Ahmed Ali Saleh Launches First Public Attack on Houthi Rebels

Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh, the son of Yemen’s late president, delivering a speech on Thursday on the 63rd anniversary of Yemen’s Sept. 26 revolution, launched his first public criticism of the Houthi rebels.  

He branded the Houthis as heirs of the “backward clerical rule” and vowed their defeat, saying Yemenis who overthrew the imamate could do so again to “regain freedom and dignity.”

His fiery remarks, broadcast by his Yemen Today TV channel, came weeks after a Houthi court sentenced him to death, confiscated his assets and forced the group’s loyalists inside the General People’s Congress party (GPC) in Sanaa to strip him of his post as deputy party leader.

Analysts said the moves underscored the Houthis’ unease over his symbolic weight inside the party his father founded, and may have prompted his public challenge.

In his speech, Saleh evoked both the Sept. 26 revolution and the December 2017 uprising led by his late father against the Houthis, portraying them as one continuous struggle. He called for a “national rescue project” to unite anti-Houthi forces.

The address also carried regional messages. Saleh thanked Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Oman for supporting Yemen in its “darkest times,” stressing that the country could not rise in isolation from its Arab neighbors and allies.