علّام

- @Jamal_Benomar , you are amplifying a deeply misleading framing of Yemen’s war! And Chatham House makes the same mistake: it presents Yemen mainly through the lens of a Saudi–Houthi conflict, when the starting point was the Houthi seizure of the Yemeni state! The Houthis seized Sana’a in 2014, dismantled Yemen’s political transition and expanded their control by force. Saudi Arabia intervened in 2015 at the request of Yemen’s internationally recognized government. UN Security Council Resolution 2216 explicitly demanded that the Houthis withdraw from territory they had seized, including Sana’a, surrender weapons seized from state institutions and end actions reserved for the legitimate government. Iran is not a side note. The Houthis are an Iran-backed armed movement. Their missile, drone and maritime capabilities have transformed Yemen into a major platform for Iranian regional power projection. And Chatham House itself now acknowledges the strategic consequence: Houthi control of the Red Sea coast gives Iran and its allies leverage over two of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints - the Bab al-Mandab and the Strait of Hormuz. Then there is the “Saudi blockade” narrative. It simply does not explain Yemen’s humanitarian crisis in the way it is often presented! In December 2018, the UK government confirmed that Hodeidah and Saleef were operational and continued to import most of Yemen’s food and fuel. For much of the year, imports had been robust and in some cases exceeded pre-war levels. The UK was also funding and supporting UNVIM inspections. And look at the Red Sea Mills. The mills contained 51,000 tonnes of wheat - enough to feed 3.7 million people for an entire month. The UN could not access the facility for eight months because of the fighting. More importantly, the UN investigation found that the Houthis were responsible for denying access from January to May 2019, even though the Yemeni government had agreed to UN access. The UN also recorded reports that the mills had been mined. The UK position at the time was also clear: Houthi forces had heavily mined the area and Houthi control around Hodeidah was obstructing humanitarian access! There goes the Saudi block theory! So no - you cannot reduce Yemen’s humanitarian catastrophe to a Saudi blockade while simply erasing Houthi responsibility. The Houthis are not victims of this war! They seized the capital. They expanded by force. They fought to capture Marib. They obstructed humanitarian access. They built a parallel state. And they built their military power with Iranian support. They also did not simply “inherit” a political mandate. They seized state institutions by force and terror! And that is precisely why the Saudi-Houthi framing is so misleading! It makes the conflict look like a conventional dispute between two legitimate political sides: Saudi Arabia on one side and the Houthis on the other. That is not what happened. The Houthis are not Yemen’s legitimate government! Not even a legimate political part of Yemen! They are an armed movement that seized Sana’a, challenged the state by force and established a parallel political and military system. The United States has formally designated Ansar Allah, the Houthis, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Whatever one thinks of Saudi Arabia’s conduct during the war, that does not turn the Houthis into a legitimate government or transform Yemen into a Saudi–Houthi war! Ultimately, this is a Yemeni war, fought overwhelmingly by Yemenis, against an Iran-backed armed force. Saudi Arabia is an external actor supporting Yemen’s recognized government. Iran is also an external actor - supporting an armed movement whose military power has become one of Tehran’s most important tools of regional power projection. And this is bigger than Yemen. Iran’s model of arming and sustaining powerful militias has helped turn Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen into arenas of conflict, state fragmentation and Iranian influence. Iran-backed militancy has brought these countries no functioning alternative state. It has brought weapons, destruction, displacement and prolonged conflict! Ultimately wherever Iran gets and hold - it turns into death and destruction! We cannot normalize forever wars! The Houthi armed structure cannot simply be legitimized as a permanent parallel army inside Yemen. The Houthis should disarm and dissolve their independent military structure and become subject to a legitimate Yemeni state authority. If there is a genuine political settlement, it must deal with that reality. And what happens after the Houthi question is resolved is for Yemenis to decide. Whether Yemen remains united, becomes federal, or takes another constitutional path - including the future of the South - should ultimately be determined by Yemenis through a legitimate political process. Iran does not get to decide Yemen’s future! The Houthis do not get to decide Yemen’s future! Yemenis do. So please stop presenting this as simply “Saudi Arabia vs. the Houthis.” That framing gives an Iran-backed armed movement that seized the Yemeni state a legitimacy it did not obtain through any legimate mandate. Yemen is not Saudi Arabia’s war against the Houthis. It is Yemen’s struggle over who controls Yemen - with an Iran-backed armed organization at the centre of the conflict. And Yemen should not be condemned to another decade of this. End the Houthi war. End Iran’s proxy war in Yemen. Then let Yemenis decide Yemen’s future.