Do the Saudis really believe in peace?

There are reports circulating in the international media of a sudden change of heart and inclination towards talks and negotiations by Riyadh, following the decisive retaliatory attacks of the Yemenis on oil and industrial installations, but observers view this as a tactical or more properly a deceitful move from Saudi Arabia rather than any sincere intention to work towards peace.

We present you the opinions in this regard of two Iranian English language dailies, Kayhan International and Tehran Times.

Let us start with the Viewpoint Column of Kayhan International, titled: “Do the Saudis really believe in peace?”

Kayhan International wrote: “Peace, is indeed a beautiful word. It means relief from tension, troubles, turmoil, trauma, and in modern political jargon, from treachery and terrorism.

“It is the essence of Islam, which itself is a synonym for “peace”, a word emphasized time and again in the holy Qur’an, where God Almighty gives the tidings of the perpetual peace prevailing in paradise.

“As a matter of fact “Salaam Alaikum” or the Islamic mode of greeting each other, means “peace unto you”.

“Yet, in spite of its importance and its untold benefits for families, societies, and countries, peace seems to be conspicuously absent in the modern world, which is wracked by violence, wars, bloodshed and genocide.

“Even rulers of Muslim states have been unable to properly implement peace in either their realms or in their relations with countries in the neighbourhood.

“Why? Because of a clear lack of firm faith in the dynamic teachings of Islam, coupled with their being trapped in the temptations of the Satan to indulgence in sinful practices, and, of course, their subservience to the satanic powers – especially to the U.S. 

“The unfortunate result has been mutual distrust, spread of sedition, lust for the lands of others, oppression of fellow Muslims, and dancing to the tunes of their devilish masters.”

According to Kayhan International: “This is the reason for destabilizing of Syria and Iraq through some of the most macabrely murderous terrorists, the current fueling of the flames of violence against the legitimate government in Baghdad through social media networks, the selling out of Palestine to the Zionists, the overthrow of the only democratically elected government in Egypt’s history, the civil war in Libya, the fratricide in Afghanistan, the suppression of Bahrain’s population by a minority regime, the indifference to the plight of co-religionists in non-Muslim counties, the irrational enmity towards the Islamic Republic of Iran, and last but not the least, the Saudi-UAE war on Yemen that has so far killed over a hundred thousand men, women, and children, besides destroying the infrastructure, and plunging the country into famine and epidemics.

“Now comes the news from Riyadh that the ruling clan says it views a truce called by the Ansarallah “positively”, two weeks after Yemen’s popular movement announced the halting of its retaliatory drone and missile attacks against Saudi Arabia.

“Saudi Vice Minister of Defence, Khalid bin Salman, said on Twitter that “the truce announced by Yemen is viewed positively by Riyadh,” and then in an attempt to sabotage any chances of peace, added: “The Yemenis should stand up along with us against Iran.”

“It is obvious that the Wahhabi regime is trying to take the Ansarallah for a ride through such paradoxical statements, while continuing to use mercenaries, such as the Sudanese, to attack Yemen’s indomitable movement in Taiz governorate and al-Jawf province on Sunday and Monday.

“Thanks to the vigilance of the Yemen’s Sana’a-based legal government the fresh aggressions of the Saudis were repulsed with heavy losses.”

Kayhan International posed the questions: “Now what kind of ‘peace’ are the Saudis plotting through such seditious moves? Do they think that having failed to achieve their sinister objectives in four-and-a-half years of a senseless war they would achieve the same through some so-called “peace talks”, preplanned to bear no fruits?

“If this is their goal, then not just the aged king, Salman bin Abdul-Aziz, but the whole regime, especially his two overbearing sons, Khalid and the self-imposed Heir Apparent, the murderous MBS (Mohamed bin Salman), are senile.

“If they still think that it was not the Ansarallah that dealt the deadly drone blow to the Abqaiq oil installation and American arms will save them this time, then they are in for a big surprise, in view of the no nonsense warnings of the Yemen’s defenders that this time the retaliatory strikes will be on a greater and wider scale with far more destructive results – which no defence system will be able to prevent.

“The Ansarallah, as true believers in the tenets of Islam, know that an imposed peace is worse than an imposed war, and aware of the criminal nature of the Saudi clan, which since 1934 continues to be in occupation of the northern Yemeni provinces of Najran, Jizan and Asir, their proposal for peace is not from a position of weakness, but means negotiations in all sincerity for all-comprehensive peace that includes not just the return of the three said provinces, but end of the occupation of the Land of the Revelation, Hijaz, as well retreat from the oil-rich east.

“The ball is now in the Saudi court. They still have the chance to give up all their British-bestowed occupations and return to their native Najd, provided the Najdis are willing to accommodate them, or else they will end up as ignominious exiles in the U.S., Britain, and other states of Europe.

Tehran Times in its Opinion Column by M.A. Saki, titled: “MBS must swallow his pride”, referred to the intransigence of the self-imposed Heir Apparent of Saudi Arabia, Mohamed bin Salman, which was recently shattered by the resistance of the indomitable nation of Yemen.

The columnist said: “It is essential that Saudi Arabia put an immediate end to its futile and senseless war on the fellow Arab nation of Yemen.

“Saudi Arabia launched war on Yemen in March 2015 to immediately restore the toppled provisional regime of President Mansour Hadi, whose term had already expired, and elections were due.

“However, since that date Saudi Arabia has become unbelievable vulnerable in the face of counterattacks by the Ansarallah and the Yemeni Army which is fiercely opposed to the military intervention of Saudis in their country.

“Saudi Arabia has not been alone in its war against the Yemenis. The UAE army has also been directly involved in the war. The United States has also provided logistical support for the Saudi-led war coalition. Saudis have even recruited mercenaries from certain Arab countries to force the Yemenis into submission.

“However, the war has proven disgraceful for the Saudi-led coalition both in terms of military failures and humanitarian disasters.

“Despite using highly modern weapons and fighter jets - mostly bought from the U.S. – in the war, the Yemenis have grown more powerful and more threatening to the interests of the Saudi Kingdom.

“Simply speaking, the new rulers in Riyadh have opened the doors of hell to their country. Now Saudi Arabia is caught in a quagmire that it cannot escape from.”

According to Tehran Times’ M.A. Saki: “The rulers in Riyadh were so stupid to understand that even much more powerful armies failed in the face of guerrilla wars in other parts of the world. The concrete examples are the failure of the Soviet Army in Afghanistan in the 1980s and the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in the 21st century, conflicts which Donald Trump has called “unending wars”.

“There is only one way that Saudi Arabia can get rid of this war and that is that MBS), the de facto leader of the (British created) kingdom, swallow his pride and announce a ceasefire with Yemen.

“In the four-and-half year war against Yemen, Saudi Arabia has committed indescribable crimes which some of them constitute examples of crime against humanity. It has targeted school buses as well as wedding and funeral ceremonies.

“The United Nations has officially announced that the war in Yemen has resulted in one of the worst humanitarian disasters in living memory.

“It has also announced that more than 3 million people have been displaced and some 14 million more are at risk of starvation.

“The U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, has also estimated that the war has claimed the lives of over 60,000 Yemenis since January 2016.

“Nothing justified the war on Yemen and insisting to continue it will make Saudi Arabia to look more humiliated in terms of military power and more shameful in terms of human values.”

AS/ME