On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Amir Hossein Abdullahian announced that his country would soon appoint a new ambassador to Yemen to succeed Erlo.
According to Yemeni sources, who spoke to “Sky News Arabia”, Erlo, who was known as “Qassem Soleimani of Yemen”, had great powers. He was one of the influential field cadres of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and therefore, his sudden absence caused a large political and military gap.
As a result of his pivotal role, Iran is striving to appoint a person to replace Airlo in order to avoid any confusion among its allies, according to the same sources, who suggested that the likely candidate would be a guard officer present in Yemen.
A dispute ignited by Ma’rib
Much ambiguity surrounds Tehran’s account about the death of its ambassador, affected by his infection with the Corona virus, as sources say: “In any case, the mysterious end of Erlo reflects another ambiguity about the extent of the rift between Iran and the Houthis, specifically after the failure to reach the city of Marib, despite the siege imposed by the Houthis.” .
The legitimate Yemeni government considered the death of Hassan Erlo “a blow to the Iranian regime and its project in Yemen,” as Yemeni Information Minister Muammar Al-Eryani tweeted, on his Twitter account: “The Iranian regime pushed the Quds Force officer Erlo as a military ruler with absolute powers in the kidnapped capital, Sana’a, ushering in a new phase of intervention.
Al-Eryani considered that Tehran is thus escalating the crisis and aborting political solutions after leading military operations in Marib, Al-Bayda and Shabwa.
The Yemeni minister added: “The Houthi militia celebrated Erlo, received him on the red carpet, and enabled him, during his stay in Sana’a, to take its political and military decision, during which he could practice the rituals of the actual ruler, who led the celebrations, visited institutions, and inspected the situation.”
And he added, “A year after the arrival of Erlo as a military ruler, Tehran’s project in Yemen evaporated on the rock of Ma’rib’s courage and steadfastness, and it returned to beg for mediation just to evacuate it, after the Yemenis, with the support of the Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia, dumped their nose in the dirt,” as he put it.
Regarding Erlo’s role in Yemen, the Yemeni political analyst, Abu Sayyaf al-Hamid, explained that Hassan Erlo’s tracks must be traced since his arrival in October last year, and the real reason for his presence, pointing out that Erlo is an intelligence officer in the Revolutionary Guard, and they sent him under the name of an ambassador, but the truth is that the reason for his presence Military, not diplomatic.
Al-Hamid agrees with Al-Eryani that Erlu served as the Iranian military ruler in the Houthi-controlled areas, inferring that he fought armed confrontations, with the help of officers from the Lebanese Hezbollah, with the parties opposed to the Houthis represented by the Islah Party.
Al-Hamid ruled out, in an interview with “Sky News Arabia”, that the ambassador’s death was caused by Corona, and it is likely that it was caused by targeting by the Arab coalition forces in Ma’rib.
And the Yemeni political analyst concluded an interview with “Sky News Arabia”, saying: “There are differences among the Houthi group themselves, the presence of Airlo was a major reason for it when he took the duties of the Houthi leader, Muhammad Ali Al Houthi, which sparked differences between the latter and the leader of the group, and there are liquidations from more than General targeting Houthi figures.
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