Pakistan’s Parliament voted yesterday not to join the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen, dashing Riyadh’s hopes for powerful support from outside of the region in its fight to halt Iranian-allied Houthi rebels.
Saudi Arabia had asked fellow Sunni-majority Pakistan to provide ships, aircraft and troops for the campaign, now in its third week, to stem the influence of Shi’ite Iran in what appears to be proxy war between the Gulf’s two dominant powers.
While Saudi Arabia has the support of its Sunni Gulf Arab neighbours, Pakistan’s Parliament voted against becoming militarily involved.
“Parliament desires that Pakistan should maintain neutrality in the Yemen conflict so as to be able to play a proactive diplomatic role to end the crisis,” it said.
Pakistan should remain neutral so as to be able to play a proactive diplomatic role
Saudi Arabia played down the decision, saying it was not yet a final move because “the Pakistani government has not announced an official position up till now,” coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri told reporters yesterday.
“The presence of our Pakistani brothers would be an addition, but the lack of their ground, naval or air deployment will not affect the operations of the coalition,” he added.
The Saudi-led alliance began air strikes in Yemen against the Houthis on March 26 after the rebels, who already control the capital, began a rapid advance towards the southern port city of Aden.
Saudi Arabia is concerned that the violence could spill over the border it shares with Yemen, and is also worried about the influence of Shi’ite Iran, which has denied Saudi allegations it has provided direct military support to the Houthis. Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called the Saudi’s involvement in Yemen “genocide,” raising tensions between the regional powers as fighting on the ground in Yemen threatens all-out sectarian war.
A suicide car bomb detonated outside a security building used by Houthi militiamen in central Yemen yesterday, killing at least 20 people, residents and a local official said.
The local branch of the global Sunni militant group Al Qaeda claimed the attack in the city of Bayhan in Shabwa province, which has witnessed heavy fighting between the Shi’ite Houthi fighters and local militiamen who have been supported by days of Saudi-led air strikes.
Residents said dozens were injured in the huge blast, including several civilians, in the first car bombing since fighting in Yemen rapidly escalated last month.
Coalition air strikes hit Yemen for a sixteenth straight day. In Sanaa, they targeted weapons storage sites used by soldiers loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, a powerful supporter of the Houthis.
The air raids, which hit the Defence Ministry and other facilities, lasted for hours, residents said.
Saleh is still influential in the military, despite giving up power in 2012 after mass protests against his rule, complicating efforts to stabilise the country.
Troops loyal to him are backing Houthi forces fighting his successor President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, a former general seen by the Houthis as a pawn of Sunni Gulf Arab monarchies and the West. Hadi has fled to Saudi Arabia
Yemen’s 150,000 barrel-per-day Aden refinery has shut as the conflict worsened, industry sources said. The refinery earlier suspended its tender process for importing oil products, due to the crisis and several tankers headed to the country have been diverted away.