Al Saud regime on verge of collapse: Commentator

Press TV has conducted an interview with Edward Corrigan, an international human rights lawyer in Ontario, to ask for his take on Saudi Arabia’s air campaign against Yemen.

This is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: How do you feel about where the situation stands at this point? It seems that Saudis, as many people are saying, find themselves in a trap.

Corrigan: The Saudis are clearly breaking international law. It’s a clear act of aggression. They have killed 4,600 people, the vast majority of them innocent civilians and if you compare the Israeli attack on Gaza for example, the Palestinian government has filed a complaint in the International Court of Justice. I think Yemen should do the same against Saudi Arabia. There should be strong calls on the United Nations to take a strong stand on this issue and file reports and ask for a condemnation of the Saudi attack, which is unlikely to succeed through the Security Council due to United States veto.

But, this is a gross violation of the international law. This is a clear illegal attack from Saudi Arabia on Yemen and there is a lot of political, ideological aspects; the Saudi are getting terrified of Yemen perusing an independent course, having a popular elected government; and they want to control because they are afraid of the alternatives.

There have been Yemeni soldiers who have attacked Saudi military bases on the border. In some respects, I have been surprised of the restraint of the Yemenis because there is a huge number of people from Yemen in Saudi Arabia that would be supporting their country and of course not wanting their relatives to be killed.

There also is a very huge border between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, which would allow the penetration of soldiers from Yemen that could attack... strategic sites in Saudi Arabia such as pipelines, oil facilities, production refineries and things like that; and that would up the ante for the Saudis and increase the cost.

People in Yemen are actually resisting quite well and very strongly; but Saudi Arabia is taking the cowards’ approach, they are just using jets and bombing people from afar and they are not really prepared to intervene and fight a land war. I don’t believe that the troops and mercenaries that Saudi Arabia has been paying for are going to put their lives on the line for the Saud family.

I think the Saud family is in some respects at the end of their regime and they’re on decline. And this act of aggression is not going to be received well by people on the Arabian Peninsula, including Saudis and people in Saudi Arabia themselves; and this is very sad; but people in Yemen... make your complaint to the international court, speak loudly to the United Nations.

One thing that is sort of disturbing is that Russia has offered to sell huge amount of arms to Saudi Arabia, and this would be a sort of muting Russia’s voice on this matter; and I think in the long run, you have to recognize human rights... and recognize... independence and I think the Saudi regime is going to collapse.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk