Yemen’s Ansarallah resistance movement fired back at claims made by Washington’s envoy to the country Tim Lenderking on 5 October, as well as by the UN Security Council, after they accused the group of “hijacking” the negotiations, making last-minute “extremist demands,” and obstructing an extension to the UN-brokered truce.

According to the US Special Envoy, Ansarallah allegedly demanded that their military and security personnel receive their salaries before Yemen’s civil servants.

Over the past few years, Yemeni government officials and employees have been prevented from receiving their salaries by the Saudi-led coalition, a clear violation of the terms of the ceasefire agreement.

Contrary to the US envoy’s claim, however, Ansarallah had criticized a proposed mechanism for the payment of public sector salaries over its exclusion of police, security, and military employees.

In response to the US envoy, a member of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, Mohammad Ali al-Houthi said via Twitter: “It is not extremism to lift the siege on Yemen, it is not extremism to hand over employee salaries from oil revenues, and it is not extremism to lift the ban on travelers to Sanaa airport from all destinations, but rather, extremism is the statement of the UN Security Council [and US envoy].”

ليس تطرفا فك الحصار عن اليمن
وليس تطرفا تسليم رواتب الموظفين من عائدات النفط
وليس تطرفا رفع الحظر عن المسافرين الى مطار صنعاء من جميع الوجهات
انما #التطرف_بيان_مجلس_الامن

— محمد علي الحوثي (@Moh_Alhouthi) October 5, 2022

Al-Houthi also renewed Ansarallah’s threats against the Saudi-led coalition as a response to its continued delay in permitting state employees from receiving salaries.

“We have [drones] that know their destination despite the air danger,” in reference to Ansarallah’s aerial and drone capabilities against coalition-controlled territory, as well as areas within Saudi Arabia’s borders.

لدينا طائرات تعرف وجهتها
رغم الحظر الجوي#التطرف_بيان_مجلس_الامن

— محمد علي الحوثي (@Moh_Alhouthi) October 5, 2022

During an interview with Al-Mayadeen, Muhammad al-Bakhiti of Ansarallah’s Political Bureau said on the same day that it will strike the oil facilities of Saudi Arabia and the UAE if the Yemeni demands for the truce agreement, including the lifting of the blockade, are not met.

“The demands of the Yemeni people are just … We have the ability…  to strike the Saudi and Emirati oil installations if [they] are not met,” as Ansarallah has done in the past.

Bakhiti also condemned the coalition’s continued prevention of humanitarian fuel ships from entering the country, and added that the Yemenis “will respond with something similar.”

Meanwhile, the UN Special Envoy to the country, Hans Grundberg, has called on both sides to maintain calm and avoid any action that might lead to an escalation.