Al-Arab, London, May 24
The Houthi militias in Yemen continue to ignore reality and pursue a radical agenda of self-destruction. Using Iranian technology and Hizbullah know-how, these militias have been targeting Saudi and Emirati cities using missiles and mortars in an effort to gain political capital. Anyone who understands the politics of the region knows that the Houthis are a direct extension of the mullah regime in Tehran. And the people who are paying the ultimate price for this Iranian aggression are the Yemeni people who, when they overthrew their government in September 2014, hoped to build a better future for their country. However, since then, they only experience bloodshed and war. What concerns the Houthis is not the interests of the Yemeni people, but their dark ideological project, which is no different from that of the Taliban project in Afghanistan. The two “mountainous” factions take the claim of supporting Islam through opposition to western ideals. However, they promote everything that stands against the Muslim faith. They actively promote bloodshed, violence, drug abuse, suffering, starvation and the pushing of children into the battlefield. The Houthi movement was founded in Sa’ada in 1992 under the banner of revival of the caliphate. Similarly, the Taliban grew up in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province on the border with Pakistan in 1994, established by Mullah Mohammad Omar under the pretext of eradicating the manifestations of moral corruption and restoring security and stability to Afghanistan. Both movements took advantage of transitional phases in their country’s history in an effort to seize power by force. On January 19, 2015, the Houthis attacked the home of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, besieged the presidential palace and stormed army camps. They put government ministers under house arrest. They stormed media headquarters and used television channels to spread propaganda against their opponents. They took over the headquarters of oil companies and appointed their loyalists to positions of power. Throughout this entire process, the Houthis received close support from Iran and Hizbullah. In March 2015, the Arab Alliance in Yemen, led by Saudi Arabia, launched an operation against the Houthis aimed at restoring the country’s legitimate authorities. The Houthis rejected all political resolutions, bailed on promises made to UN envoys and rejected all negotiations. However, just like the Taliban failed to gain international recognition, the Houthis now face global isolation. The radical agenda on which these two organizations rest simply do not allow them to be functional political entities. Their suicidal impulses push them to promote projects to that only empower their own gains. Eventually, an international agreement for Yemen will be reached. This agreement will disband the Houthi militias and remove them from any position of power in the country. Just like the Taliban was destroyed in late 2011, so, too, will world powers come to destroy the Houthi militias. The world will not tolerate an armed group that continues to undermine the security and stability of the region, especially given the enormous economic and political assets at stake in the Gulf. – Habib al-Aswad
(translated by Asaf Zilberfarb)