Decisive options in a Houthi-infested country, are they still open?
English - Sunday 23 January 2022 الساعة 08:37 am
Aden, NewsYemen, special:
The Stockholm Agreement at the end of 2018 represented a major trap for the process of accelerating solutions and overcoming obstacles at the political and military level, during which Houthi was able to win more rounds of hollow peace.
It was preceded by 4 years of missing opportunities and compounding the sufferings of Yemenis by this force that imposed itself as if it was ready to sacrifice more than 8 million citizens who need urgent food aid on a daily basis to keep them alive.
On December 4, 2017, the killing of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh at the hands of the same militia marked a new turning point, wanted by many regional and international powers, including Iran, the main supporter of the Houthi project and those behind it. Its aim is to disturb the tranquility of some Gulf countries and build an advanced power for Iran in the south of the Arabian Peninsula.
That agreement prompted the Houthis to exploit the port’s revenues. The cash stock of the central bank branch in the governorate was looted, and the most important sea ports were turned into a military barracks to carry out operations deep in international corridors, the most recent of which was the kidnapping of the Emirati ship “Rawabi” and 11 of its crew of different nationalities at the beginning of this year.
In November 2019, the militia had detained a South Korean ship and digger north of the city of Hodeidah on the Red Sea coast, to be released later.
In January 2019, the Security Council had issued Resolution No. 2452, establishing the Mission to Support the Hudaydah Agreement (UNMHA) to monitor the ceasefire as stipulated, but none of the Stockholm and subsequent provisions were implemented.
Later, the UN envoy and the head of the monitoring mission were replaced by others, so that more than 30,000 breaches were counted and monitored, resulting in dozens of civilian casualties in and around the seam areas.
Continued flow of weapons
The last 4 years have been accompanied by more support from the Iranian regime, through the flow of oil tankers, boats, and ships loaded with various types of weapons, while Sanaa Airport has remained open to international aid and other things that are suspicious.
Perhaps the most prominent of those results, which revealed the role of the United Nations and its flights to Sana’a Airport, was the announcement of the appointment of; Hassan Erlu, Iran's ambassador, after his appearance in Sana'a, attends many official meetings and visits government departments, as if he were the de facto ruler of the north.
Many questions remained about his entry and the nature of his work before returning on a private Iraqi military medical plane to be buried in Tehran.
The man died, but dozens of questions did not die with him, whether those related to his political life and the mission he was entrusted with in Sana'a during nearly two years, or those that accompanied his death, how did it happen and who was with him during his killing? If he really died in an air strike.
Decisive possibilities and options
Today, it can be said either decisiveness or decisiveness is the only option approved by the current data and talk of the ongoing battles between citizens who refuse to submit and a terrorist militia that has turned them into fuel for political turmoil and battles of illusion.
Reports say that nearly two million mines and explosive devices of different shapes and sizes were planted by the militia, most of them in the north before they were defeated from the south.
Concerns increase with the continued laying of mines in the new areas, such as the ones it controls, as happened in the governorates of Al-Dhalea, Shabwa and Sana’a, extending to Marib, Al-Jawf and Al-Bayda. This is consistent evidence that Iran's arm is fully prepared to turn the land under its control into a death-booby-trapped network.
The “Masam” project and the engineering teams supported by King Salman’s initiative are making a great effort, even if there are engineers who fall from time to time a victim of this Houthi madness, but in return these operations save thousands of citizens in the future and in the present.
The sea has also been cultivated and tilled to death by well-trained experts, and there are approximately 250 mines that have so far been recovered from the open seas and international waters during the past years, the last of them being at the beginning of this year on the shores of the city of Hajjah in the north of the country.
The strange thing at this point is that the United Nations decided in May 2019 to give the Houthi militia about 20 four-wheel drive vehicles, which it says are for the demining center in Hodeidah governorate, which was considered a scandal in the eyes of observers.
Not to mention the allocation late last year 2021 amounting to 1.5 million dollars under the same cover as support for the demining operation.
Therefore, the condemnation of this militia does not require more evidence to prove than the evidence it left for at least 7 years. The damage inflicted on the country is an eyewitness, as well as the size of the debt, the damage to the educational process and health services, the spread of more epidemics, the high rate of poverty and the spread of beggars in the streets.
Returning to the decisive options, which are no longer open and are in their narrowest limits, after making all efforts to stop the war and correct the course of the political process, even if Iran’s arm appears to be the strongest negotiator; Despite the humanitarian situation that the country has reached, the huge numbers of displaced people, and the damage caused by the failure to manage the areas under its control.
Attempt to bring down Marib
The Houthi group's ulterior intentions were more war and pressure towards controlling areas it considers strategic and vital for it to finance its battles, and its destination was Marib.
It easily took control of vast areas after most of them were left unopposed by military forces that follow legitimacy, starting from the Nehm Fort near Sanaa to the Serwah district and areas near the city of Ma'rib by 20 km.
Al-Jawf and Al-Bayda governorates were also the scene of large-scale military operations that ended with the fall of a number of districts in the hands of the Houthis, some of them without resistance and in a short period of time.
On the terrorist list
Most importantly, this group is unable to deal with the course of the conflict today, the requirements of people on the ground, and the human condition that has reached its climax. Rather, it escalates from time to time without realizing the consequences.
Even when it was in its weakest stage, so to speak, in the presence of the previous political regime during the six wars and since before 2004, it violated the treaty to stop confrontations or sit at the dialogue table and engage in the democratic process if it wanted to reach power.
Today, many countries, international and local organizations, and the legitimate government are applying pressure to include them among terrorist groups, especially after targeting the "Aden International Airport" and civilian objects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and threatening international navigation.
Perhaps the recent statements of US President Joe Biden, study the option of classifying the Houthis among terrorist groups, which has been vigorously proposed since the end of the term of former President Doland Trump, before it was abolished and only the imposition of punishment on some people and companies supporting them.
