Leaked Pentagon documents reveal the secrets of the fraught negotiations between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis

English - Wednesday 19 April 2023 الساعة 08:28 pm
Aden, NewsYemen:

It delivered a top-secret document issued by the US Department of Defense (Pentagon);  The light on the closed-door negotiations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Houthi militia - the Iranian arm in Yemen.

The American newspaper, The Intercept, claimed, on Tuesday, that in the aftermath of the Chinese-backed agreement, the Saudis were largely willing to abandon their proxies (the internationally recognized Yemeni government) in order to end the attrition war in Yemen.

But, according to the newspaper, the United States got worried and rushed to send diplomats to the region to put pressure in the hope of undermining the deal in the making.

As news of a peace deal spread, Tim Lenderking, the US envoy to Yemen, rushed to Riyadh on April 11 to remind Saudi leaders of the US's desire to continue supporting their proxies in the war.

She added that prior to the rapid detente in the China-Iran-brokered cease-fire talks, US intelligence reported that Saudi Arabia and the Houthis were preparing for brinkmanship.

The intelligence report, according to the newspaper, is "a window into the strategic calculations of Saudi Arabia and the Yemenis, in recent weeks before the Chinese government mediated a rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which supports the Houthi rebels.

She stated that at the time the secret Pentagon memo was written, moving swiftly toward the cease-fire agreement looked like a suspicious proposition.  The document, part of a cache of Pentagon documents that have been publicly circulated in recent weeks, revealed fraught negotiations between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis over a potential peace agreement.

The document spoke of Saudi Arabia's alleged intention to "prolong the negotiations," an ominous reminder that even despite surprising progress this month, peace is far from certain.

According to the newspaper, the Saudis reportedly agreed to more significant concessions than were offered in mid-February, indicating that a more direct path to peace was available given the real diplomatic maneuvering.  If the cease-fire attempt succeeds, it will put an end to a grinding war that has brought Yemen to the brink of famine.

The document — titled “Top Secret,” with its release restricted to the United States and its closest intelligence allies — provides a detailed glimpse so far of the secret back-channel talks unfolding between Houthi and Saudi officials.

In addition, a document titled "The Houthi Spokesperson Receives an Update on Saudi Negotiating Positions" describes negotiations between the parties on the issue of public sector salaries in Yemen.  As salaries have not been paid for several years, which has made the state unable to operate.

Until this month's apparent breakthrough — Saudi and Houthi leaders met for the first time publicly last week in Yemen's capital, Sanaa — payments to civil servants had been a sticking point, not just for Saudi Arabia, but for its American allies as well.

The Biden administration considered that the Houthis' demands that the Saudis pay the salaries of the public sector, including the military and security workers, were out of the ordinary.

In an October press briefing, Tim Lenderking, the US envoy to Yemen, decried what he described as the Houthis' "extreme demands and their insistence on paying salaries first to Houthi military and security personnel."  It was, he said, "a threshold that was very difficult for the other side to consider and was completely unreasonable".

However, this is exactly what the parties have agreed to since then, after the Chinese reconciliation, not because a deal was impossible, but because the United States did not want it.

The newly disclosed intelligence report shows that there were contacts between the two parties regarding salary payments weeks before the meeting on Sunday 9 April in Sana'a.

According to the document, in mid-February, the Saudi ambassador to Yemen, Muhammad bin Saeed Al Jaber, specifically briefed the Houthi spokesman, Muhammad Abdul Salam, on Riyadh's negotiating position.

It established two options for paying the salaries of Yemeni public sector employees in stages, allowing an independent body to evaluate a list of government employees dating back nearly a decade, as a condition before all employees are paid.

As the intelligence report indicates, the Houthis were getting impatient, and the Saudis probably had no intention of making a deal at the time.  The document states that "a Houthi intelligence source apparently estimated that if the Houthis issued a 'strong statement', this would increase pressure on the Saudis, as the Saudis intended to prolong negotiations and avoid making firm commitments," referring to the possibility that the Houthis would demand "  vigorously" by paying salaries.

The advisor warned that the Houthis' patience was "misunderstood" and that the Saudis hoped to gradually reduce the Houthis' demands based on the belief that the Houthis are under pressure and need a breakthrough on humanitarian issues before the start of Ramadan.

The account contrasts sharply with the optimistic public rhetoric from the Biden administration at the time. On April 2, President Joe Biden issued a statement calling the one-year anniversary of the temporary truce an "important milestone."

Although - says the American newspaper - the end of the truce officially, but the full fighting between the two sides did not resume.  Biden said the truce "saved countless Yemeni lives" and "created the conditions for a comprehensive peace."