Yemen's Saleh Hopes for Return to Dialogue
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Yemen's pro-rebel ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh expressed hope Wednesday that a halt to a Saudi-led air campaign in support of his exiled successor would open the way for renewed dialogue.
"We hope that this will represent a complete end to the resort to force, violence and bloodshed," Saleh said in a Facebook post carried by his party's website al-motamar.net.
"We hope that everyone will cooperate to return to dialogue, to find solutions other than placing losing bets that are wrong and costly."
Army units which remained loyal to Saleh after his ouster in 2012 following a bloody year-long uprising have provided crucial support to the Shiite rebels in their advance across the country.
Their bases were a major target of the air campaign which the Saudi-led coalition launched on March 26.
The coalition announced late Tuesday that it was halting the campaign although it launched new strikes on the rebels in third city Taez on Wednesday after they seized a key army base loyal to exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.
22 April 2015, 17:14
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Saleh was speaking from his temporary headquarters in Beirut. Lebanon's Minister of Internal Political Instability, Prince "Ralph" al Thani of the Wahabi Progressive Party, part of the March 8 coalition, told reporters that the former Yemenese strongman and reputed multi-billionaire "has what it takes to survive in today's modern and dynamic world and is welcome in Lebanon as long as he respects our traditions and practices". Asked about the forty-two T-72 tanks the former Yemenese President has ringing his hotel in a posh Beirut suburb known locally as "the firing range", the Minister said that these were present as demonstration models as part of the Saudi-French deal to upgrade Lebanon's fledgeling military, which is soon to take delivery of its first consignment of fifth-generation combat berets.
