President Al-Zubaidi: Protecting Navigation in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb is an International Responsibility

President Aidarous Qassem Al-Zubaidi, President of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) and Vice Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), participated today, Wednesday, in the discussion panel held entitled “The Middle East Conflict: What is the End Game?" as part of the discussion activities at the World Economic Forum (WEF), which is hosted in Davos, Switzerland. 

President Al-Zubaidi spoke during the panel discussion, in which the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq, Mr. Masrour Barzani, Mr. Geir O. Pedersen, UN Special Envoy to Syria, and Ms. Karin Lisa von Hippel, the Director-General of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), also participated, about the developments taking place in the country, foremost of which is the Houthi escalation against shipping lanes. International Cooperation Council in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb Strait, stressing that the Houthi attacks have redoubled the suffering of the daily living conditions of citizens and the country’s economic difficulties since the country depends almost entirely on imports that arrive by sea via means of transport by international companies.

President Al-Zubaidi added: “Confronting the Houthi escalation in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb today represents an international responsibility, as this waterway represents great importance not only for us but for the countries of the whole world, as a large proportion of the world’s imports of food, fuel, and medicine pass through it, and establishing an international coalition led by the United States and Britain is a good thing and a step that should have been taken early, and for our part, we have presented a vision on the optimal strategy to curb these threats."

The President highlighted that the conflict in the region will continue as long as there are no deterrent measures against the Houthi threats, adding: “The survival of this militia means keeping this part of the world a prone-conflict zone,” noting in the context that the continued Houthi escalation accelerates the restoration of a two-state solution in Yemen.

President Al-Zubaidi also reiterated, in the context of his speech, that the Houthi militia is trying to cover up its crimes and inhumane acts against the Yemeni people by claiming to support the Palestinian people and the population in the Gaza Strip.

At the end of the episode, which was devoted to the Arab-Israeli conflict and the solutions he deems appropriate for the Palestine issue, President Al-Zubaidi stressed the need for the Palestinian people to establish their state in accordance with the Arab peace initiative introduced by the late Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and as per the principle of the two-state solution within the 1967 borders.