The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in the UAE Dr Anwar Gargash said that his country is a fundamental element in the Saudi – led coalition to restore legitimacy in Yemen. He added that the UAE also supports all solutions that the coalition comes up with to reach a solution to the Yemen crisis according to the Gulf initiative. Gargash also stressed that the UAE is committed to this role until the coalition announces that the war has ended and that a political solution in Yemen has been achieved.

Gargash believes that resolving the crisis through ongoing consultations in Kuwait is an opportunity that will not reoccur easily. However, he said that “the performance of the Yemeni parties that we have seen so far is not encouraging after fifty days of consultations”.

Gargash stressed that countries in the coalition only announced the decision to launch Operation Decisive Storm after all peaceful efforts were exhausted. He added that “the insistence of rebel forces led by the Houthis and the ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh on violence and rebellion” led the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz to take the “historic decision to form a pure Arab effort” that is deeply aware of the Iranian dimension of the coup.

At a lecture that he delivered yesterday and that was attended by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Gargash said that the Riyadh – Abu Dhabi axis will come out of the Yemeni crisis more powerful and influential. He also denounced the media’s distortion of his speech and responded to this by saying “We are at war. I am saddened that my statement was taken out of context and misinterpreted for an external agenda that seeks to undermine the region and the Gulf countries in particular”.