Annisa Essack | kzn@radioislam.org.za
14 April 2023 | 13:00 CAT
1 min read

Photo Credit: WORDCRAFTBYANNISA

Today, award-winning scholar and journalist James M Dorsey joined Ml Junaid Kharsany on Sabahul Muslim to discuss the Saudi-Houthi Ceasefire.

Dorsey explained that the civil war saw the Saudis intervene to thwart the Houthi, Iranian-backed rebels, which failed after eight years.

Speaking on the ceasefire terms, he highlighted the Houthis win against the Saudis, which was reflected in the request to withdraw all foreign troops, which meant Saudi troops. The lifting of blockades on airports and ports will now mean that revenue would be used to pay government salaries to the Houthi-controlled north.

Part of the deal also includes negotiations to end the civil war, which will begin in the next six months.

Al Jazeera recently reported how the UAE served as a hub for smuggling gold from Zimbabwe, with help from South African banks. Dorsey said that although the boycott was lifted in 2021, the UAE still had no ambassador in Qatar.

He commented that the documentary released by Al Jazeera revealing the network in the gold-smuggling saga is details and well-researched, making the evidence unassailable. The documentary shows the UAE trying to get off the grey list of the Financial International Task Force, the international watchdog monitoring anti-terrorism and anti-money laundering compliance.

A mayor in a northern Israel town refuses permission for a football match between Israeli-Palestinians and Israeli-Jews. Dorsey says the town is close to the border with Lebanon, and the Palestinian team had once won the Israel Cup and has supplied key players to Israel’s national team.

The mayor, Dorsey, given the tensions at Al Aqsa, at the border of Lebanon and Gaza and the current government in Israel,  says this is a “warning sign of tensions going deeper than meets the eye.”

Listen to the full interview with Ml Junaid Kharsany on Sabahul Muslim here