How did a Yemeni writer anticipate the murder of Ali Saleh 4 years ago?

In an article he wrote in 2013, Yemeni writer Hamdan al-Ali predicted the death of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Four years later, that is exactly what happened.

In an interview with Alarabiya.net, al-Ali explained the story behind the article, why he expected the death of Saleh and his perspective on the current situation in Yemen.

"Anyone whose studied the history of the Houthi group, from their emergence in 2000 to their appearance in the military sector in 2004, to their role throughout the six wars, up until what is happening now, would see that this group does not abide by any agreements, or alliances," al-Ali said, clarifying the story behind the article.

…. Because he is a nationalist

He added: “The Houthis intended to harm Saleh, and were determined to kill him, because they knew very well that he is a nationalist, not an “Imamian”, so they only considered their alliance with Saleh as an opportunity to reach Sanaa. Saleh forgot that when this group controls any geographical location, it works tirelessly to change its demographical nature through various procedures. They do not settle until they have control over the public service sector, public money, mosques, education, army and security. This is what the Houthi group had already done, and therefore succeeded in uprooting Saleh’s control during the past years while he had no idea that this was happening”.

The Yemeni writer noted that, “it was natural that the Houthi group killed Saleh, because he fundamentally completely disagreed with them on many things. Anyone who follows the Yemeni situation and the six wars would know that Saleh hates the Houthi group and that this alliance was temporary, as Saleh believed that he would win at the end, and take control form the militia. But the complete opposite was what happened, which was the expected and normal result”.

Al-Ali noted that the developments in the Yemeni situation require that the Yemeni legitimacy and the Arab alliance to finalize the battle quickly, liberate the areas under the Houthis control which will urge the masses to rebel and move against them.

He warned that “relying on an internal revolution is impractical as the Houthi group controls with an iron fist while carrying out the worst violations. They kill Saleh’s loyal leaders on the streets, they even kill the wounded ones, besiege the houses of the leaders of the Congress Party, bomb residential places and arrest children, which frightened people and pushed them to retreat, especially that the leaders of the Congress Party were being relied on to lead the confrontation and the resistance.”

The next scenario

When asked about the next scenario, al-Ali said: "We must develop new mechanisms to deal with the new situation, coordinate with the people inside and encourage them to rebel which will lead to winning battles. Victory has begun to appear in the air after the liberation of al-Khoukha the first city that belongs to Hodeidah, this will push the masses to move towards liberation, and reject the Houthi group once and for all.”

He pointed out that “those who understand the Houthis are fully aware that its useless to make agreements with them as the Houthis do not want homeland partners. They want followers and what happened with Saleh is the best proof of that.”

Al-Ali warned of the delay in the liberation of Yemeni areas from the Houthis, as “this would increase the control of the Houthis and enable them to change the demographical nature, forcing citizens to live with the Houthi reality”

However, the Yemeni writer said that he remains optimistic.

“In the 60s, the Yemenis were able to free themselves from the idea of Imamiyah despite the ignorance, poverty, absence of electricity, television and the newspapers that were becoming popular at the time. With today’s technology and the power of social media documenting the Houthi crimes, rejection and non-complacency will be encouraged. They know their enemy, and they are just waiting for the moment when Yemen is free from the Houthi control.”