Houthis: Ex-Saudi kings behind assassination of ex-Yemen president

Former Saudi Kings Khalid Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and Fahd Bin Abdulaziz and the latter’s brother Sultan have been named as the officials involved in the assassination of former Yemeni President Ibrahim Al-Hamdi.

The Houthi-aligned National Salvation Government (NSG) yesterday said it possessed official documents which provide evidence confirming Riyadh’s involvement in all stages of Al-Hamdi’s targeting on 11 October 1977. The kings were princes at the time of the killing.

The Al-Khabar Al-Yemeni news site published excerpts of the report that outlined the Saudi role on the back of “credible evidence”. According to the news website, the “important document” on Al-Hamdi’s assassination was obtained in 2017.

The report notes that Sultan was in direct contact with the Saudi military envoy in North Yemen’s capital Sanaa, Colonel Saleh Al-Hadyan at the time of the targeted killing. Allegedly, Riyadh dispatched three Saudi intelligence operatives to Sanaa hours before the assassination.

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The report pointed out the position of former President Al-Hamdi against Saudi attempts to ignite the war between the two parts of Yemen, by pushing the north to fight the south. It has been said that Al-Hamdi was killed two days before a planned and unprecedented visit as a North Yemeni president to South Yemen.

According to US magazine Time, the charismatic Al-Hamdi is still widely revered in the country. “He had attempted to rid Yemen of tribal loyalties and had begun to make important social and political changes when he was killed. He is considered the best President to have ruled Yemen in the eyes of the majority of the Yemeni people.”

Last year in Hudaydah, a Saudi drone was used in the targeted killing of former President of the Supreme Political Council (a forerunner to the NSG), Saleh Al-Sammad, who expressed National Vision 2018, emphasising national sovereignty and independence, which contradicts Saudi’s vision of Yemen as a “backyard” to the kingdom.

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