By AFP – Agence France Presse
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The leader of Yemen’s Huthi rebels criticised Donald Trump for supporting Israel on Thursday, saying the US president-elect would fail to end the Middle East conflict in his second term.
Abdul Malik al-Huthi, whose group is aligned with Iran, said that a series of normalisation deals between Arab countries and Israel brokered by Trump’s administration during his first term did not help bring the conflict closer to an end.
“Trump failed in the project of… ‘the deal of the century’ despite all his arrogance, haughtiness, recklessness and tyranny, and he will fail this time as well,” Huthi said in his weekly speech.
Republican candidate Trump defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in Tuesday’s vote and is set to take office in January, returning to the Oval Office after four years.
His win came with the Middle East in turmoil after the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, triggered by the unprecedented attack by Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel.
The Huthis, who have controlled the Yemeni capital Sanaa since 2014, have attacked merchant vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden and also fired on Israel itself in stated solidarity with Hamas.
During his first term, Trump oversaw the establishment of diplomatic ties between Israel and Gulf countries the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain as well as Morocco.
Trump also endorsed Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law, and moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, claimed by both Israelis and Palestinians as a capital.
Outgoing US President Joe Biden has ensured that Washington remained Israel’s most important military backer during the ongoing war in Gaza, which has widened to draw in Lebanon-based Hezbollah and Iran itself.
In his speech on Thursday, the Yemeni rebel leader charged that US presidents “compete over who will provide more services to the Israeli enemy”.
“Trump himself had a previous presidential term, and was keen to provide achievements for the Israelis,” Huthi said.
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