Tariq Saleh talks about the necessity of "building one army".. Will his forces be integrated into the Yemeni Ministry of Defense?

Presidential Leadership Council member Tariq Saleh said on Sunday that "the national goal requires working to build a single army that protects the Yemenis," while the National Resistance Forces that he leads have not yet been integrated into the Yemeni Ministry of Defense, according to the announcement of the transfer of power.

Tariq Saleh's statements - in which he addressed for the first time the importance of the unity of the armed forces - came during an expanded meeting of military and civilian leaders held today in the city of Al-Khokha in the coastal province of Al-Hodeidah in western Yemen, according to the Yemeni news agency "Saba".

Tariq explained that the single national project is the real guarantor of restoring the state and defeating the terrorist Houthi militia and its Iranian project, through a unified struggle in which all forces and movements merge and agree on the goal of restoring the state and defeating the coup.

He praised the great popular support that the joint forces on the West Coast have enjoyed and are enjoying, stressing that this broad popular support reflects a national awareness and high confidence among the people of the region in these forces and their pivotal role in the battle to restore the state and defeat the Iranian project, reiterating the goal of restoring the state.

The member of the Leadership Council also stressed the need for everyone to stand behind the fighter stationed at the barricades of pride and dignity along the fronts of the homeland, adding, "The rifle of liberation is what will restore the stolen homeland that was destroyed by the Iranian project."

He stressed that the national goal requires working to build a single army that protects the Yemenis and their homeland without any discrimination, and that the sectarian militias and gangs do not build a state but tear it apart, referring to the so-called "Iranian Unity of Arenas" project that Iran has imposed to tear apart the Arab arena; to serve its expansionist agenda.

Tariq Saleh renewed his warning of the danger posed by the terrorist Houthi militia to the future of Yemen, as it calls for foreign ambitions to threaten the homeland and destroy its infrastructure.

He pointed out that the Iranian gangs did not provide anything to Palestine as they claim, but rather made the Palestinian citizen a victim of the brutal Zionism that is committing brutal massacres in Palestine, and now in Lebanon.

He continued: "We must restore our state," stressing that the national resistance was, is and will remain alongside the people of Tihama, and that liberating Tihama will be a prelude to restoring Sana'a and liberating every inch of the homeland that is being polluted by the Iranian project.

The Leadership Council member also stressed that the hand is extended for peace that achieves the goal of restoring the state, reiterating the commitment of the National Resistance to work on the path of development alongside its military role as a national force fighting the Safavid tide in Yemen.

Tariq Saleh's talk about the necessity of building a single army comes while his "National Resistance" forces stationed on the West Coast have not yet been integrated into the framework of the Yemeni Ministry of Defense and are not subject to the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces and Security, despite the passage of more than two years since the formation of the Presidential Leadership Council.

The announcement of the transfer of power on April 7, 2022, stipulated the formation of the “Supreme Joint Security and Military Committee,” and assigned it tasks of “achieving security and stability and restructuring the armed military and security forces that were formed after the outbreak of the war imposed by the Houthi rebel militia with Iranian support in September 2015.”

It also stipulated that the committee should take the necessary steps to end the armed conflict, end the division in the armed and security forces, and achieve their integration under a unified national command structure within the framework of the rule of law, as well as develop a national doctrine for members of the army and security services.

Pursuant to the announcement, the Presidential Council issued a decision on May 30, 2022, to form the committee, with 59 members equally divided between the north and the south, including military and security leaders from the army and security, and representatives of the formations affiliated with the Transitional Council and the rest of the parallel forces that were formed during the war with Emirati and Saudi support outside the framework of the legitimate government.

The report of the UN Security Council's Panel of Experts, which was recently issued, revealed that the Southern Transitional Council rejected the Ministry of Defense's request to hand over a list of the names of its soldiers, stressing that the UAE-backed council is still reluctant to join the unified forces as decided by the President of the Presidential Leadership Council, and prefers to remain independent.

The report said, "The sources informed the team that the Ministry of Defense asked the Southern Transitional Council to provide it with a list of the names of soldiers affiliated with the group to equalize the salaries of all soldiers belonging to different factions, but the council has not provided this list yet."

The sources indicated that "there is a large discrepancy in the salaries of soldiers, and that a comprehensive review of the lists of some groups affiliated with the Yemeni government is required. There are groups that increase the number of their soldiers by adding names that do not exist or the names of employees working in other ministries in order to obtain more salaries."

Recently, Defense Minister Lieutenant General Mohsen Al-Daari, who is also a member of the military committee by virtue of the decision to form it, said that the committees for unifying the military forces have made remarkable progress and have completed up to 70 percent, admitting, “The implementation remains,” expressing his optimism despite the difficulties.

Al-Daari confirmed in an interview with the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that the leadership of the Ministry of Defense seeks to have all military components “under one command so that it can unify its decision.”

This comes while informed military sources confirmed that the committee has only been able to achieve some accomplishments on paper so far, but in reality it only controls the government forces in the first military regions and some of the second, in addition to the third, sixth and seventh, and it has taken decisions to make changes in them, while various parties reject any attempts to approach its structure.