingdom’s position in support of the legitimate government and Yemen’s unity and stability remains unchanged.

“What has been going in Aden only serves the interest of militias and terrorist organizations, especially Houthis, al-Qaeda, and ISIS,” he tweeted.