As Tide Turns, Houthis Reject US, Saudi “Peace” Deals for the Recycled Trash
They Are
The Houthis — empowered by six years of perseverance amid one of the most
violent wars against some of the world’s most powerful military forces, not
to mention the ability to reject the proposals set forth by those same
powers — have little incentive to accept Riyadh or Washington’s “peace”
offers.
by Ahmed Abdulkareem
March 27th, 2021
By Ahmed Abdulkareem
SANA’A, YEMEN — March 26 marks the sixth anniversary of the U.S.-backed
Saudi bombing campaign in the war-torn country of Yemen and massive
demonstrations took place across the country on Friday in commemoration.
Hundreds of thousands of people took the streets in the Yemeni capital of
Sana’a near the besieged Sana’a International Airport, and in Hodeida, home
of the country’s largest and most important seaport. In fact, thousands of
Yemenis gathered in more than twenty city squares across the northern
provinces, carrying Yemeni flags and holding banners emblazoned with
messages of steadfastness and promises to liberate the entire country from
Saudi control. Images of the demonstrations show a sea of Yemeni flags,
posters bearing pictures of Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi, and the
slogan “Six years of aggression — We are ready for the seventh year — We
will win.”
“We are here to send a message to both the United States and Saudi Arabia
that we are ready to make more sacrifices against the Saudi-led Coalition,”
Nayef Haydan, a leader of the Yemeni Socialist Party and member of the
Yemeni Shura Council, said. “Any peace initiative must contain a permanent
end to the war, lift the blockade completely, include a detailed
reconstruction program, and compensate Yemenis,” he added.
Having bombed for six years, Saudis now talk peace
For six years, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two of the richest
countries on the planet, have relentlessly bombed the poorest nation in the
Middle East, with crucial assistance from three consecutive U.S.
administrations. For 2,160 days — six years straight — the Royal Saudi Air
Force and the UAE Air Force have, with American assistance, launched nearly
600,000 airstrikes in Yemen. The bombing has targeted civilian homes,
schools, hospitals, roads, funerals, food facilities, factories, mosques,
water, pumps and sewage, markets, refugee camps, historical cities, fishing
boats, fuel stations, a school bus full of children, and Bedouin camps,
making any potential reconstruction very long and costly.
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The bombing continues even as talks of new peace initiatives begin to
surface. Just last Sunday, March 21, consecutive Saudi airstrikes destroyed
a poultry farm in Amran province. The attack was especially egregious as
Yemen is suffering from one of the most severe famines in recent history. In
fact, the country faces a humanitarian, economic, and political crisis of a
magnitude not seen in decades. According to the United Nations, almost 16
million Yemenis live under famine, with 2.5 million children suffering from
malnutrition. And thousands of Yemeni state workers now face hunger as their
salaries have gone unpaid for years after the Saudi Coalition seized control
of the country’s central bank.
Relentless destruction
As the war enters its seventh year, the country’s war-weary masses face grim
new milestones. The fastest growing outbreak of cholera ever recorded and
outbreaks of swine flu, rabies, diphtheria and measles are among the
man-made biological threats facing Yemen. Meanwhile, hundreds of Yemenis are
dying of Covid-19 every day amid a collapsed and destroyed health system.
Many of these diseases and crises are not natural but have been created,
artificially and intentionally, by Saudi Arabia. The U.S.-backed Saudi
Coalition has completely or partially destroyed at least 523 healthcare
facilities and bombed at least 100 ambulances, according to a report from
the Sana’a-based Ministry of Health issued last Tuesday.
Years after Saudi Arabia imposed a blockade on Yemeni ports, halting
life-saving supplies, Yemenis are still suffering from a lack of food, fuel
and medicine. Hodeida Port, which is the primary entry point for most of
Yemen’s food imports, is still under a strict Saudi blockade; even
humanitarian aid is prevented from reaching the port. Sana’a International
Airport, which has been bombed heavily by the Saudi Air Force in the past
two weeks, has been blocked almost since the war began, leaving thousands of
medical patients to die prematurely because they were unable to travel
abroad for treatment.
Yemenis for their part, have resorted to targeting the Saudi Coalition in
its own backyard. Hoping that taking the battle to the Kingdom will exact
enough of a toll on the Saudi monarchy to cause it to rethink its quagmire
in Yemen, Houthi missiles and drones have had increasing success in striking
Saudi oil infrastructure, airports and military bases, leaving Saudi soil
exposed to daily bombardment for the first time since the Al Saud family
established their state.
In a recent statement, the spokesman for the Ansar Allah-backed Yemen Army
claimed that its Air Force had carried out more than 12,623 drone strikes
and reconnaissance operations during the past six years and that, in the
past two months alone, 54 high-precision ballistic missiles have been fired
at vital Saudi targets, some of them deep inside Saudi Arabia.
Last Wednesday, Saudi Arabia’s Abha Airport was attacked by a number of
drones, and on Friday, a facility belonging to Saudi state-owned oil giant
Aramco in the Saudi capital of Riyadh was hit with six drones, causing
damage to the facility, according to Yemen military sources.
Saudi futility
Despite its enormous onslaught, lethal Western weapons, and hundreds of
billions of dollars wasted on this war, Saudi Arabia has been unable to
crush the will of the Yemeni people, who continue to fight for independence
and sovereignty. At the end of March 2015, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin
Salman promised confidently that it would all be over within a few weeks and
that Ansar Allah would quickly surrender. Now, after six years of war, Bin
Salman has not only been unable to defeat The Houthis. Instead, it is The
Houthis remain steadfast in their resistance and have grown even more
powerful, leading to much consternation in Saudi Arabia and a half-hearted
attempt by Bin Salman to ask The Houthis to accept his country’s version of
peace and free the Kingdom from the quagmire it has created for itself in
Yemen.
As Yemenis make their final push to recapture the strategic city of Marib,
amid failed U.S. efforts to protect their Saudi ally from Houthi ballistic
missiles and drones, both Washington and Riyadh have presented peace
initiatives in an effort to stem the tide of Saudi Coalition military
defeats. Those initiatives, however, fail to address or alleviate the
humanitarian plight of Yemenis, end the war, or even lift the blockade.
Sour wine in new bottles
On March 12, U.S. Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking announced an
initiative to end the war during a webinar with the Atlantic Council. The
plan is essentially a recycled version of a previous proposal presented by
Mohammed Bin Salman and the Trump administration one year ago in Oman,
dubbed “The Joint Declaration.” It contains a matrix of Saudi principles and
conditions aimed at the surrender of the Yemen Army, the Houthis, and their
allies, in exchange for an end to the war. Lenderking’s initiative gives no
guarantee that the Coalition will take any measures to lift its blockade and
end the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
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Recent developments in the Yemen war are increasingly pointing to the
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attempt to control the narrative and save face around what is looking like
yet another defeat in the long-running American-sponsored global war on
terror., Houthi, Marib, Saudi Arabia, Yemen,
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On March 22, Saudi Arabia announced its own “ceasefire initiative” to end
the war it announced from Washington D.C. six years ago. Saudi Foreign
Minister Faisal bin Farhan revealed the initiative, which would include a
nationwide ceasefire under the supervision of the UN and a partial
re-opening of the Sana’a International Airport to certain destinations. It
also included a revenue-sharing plan that would guarantee the Saudi
government access to a portion of the wealth generated by Yemen’s oil and
gas deposits in Marib.
Come back when you’re serious
Both initiatives were rejected by Sana’a. “We reject the American and Saudi
peace initiatives because they do not meet the demands of the Yemeni
people,” Khaled Al-Sharif, chairman of the Supreme Elections Committee, said
of the proposals during a meeting held in Sana’a on Monday. According to
many Yemenis, including decision-makers in Sana’a, the U.S. and Saudi plans
are not intended to achieve peace, but to advance their political goals in
the face of an imminent military failure following six costly years of war.
The measures, according to officials in Sana’a, are also about saving face
and presenting an untenable plan, so that when it is inevitably rejected the
tide of public opinion will turn in favor of the Saudi-led Coalition.
In a live televised speech commemorating the sixth anniversary of the war on
Thursday afternoon, ِAbdulMalik al Houthi, the leader of the Houthis,
refused Washington and Riyadh’s initiatives, explaining:
The Americans, the Saudis, and some countries have tried to persuade us to
barter the humanitarian file for military and political agreements. We
refuse that.
Access to oil products, food, medical and basic materials is a human and
legal right that cannot be bartered in return for military and political
extortion.
We are, [however], ready for an honorable peace in which there is no
trade-off for our people’s right to freedom and independence or to Yemen’s
legitimate entitlements.”
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The Houthi leadership views the policies of the Biden administration as not
far removed from those of his predecessor, Donald Trump. “Biden’s
administration is following the same policies as those of former President
Donald Trump. [They] have not offered a new plan for peace in Yemen.
Washington has rather presented an old plan for the resolution of the
conflict,” Ansar Allah spokesman Mohammed Abdul-Salam said, adding that the
U.S. plan does not offer anything new. ”The plan has placed conditions for
the opening of the Hodeida port and Sana’a International Airport, which are
unacceptable,” he concluded.
No retreat, no surrender
The Houthis — empowered by six years of perseverance amid one of the most
violent wars against some of the world’s most powerful military forces, not
to mention the ability to reject the proposals set forth by those same
powers — have little incentive to accept Riyadh’s offer. They see the end to
the conflict coming from Washington in the form of an announcement of an
immediate ceasefire, a departure of all foreign forces from the country, and
lifting of the air and sea blockade as a pre-condition for any deal. “They
should have demonstrated their seriousness for the establishment of peace by
allowing food and fuel to dock at the port of Hodeida rather than put forth
proposals,” Mohammed Ali al-Houthi said.
Yemen's Marib Offensive Born of Desperation, with No Sign Saudis/US Will
Cease Their War
Having all but given up on the prospect of peace in Yemen under the Biden
admin, the Houthis are betting on retaking Marib from Saudi forces.
MintPress News | Ahmed Abdulkareem | Mar 23
Over two thousand consecutive days of war have proven that Saudi Arabia is
not ready to bring peace to war-torn Yemen. With the exception of a fragile
ceasefire in Hodeida and a small number of prisoner releases, negotiations
between the two sides generally reach a dead end, as Bin Salman looks for
total surrender and nothing else. Numerous negotiations between Saudi Arabia
and Yemen have failed, including UN-brokered peace talks in Switzerland in
2018. The Yemenis, who are now on the offensive, are unlikely to retreat or
surrender. The offensive to recapture oil-rich Marib and sweep the shrinking
areas that remain in Saudi control shows no signs of slowing down and,
according to high-ranking military officials, the Saudi-controlled gas-rich
province of Shabwa will be the next to be liberated. Moreover, retaliatory
ballistic missiles and drone attacks against Saudi targets will continue.
Despite recent peace initiatives, the Saudi-led Coalition has only
intensified military maneuvers in Yemen this week. Saudi warplanes are seen
regularly above highly populated urban areas in the north of the country,
dropping hundreds of tons of ordnance, most supplied by the United States.
There is a near-consensus among the leadership of the Yemeni army and Ansar
Allah that the current U.S. administration is participating in the battles
taking place in the oil-rich Marib province. However, the Houthis have not
directly accused the Biden administration of being involved in the fighting
and are waiting for more evidence to do so. They may not have to wait long.
On Tuesday, a sophisticated, U.S.-made MQ-9 Reaper drone was downed with a
surface-to-air missile as it was flying over the Sirwah district in Marib.