Hesham Alghannam

“What Riyadh is trying to do now is easy to say and hard to do, but it’s crucial: tie the money and the weapons to real integration under one command, not to declared loyalty.”

Hesham Alghannam · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-19

Alghannam said Riyadh is trying to tie money and weapons to real integration under one command rather than declared loyalty.

“The lesson of 2015 wasn’t that acting firmly leads to a long war. It was that announcing a goal earlier than you should [do] does because once it’s said out loud, you’re bound to it long before you can deliver it,”

Hesham Alghannam · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-19

Alghannam said the lesson of 2015 was that announcing a goal too early leads to a long war because once said, you are bound to it before you can deliver.

“Honestly, the deeper question was never whether Tehran signs [the agreement with Saudi Arabia]. It’s whether anything Tehran signs reaches the people holding the launchers,”

Hesham Alghannam · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-19

Alghannam said the deeper question is whether anything Tehran signs reaches the people holding the launchers, referring to Iran-aligned armed groups.

“Saleh partnered with them, and he was killed in the street in 2017. Even after taking Sanaa, they didn’t become the state. They built a network of supervisors sitting over every official post. So the Saudi red line is one thing, no armed group or second army inside one state.”

Hesham Alghannam · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-19

Alghannam noted Saleh partnered with the Houthis and was killed in 2017, and that the Saudi red line is no armed group or second army inside one state.

“That isn’t a breach you can take to a lawyer. It’s keeping two files apart, and it works until someone says it out loud. That’s what’s changed,”

Hesham Alghannam · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-19

Alghannam told Al Jazeera that the Beijing agreement was about lowering tensions, not reconciliation, and works until someone says it out loud.

“What followed was the seizure of the institutions, the president detained, parliament dissolved. The gains were banked, and the guns were kept,”

Hesham Alghannam · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-19

Alghannam said what followed was seizure of institutions, detention of the president, and dissolution of parliament, with gains banked and guns kept.

“We know how the other sequence ends. In 2014, the [Houthis] were offered seats, special status for Saada [the northern Yemeni stronghold of the Houthis] and a share of the executive authority in Yemen in return for handing the heavy weapons to the state,”

Hesham Alghannam · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-19

Alghannam recalled that in 2014 the Houthis were offered seats, special status for Saada, and a share of executive authority in return for handing heavy weapons to the state.