in the conversation at this time on al-jazeera. thanks. hello and welcome to our just zero with continuing coverage of breaking news from

yemen i'm martin venice. ali abdullah saleh the president al said from power in twenty twelve has been killed the news has been confirmed by salis party and his former allies turned food the who the rebels. yemeni army tanks roll into the capital sanaa to fight against the who's the rebels the shifting alliances change the face of the war. it's fourteen g.m.t. your without jazeera our extended coverage of the breaking news from yemen who the rebel forces there have confirmed the death of the ousted president ali abdullah saleh which has significant implications for the war we've also received confirmation from sally's own political party media outlets have been airing pictures of his dead body there were earlier reports that the who says blew up one

of sally's houses hoofy sources say salih was killed by the rebel fighters in rocket propelled grenade and shooting attack on his car his the announcement made on who c.t.v. not long ago. well you know. the ministry of interior statement announces that they have taken all but all the positions and strongholds of the treasury's militia in the capital and the surrounding areas as well as other provinces in order to impose security but it also announces the killing of the treacherous leader. and his supporters this is after he and his men blockaded the roads and killed civilians in a clear collaboration with the enemy countries of the coalition. duncan crawford looks back at. life. clung on to power in yemen for more than three decades an old school arab leader

who declared only he could hold the country together his legacy is one of corruption and a deeply divided court. born in one nine hundred forty two as a young man who joined the army and rose to the rank of colonel before taking part in a coup that later saw him become president of what was then north yemen in one hundred seventy. for the next decade he oversaw fighting with the communist south before eventually uniting yemen in one thousand nine hundred ninety at the soviet union collapsed. the same iraq's leader saddam hussein ordered the invasion of kuwait at the un security council yemen voted against the use of force prompting the us to cut off millions in yemeni aid and i thank president for his strong support but fast forward a few years and was again welcomed back by the west after agreeing to take on al qaeda in yemen following an attack on the u.s. warship cole in two thousand and one american friends and cash but that did little

to fix yemen's internal problems the rebellion in the north and the separatist movement in the south. salai always a wily political operator is said to have played off different military groups and trying to keep himself in power. but the arab spring in twenty eleven revolutionized the middle east and sally's rule was challenged like never before. protests against widespread poverty unemployment and corruption became violent and activists accused sally of using excessive force to crush the opposition in the dow and the shout of one like that really those calling for change their trademark is destruction and they are calling for change and for a peaceful youth revolution but it is a destructive revolution. injured in a rocket attack on his compound sunday was treated in saudi arabia before returning three months later but it's physically and politically weaker but once his attempts

to negotiate or buy his way out of a crisis failed. with yemen on the brink of civil war gulf countries brokered a deal that saw power transferred to his deputy in return for salaries immunity from prosecution. ten months of protests ended his thirty three year rule and celebrations began but he left the country with dwindling oil reserves high unemployment and extreme poverty. although down wasn't out in twenty fourteen he allied with the fees helping the shia muslim fighters take over the capital sana that sparked another civil war. twenty fifteen a coalition of arab countries led by saudi arabia began a military campaign to restore yemen's government which continues now i millions of yemenis are seized by fighting hunger and disease. is the

only man to ever serve as president of a unified yemen and while in power is estimated to have amassed a multi-billion dollar fortune. loved by supporters he was also despised by many yemenis who say his reign was defined by corruption and mismanagement that he leaves behind a country divided and in turmoil. now my one is out there senior political analyst he's on set with me we're also joined by know her. is brookings doha center thank you both indeed mowing kind of if you did. do wrong this is the deal maker the survivor who's been at the helm of events in yemen for forty years exactly and he did what he normally does play on allegiances play on axes to change allegiances it's the kind of politics he played that allowed him to

survive for some four decades. and he did that skillfully but even cats were not of lives after seven of them and i think i have run out of lives as we've seen today and what he did i think was so transparent to his. temporary allies the whole thieves who have been control in yemen now for two three years they i think they saw it coming and he and he thought that he could change allegiances and alliances once again and ally himself was with with the saudi arabian i would be against his yemeni let's call them allies overnight and expect to survive and expect maybe to get a couple billion dollars and expect to come back and be an important man over yemen being the regional powers as it may as well except that what went wrong is that clearly the the host sees his his convenient allies were clear.

as to what he was planning to i don't think they have ever trusted him. as far as they're concerned he killed their founding father he killed the father of their leader. revenge no or went away it went cold but in other words. and i think it was good for them knowing his history that he would probably. think they were prepared the way the way they circulated his forces they circulated him the way they found him the way they killed him shows that they were ready for it also shows that he was. excuse my expression foolish in the way he turned and the way he organized his cool if you will against them being so confident of his allies and i would add that he rushed his act without really consolidating his presence and those of his allies because up until the time that we've heard of him breaking away

from his convenient allies the houses some of his own supporters who have been now in bed with for so long were not exactly enthusiastic about what he just did the last year and the dreadful contemplation now is the fact that the removal of this very important figure from the scenario in yemen doesn't really reduce the or improve i should say the chances of an end to the conflict right well we see now yemen is facing the classic dilemma of an arab spring country which is after decades and decades of repression you know who is a viable alternative leader to take the place of somebody like saleh i mean as we know and as we've heard previously had he has always been quite weak he was vice president for sixteen years and so it will be interesting to see who could take the place of such a figure of a figure such as solid now of course we know that ali mohsen

a lot more for example who was a leading military commander in yemen for many many years in solid government is was appointed as head is vice president last year so that might be one interesting . figure to look at in the coming days and who will be the king maker in yemen today all the powers from outside the country those that will have biggest impact inside the country i think they would have an important impact but i think the actors and the factors within the within the country would have an important weight if you would in all of this but just to follow up on this i think the the problem with the problem with the question was who will take place. that was the wrong question it should have always been what will take the place of the assad regime what will take place of that dictatorship in libya or in iraq or in syria or into new zones also for when we look for persons we would look for other

saviors or individuals but always went wrong the question has always been in the arab spring what will replace. it what will be democracy would it be conclusive will be inclusive will be exclusive and unsold so forth in yemen there was an attempt acts a transitional government under most or howdy it was stuttering it was incomplete it was weak and so many ways but it was on the wrong on the wrong idea but it was on the right way the problem for it was two things. that conspired against him and his new allies in yemen the whole seas as well as in abu dhabi and riyadh that were not happy with the way things went in yemen a lot of people in the region the vessel cold comfort of reducing that he's did not appreciate political processes that lead to democracies when the results of whatever elections we've seen was not through their desire so when egyptians have

elections when tunisian has elections. when that assaulted not suit certain people there turned against it and i think we've seen something similar in yemen but the main factor remains that the whole thing is cool was a major turning turning point was dramatic and tragic for the country i think i like the way he changed allegiances in order to remain relevant was also another. factor in the in the country and i think how the yemenis now. consolidate where against who really were the congress party with all those who followed. now turned against the houses or with some of them ally themselves with all these we don't know when they now be ordered and where the allied themselves with abu dhabi and riyadh we don't know will be on riyadh now conclude that there bet on saddam was short sighted it did not work out and that then now they need to quit the military

solution and embrace a diplomatic solution again we don't know we're now in the area of predictions the only thing we could say and i'll just end with that is that all three parties have been weakened today. had his followers have been weakened today the how things have been weakened today because they lost. and some of his followers or all his waterworks and riyadh and i would be lost an ally or a potential ally in this i think everyone lost today and certainly yemen has been a losing streak now for three four years. a regional problem if you like which was identified from the perspective of the saudis and the coalition that they built was the fact that they had a very strong they would say but movement on their border that remains with the. empowered to see movement now in charge of much of northern yemen so the conflict will go along yes and i think unfortunately it will it will go on you know there is

a bit of a power vacuum at the moment we'll be seeing continued bloodshed. and you know i mean the role of international actors has quite frankly just been very detrimental in yemen at the same time the role of international actors remains very important you know there are so many many former politicians former ministers former judges that are outside of yemen and so perhaps the international community such as the u.n. for example should help such actors sort of in the long term to try and get yemen back on its feet but at the moment i do think that the bloodshed will unfortunately continue thank you both indeed for now now let's go live to kuwait city where our correspondent. is because that of course is where g.c.c. foreign ministers are meeting today ahead of the leaders' meeting which starts tomorrow jim also what are the g.c.c. foreign ministers or the others who are meeting there having to say about the

neighbor and this momentous event that has occurred today. well martin so far no public statements from those ministers meeting here in kuwait to have been meeting behind closed doors pictures have just been emerging from that meeting but no statements with regards to this event the events actually or they can divide up on the side of the news of its broke just as they have commenced their meeting so probably they will need some time so obviously go back to their respective capitals in terms of making sure that they come out with a statement that's in line with their governments specifically because as you heard from around there each one of these countries has taken a different side or a different approach soldiers speak with regards to their crisis and why it's so important as far as the g.c.c. is concerned my team is obviously because yemen has been idle rather saudi arabia has been involved or the spearheading this military campaign against a southern neighbor yemen for over two years now it was initially called the

decisive operation decisive storm launched prizes up and coming promising politician the then deputy crown prince mohammed bin son a man who is now ascended and shuts up to power is the next in line to the throne of the saudis it was his promise to essentially hold the advance of what he described is iran's proxies in the region to restore legitimacy the legitimate governments of yemen and so forth but more than two years on hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on this campaign with no real results yielded more than two years on tens of thousands of people have been killed more than two years on the country politically is probably more unstable now than it was at the beginning precisely because of the deaths of value of the most fun the one the other hand obviously will also impact on the fact that your house countries like the united arab emirates who are using i got the most solid as far as many pilots economists would say as an attempt to ensure that very good gets their buildings done inside yemen idea by the side of this by the fact that the u.a.e.

is part of this coalition against the his him and his allies his relatives and brother. still living in the we're still direct contact with your thirties there and it was through them many believe that their merits managed to gain a foothold in the very strategic courts of yemen which are very important to them so all of this is going to be very significant as far this as the g.c.c. is concerned not just because yemen geopolitically its position is on the border with these countries but also because each one of those countries has a vested interest either in the war as it is now or in the political turn out if indeed there will be some sort of a resolution once this conflict comes to an end and are you getting a sense at least as of the significance of developments in yemen becoming a major talking point at least for the foreign ministers or even perhaps for the

leadership. well i mean obviously in the run up to the summit the big question in the big topic was discussed what a crisis that is the six month old embargo blockade or the siege of qatar by side arabia the knights of arab emirates and behind and that's what many people were looking at they were looking at who was going to attend interestingly enough martin the foreign ministers meeting was the saudi foreign minister other debate as attended it's behind and the united arab emirates have decided to send junior ministers in place of the foreign ministers so that in itself shows that the division amongst the g.c.c. is still very much real and without or without divisions continuing rather the foreigners from the yemen issue is also going to be that much more difficult to find a united front for because on the one hand you have side arabia like i say has been very much. the forefront of the military approach to it then you have countries like our man or kuwait's in the qatari even who have said well you know we should find a political solution there was one point where there was an admission

a vocation thinking place in our mind that was attempts to have dialogue in kuwait as well between with us as well as a saudi representative and others so that division as well means that when they do come and if they do come and discuss what next for yemen they will be singing off the same hymn sheet bearing in mind very important here is that marwan pointed out earlier there was an attempt for all of them the fun of to realign himself the tipping point in this crisis in the very beginning was that you saw then you had the forty rebels backed by iran allying themselves with some of the father hold the balance of power domestically in yemen was in their favor or in the past few days on abdullah sort of shifted regencies for the hundredth time in his career back to the saudis and that then promised to tip the balance in their favor with him now out of the picture you saw them you have your forty's backed by iran on the ground but you don't have any real presence on the ground that is backed by the saudis

because the. saudis weren't as forth right with their support for opposition groups like on this law and others because they didn't see them as i try partners in what their vision was for the future of yemen so it's going to be back to the drawing board for the g.c.c. countries to find a solution but first of all going to have to find an end to this bloody conflict. live in kuwait city at that g.c.c. conference is getting underway there but we've been speaking to hussein. his appraising yemeni geneses base in the capital sanaa and he gave us his version of events leading up to his death. that was. like a lot of the hours before his death. the legation i thought there was trying to get the law solid two hundred insult to the heart of the whole scene by the time

being the mediation was still going on. and some of the little surprised that i am the most honest has left the convent area relieved. his car. was found in the high. in color lab rifle. a stick for an eye and it's a hard pill reported because look people go to get. through cars if you would they refuse. a checkpoint in that area i was going to report the best to look for needs late into madison because cullen has a border with a lot of the region which under the control. of the forty of them are solid and it seems to be that he has

a. gunshot in the head. in a different area of his body right here in the studio with me he's no her. and bashar just wondering we were talking earlier to demolish a while in the g.c.c. meeting whose responsibility is the mess of these yemen today who's prepared to take responsibility for helping to sort it out. well look i mean there are no innocent parties in this in this conflict in yemen as in most conflicts around the world of course you know there have been multiple investigations about the atrocities being committed in yemen all parties are guilty whether it's the whole thing is whether it's the saudi led coalition and you know the u.k. and the u.s. are largely complicit in this war as well through the billions and billions of dollars worth of arms sales to the saudis and so you know it will be interesting to see if yemen comes up in the summit but as i said earlier unfortunately despite the

fact that the role of international actors has been detrimental in yemen at the moment given the current circumstances and very dangerous power vacuum the role of the international community remains vital when they say that in crisis is always an opportunity is there an opportunity here somewhere for there to be a change in the status quo really you have to have a twenty twenty vision to be able to see approach and it is in this dark at ambiguous and tragic scene and yet yes the one opportunity i see is that the various parties coming to the most obvious of all understandings the one that i've been repeating now for not just two hours but two three years is not only a diplomatic solution is possible and this is not a cliche that the russian news in syria or the americans use in iraq or or what have you this is a real tragedy unfolding in yemen and it has no military solution the saudis are not going to be able to finish the job militarily nor will there are lies the hoses

are not going to remain to be such for long and i doubt the loss on his forces have been weakened tremendously over the last why why isn't the supreme military might of the saudi's able to finish off if you like started i mean surely in terms impure military terms they should be able to look i mean this is what the this is what the america this is what the israelis. understood in. lebanon that's what the saudis understand in yemen you don't win a civil war you don't win a battle against a capital in the end of the whole how many times you get a bombard son on how many times you're going to bombard. or other cities in yemen in the end of the day the how these are not just a few individuals and then the day they also have followings and they have allegiances and they have were able to consolidate some sort of power you have to arrive at some kind of a compromise with them and that's by the way that's the problem has been in yemen

since day one since this whole thing unfolded five six years ago i was as i've been stating earlier in this region and for our viewers in south africa in the u.k. and in kuala lumpur to understand we all understood yemen to be yemen decide the happy yemen yemen is not in the arab world for its honey not for al qaeda. not for violence not for cholera it was known for its sweet honey for its coffee for people who like to take a good cot and sleep in the afternoon and what we've been seeing in yemen is probably along with syria and libya some of the most right jake developments that we've seen in the in the in the arab world and i think yemenis have all to play i think regional powers have a role to play the host is no need to understand now that they lost saleh and his followers and his military units has already been weakened already been bombed by the saudi led coalition that they don't have

a future in yemen on their own that they need to come together with the other political components of the country in yemen and i think now by the way tragically speaking yes the u.k. the united states and others can step in because the regional powers have failed iran saudi arabia will not succeed in yemen and they were not to win against each other in yemen we need to bring the larger pictures i hope the russians are not going to come into the field militarily of course in yemen but certainly and without you know with no laughs whatsoever because this tragic this should be an opportunity for them to produce a diplomatic solution and. if for nothing for no other reason and the prospect of a failed state a chaotic state and the prospect of providing another stronger foothold for eisel for all the other. opponents of the war on terror surely that will focus the mind of the united states even with its current disengagement. well i mean the focus

is sure yes there will probably be a reinforcement of that focus however you know this the the focus on al qaida was also in a way detrimental to finding a resolution to the crisis in yemen to the war in yemen it detracted from the real sort of root causes of the ongoing war i think that you know i mean i agree with my one that absolutely there needs to be a diplomatic solution if a military solution were the solution you know we wouldn't be here almost three years later. you know discussing this and and so yes i mean i think that. international actors such as the u.s. must be cautioned not to you know have this narrow focus on on counterterrorism in yemen and really look at how to properly resolve this. and really the result the balance sheet after so many years of war no one has been empowered to rule over

here but no one has won everyone has lost certainly today the houses have lost i love that assad have the congress but they have lost their allies in saudi arabia and we have lost and also our stock of the war on terror i mean how really did the war on terror do in yemen the last five six years the last sixteen years yemen has moved from a normal state into a failed state and i would card and maybe to what i saw are going to find not only a foothold they're going to find an open territory for them to take base in there because failed states are the bread and butter of terrorists and i think we would see that happening. ok for now thank you both very much indeed now let's take a look at the key factors that brought dollar salaries thirty year rule in yemen and his role in the war he was accused of corruption and of amassing billions of dollars of wealth during his time as a leader of the middle east's chorus country is time in power finally ended after

pro-democracy protests began as part of the arab spring in twenty twelve hundreds of yemen is were killed after his government's crackdown on protesters just a few years after he was deposed salah reemerged again as an important player in yemeni politics after he allied himself with hoofy pfizer's in twenty fifteen but in a surprise turn of events he turned his back on his rebel allies in a televised speech on saturday thereby formally breaking ties with the who things let's go live to kimberly halkett our correspondent in washington d.c. we were talking just a little bit earlier kimberly about the perhaps the united states and its foreign policy viewing yemen through the prism of the war against terror and the battle against eisel how do the americans see events in yemen. well of course we're still looking for fresh reaction from the trumpet ministration on this and unfortunately we've caught both the president and the secretary of state rex

tillerson as they are traveling elsewhere making that a little bit challenging with certainly there is a lengthy as you point out role of the united states in yemen and we can look at that position in terms of what many view increasingly as the u.s. being complicit in yemen's deterioration of course there has been as your guest pointed out millions of dollars that have been provided in terms of not only munitions and counterintelligence of course to the saudi backed coalition but of course too we had a very robust stepped up under barack obama and drone campaign that was conducted there one that as recently as a few years ago the administration was on record as saying they considered a very successful model for counterterrorism but in recent years there was the recognition by the obama administration that perhaps the civilian cost of that campaign was one it was less comfortable with and we saw those

a little bit of. the brakes put on sort of future sales with regard to military support that was stepped up and sort of rekindled under the trumpet ministration as recently as march and then something that was touted by the president when he visited riyadh and then the senate signing off on that in june so here's here's the issue though in terms of putting this into the focus that your guests were talking about here in the united states well this is on the minds of high level policymakers the administration members of congress ordinary americans have relatively little information about the deteriorating situ situation inside yemen that has to do with the parachute journalism that occurs because of the safety issues but also too is just not registering on the radar particularly in light of many of the. controversy surrounding the trump white house so without that public pressure on lawmakers to act you haven't seen sort of

a significant shift and it's unlikely that will change well al-jazeera certainly has been broadcasting very frequently the deteriorating situation you aren't seeing that on the american news stations so that's one of the continuing issues what you see is on the far left and the far right you do see perhaps and blogs and journalists who are taking independent efforts to unfold some of this concern you're not seeing that public pressure that's needed to kind of move the dial a little bit if you will in terms of public policy and i will tell you in terms of the statements that have come out of the top administration recently we did have in may a travel warning where there was heightened concern about american citizens who may still be there and also warning american citizens not to go there and then more recently in the last ten days from the white house we have had some sort of applause if you will in terms of the reopening of some humanitarian aid between the airport and also the port in yemen but in terms of anything beyond that there is

a recognition i think that there needs to be more in terms of perhaps a shift in policy but there hasn't been any concrete action towards that and given the the administration's focus this week the possibility of moving the u.s. embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem does really comprise the whole of of u.s. middle east policy for now at least. you know i think a lot of people have been scratching their heads just trying to figure out what exactly trump middle east policy looks like right now because what it looks like depends on who you talk to certainly you were getting vacillating information with regard to even that embassy announcement some saying that the waiver won't be signed and the decision still underway others saying no the decision has been made as we heard from the vice president it's not a question of if it's a question.