Yemen president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi thanked Saudi Arabia and the Arab military coalition for their support of his “legitimacy” in a televised speech while chastising his Houthi opponents for driving him out of the country and taking over large swathes of Yemeni territory.
“I express the deepest gratitude and respect to our Arab and Muslim brothers and friends in this exceptional strategic alliance in my name and on behalf of the Yemeni people. The alliance that supported (the government's) legitimacy which responded to the calls of Yemenis to serve its interests. A people who are looking to live and restore their state, this is why this was the primary objective of Operation Decisive Storm,” he said.
He had very strong words for his Houthi opponents, unlikely to ease tensions between the political rivals.
“I say with all honesty, we never imagined the scale of hatred and a pursuit for revenge from them (the Houthis). Evil took over their minds and conscience which allowed them to bring the country to the brink. The conspiracy accelerated after all Yemenis agreed on the foundations for building a new federal Yemen,” he said.
It is not immediately clear what happens next in the country, Hadi suggested he and other government officials living abroad in neighboring Saudi Arabia will return soon and vowed for military victories for forces loyal to him on the ground.
“We will be victorious with God's help because we are on the truth, there's no doubt about it. We will exit this crisis soon with God's help, and will return to our precious land soon, returning to Aden and Sanaa to restore hope and a smile onto the faces of our people. We will build, develop, treat our wounds and compensate our people from all the crises to start a new Yemen,” he added.
His televised appearance came hours after the Saudis announced the end of its almost month-long campaign to bomb Hadi's rivals in the Iran-allied Houthi rebel group and their loyalists in the army.