On April 4, the electronic Rai al-Youm newspaper carried the following report: “Many Yemeni circles are living through a state of “shock” following the decisions of their “president” Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, whereby Lt. Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar was appointed as a vice president while Mr. Ahmad Obeid Ben Degar was appointed prime minister in succession to Mr. Khaled Bahah. The two are among the most controversial Yemeni figures and do not enjoy a wide popularity among the majority of the population due to their controversial personal and political histories.

“A well-trusted Yemeni source told Rai al-Youm that these appointments wouldn’t have taken place without a Saudi approval knowing that Saudi Arabia had opposed, a few months ago, President Hadi’s intention to sack Mr. Bahah for whom he had no fondness at all and whom he considered a competitor for presidency. The source wondered: Why did the Saudi authorities modify their stand and accept this appointment now? There are several explanations to this Saudi “blessing” of the new appointments.

“First: Saudi Arabia wishes to completely pull out from North Yemen and focus on the Shafi’i south as it has suffered from major human and material losses. A year following the launching of the Al-Hazm Storm, Saudi Arabia realized that it has failed to achieve its objectives of defeating the Houthi-Saleh alliance and bringing President Hadi back to Sanaa.
Second: North Yemen is expected to witness a violent civil war between several sides whereby the Al-Ahmar party supported by the Islamic Reform party will be launching a proxy war (supported by Saudi Arabia) against the Houthis and the former President Ali Saleh and his allies.

“Third: Yemeni sources indicated that Saudi Arabia is now trying to consolidate the agreements that it reached with the Houthi movement and is no longer interested in President Hadi and his legitimacy or his return to power. All that Saudi Arabia cares about is to secure its borders with Yemen and halt any clashes with the Houthis.
Fourth: The Saudis will make every possible effort to reach an agreement during the Kuwait meeting in order to exit the Yemeni crisis and save face. Prince Mohammad Ben Salman, the deputy crown prince, threatened that failure to reach an agreement will bring military escalation. However, this threat was not taken seriously by the adversaries.

“The previous points are further confirmed by a prominent Houthi leader who closely followed the negotiations with Al-Riyadh… A source that is very close to Mr. Khaled Bahah, told Rai al-Youm that Mr. Bahah was surprised with the decision to sack him and he insisted that the Saudis and the Emiratis informed him that they did not know about the decision as well. He quoted Mr. Bahah as saying that President Hadi’s decisions are “suicidal and the Yemenis will be paying a hefty price in the upcoming days and weeks as a result of these decisions.” He added: “Mr. Hadi was acting based on personal and self-centered motives. He has lost the political and rational entitlement to make this kind of major decisions…""