Yemenis Agree on Need to End the Houthis Militarily

Arab World

March 27th, 6:51am

Aden - Ali Rabea

Houthi supporters attend a rally to mark the first anniversary of the killing of Saleh al-Sammad, who was the head of the Houthi Supreme Political Council (File Photo: Reuters)

Houthi militia leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi commemorated the eighth year of war and terrorism, rejecting all international and regional calls for peace and disregarding the inter-Yemeni consultations hosted by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Houthi disregarded the tragedies his group caused to Yemenis at the humanitarian, economic, and cultural levels during the past years. Instead, he asked his supporters to continue with levies and mobilizations. He also determined his conditions for ending the war, announcing that his group should rule the country and the Coalition to Support Legitimacy must stop interfering in Yemeni affairs. Meanwhile, Yemenis are confident the Houthi group will never stop its military escalation, whether inside the country or through terrorist attacks targeting navigation in the Red Sea and threatening the global economy, including the recent attack on the Aramco facility in Jeddah. Yemenis are also confident that Houthis do not want peace based on the three references, nor does Iran, which is wagering that the power of arms will subject Yemen to its racist rule. Observers believe that ending the Houthi militias militarily and disarming them will achieve peace. Yemeni writer and journalist Ahmed Abbas said that the Houthi militia responds negatively to every call for peace and dialogue. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Abbas said that the Gulf Cooperation Council's invitation to the militia to attend the upcoming Riyadh consultations was met with the military escalation and attacks against civilians in Saudi Arabia. He indicated that the group attacked oil facilities, unaware of the threat this poses to the global economy, and fully aware that it will only be met with timid condemnations from the international community. Iran awaits the nuclear agreement that will lift the economic sanctions, said Abbas, adding that Tehran incited the Houthis to pressure and achieve the maximum in its nuclear plans, which would have been finalized hadn't it been for the Russian-Ukrainian crisis. He explained that the attacks were focused on oil facilities, sending a message to the international community that Iranian oil can compensate any shortages caused by the embargo on Russian oil and gas. The journalist noted that the legitimacy and the coalition supporting it must utilize new mechanisms to pressure the international community because the threat of the Houthi group "can only be curbed or reduced through getting rid of it and uprooting it." Abbas expects the new nuclear agreement to liberate Iran economically and increase its support for all its arms, especially the Houthis. Yemeni political analyst, Mahmoud al-Taher, believes that the unprecedented Houthi escalation against energy supplies is related to "Western pressures on oil exporters to increase production, as a result of the crisis in Western markets, and the lack of a firm response by the international community, which encouraged the Houthis to launch more attacks." In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Taher stated that the Houthis reject any dialogue in Riyadh and ignore other Yemeni political components. Houthis want the dialogue to be with the Coalition that Supports Legitimacy directly, to portray that the war is with these countries, not between the Yemeni people and a group that has turned against the people, according to Taher. The analyst asserted that the Houthi escalation would only be contained by neutralizing the danger and launching a ground military operation with heavy air support, similar to the ground military operations in Shabwa and Harib last January. Yemeni journalist and political analyst Wadah al-Jalil considered the Houthi escalation a challenge to the international community in light of the current energy crisis due to the war in Ukraine. He told Asharq Al-Awsat that Houthis want all parties to make concessions, recognize them, and enable them to carry out their project, adding that Iran is behind the hostilities aiming to confirm its power, presence, and ability to harm everyone's interests. Jalil said that Iran wants to send a message that it can target all oil facilities in the region, noting that he believes international actors involved in the Russian-Ukrainian crisis may have given the "green light" for the attacks, aiming that Saudi Arabia and the UAE will increase their oil production to alleviate the problem. He accused the parties of exploiting Houthis to blackmail the two Gulf states, providing logistical support, and enabling them to expand their influence. Jalil believes that the best way to end the Houthi escalation is through a firm and decisive confrontation with the Houthis and classifying them as a terrorist group. He called for withdrawing all the group's privileges obtained through UN organizations and bodies operating in its control areas, enabling the Yemeni government to restore its sovereignty.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3556231/yemenis-agree-need-end-houthis-militarily