Hasan Zaid Uncovers Saleh’s Relation with Al-Qaeda

[su_label type=”info”]SMA News – Report [/su_label][su_spacer size=”10″][su_label type=”info”]Amman – SMA – PIC[/su_label][/su_spacer] Hasan Zaid, a prominent leader of Al-Houthi militias and minister of youth and sport in the coup government, uncovered the relationship of the ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh with Al-Qaeda. Zaid said: “I frequently denied any relation between Ali Abdullah Saleh and Al-Qaeda till one day I met Gamal Al-Nahdy, who carried out the Adan Hotel Operation, and Tarek Al-Fadly, in Saleh’s presidential office”. Zaid didn’t identify the date of that meeting with Al-Qaeda leaders inside Saleh’s office accurately. On his page on face book, Zaid said: “Saleh used Al-Qaeda to raise the concerns of USA and Europe and to blackmail them for money to fight Al-Qaeda, which he himself was feeding through back channels. Saleh admitted that and blamed the Americans for that without any sense of shame”. In addition, Zaid indicated that the terrorist attack against the American Embassy in Sanaa was launched using anti-terrorism equipment delivered by USA to Yemen to annihilate Al-Qaeda. He also accused Saleh of “playing with all cards just as he is using Al-Houthi”. Zaid added: “Saleh managed to make everyone as a demon in the eyes of everyone to be the only key reference for all parties. This is exactly what he is doing now with Al-Houthi. He used everyone against everyone just to stay in power”. “Saleh never hesitates in using even closest persons to him through accusing them by seeking to create confrontations with Al-Houthi and to create militias without his knowledge”. Zaid mentioned several names including Tarek Saleh, Saleh’s nephew and commander of his personal guards, Mehdy Makoula, Abdullah Kiran and other names, saying that Saleh used them for putting blames while he keeps his sons away as they are his “hope for future”. Zaid asserted that Saleh provide some of Al-Qaeda members with military ranks for assassinating political, official, governmental and social Yemeni prominent figures and indicated that he himself is on the list of assassinations according to his claims. This accusation reflects the escalation of confrontations between the two partners of the coup as Hasan Zaid represents Al-Houthi militias and their accomplice minor political parties while Saleh is accusing them of being “mercenaries and war traders” after they accused him with 26 different crimes and called for declaring emergency state and dismissing the government as a preliminary step towards dismantling the coup ally.