Saudi Arabia denies WSJ report claiming Houthis demanded $51bn to halt hostilities
Dawn · News Desk ·
“All of this is pure fabrication by the writers or their alleged sources,” says Saudi deputy minister for public diplomacy.
Saudi Arabia has denied a report by the US-based Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that Yemen’s Houthis had demanded $51 billion from kingdom in return for a “negotiated halt” to the ongoing hostilities between the two sides.
A report by the Journal claimed on Thursday that the kingdom had approached the Houthis “to see what it would take to arrive at a negotiated halt to the hostilities”, and the group demanded $51bn in return. The report, citing unnamed sources, further claimed that the Houthis would want to be “officially recognised … as the rulers of Yemen”.
But Saudi Deputy Minister for Public Diplomacy Ambassador Rayed Krimly “categorically” denied the claims about “demands made by this militia”.