According to video evidence and multiple outlets in the Middle East, Oman sent a delegation to Yemen this week in an effort to reignite peace talks between Saudi Arabia and Ansar Allah. Ansar Allah has been the governing power in Yemen since taking Yemen's capital city of Saana in 2015. Global powers paraded Mansour Hadi around as the internationally recognized president of Yemen until a Presidential Council with Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi at the helm stumbled out of Riyad in early 2022 and assumed power. Coalition airstrikes fell by over 70% during the ceasefire, and Ansar Allah refrained from cross-border strikes into Saudi Arabia.
The truce in Yemen held firm for half a year despite violations by both the Houthis and the Saudi-led Coalition, but it officially ended in October of this year. The United States and the United Nations have called for the ceasefire to be reinstated, and they blamed Ansar Allah for ending the truce. The United Nations and the United States fail to mention how the United Nations has sat idle as the Saudi-led Coalition blockaded Yemen and bombed civilian populations targeting civilians in 67% of their airstrikes. The United Nations was established to protect nations from aggressive adversaries, and they have failed the country of Yemen. The United States is calling for peace while failing to mention they have supplied the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia with weapons, intel, and logistics with the knowledge that these nations were indiscriminately targeting civilians.
Asking Ansar Allah to put down their weapons and watch cargo ships and tankers with billions of dollars in assets sail past their country while over 24 million Yemenis are starving is a tough ask. The UN Special Envoy Tim Lenderking, instead, chose to blame Ansar Allah for preventing aid from reaching people in Yemen while ignoring the actions of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates during the truce. The UN Special Envoy to Yemen is arrogant to think Ansar Allah is not aware of the blatant double standard he is exuding. It is no surprise that Ansar Allah refused to speak to him, effectively ending the truce in Yemen. While Ansar Allah is not innocent, Ansar Allah did not bomb Yemen's infrastructure, irrigation systems, ports, oil refineries, hospitals, and schools. The Saudi-led Coalition did.
The very same people that have exacerbated the war in Yemen suddenly want peace after pumping billions of dollars worth of weapons into Yemen? Since the onset of Saudi Arabia's intervention in Yemen's civil war, the GCC and the rest of the international community assumed the Saudis would squash the Zaydi rebellion in Yemen and bring an end to the civil war. Nearly seven years later and Ansar Allah still controls Yemen's capital. Saudi Arabia made the same mistake Nasser of Egypt made in the 1960s by underestimating the power of the northern tribesman we call Ansar Allah.
Ansar Allah's Adbul-Salam made public statements following the meeting with Omani officials in Saana and stated that the peace talks should involve working to resume salary payments for civil servants who are the backbone of the economy in Yemen. Adbul-Salam added that Saudi Arabia has targeted Yemen's economy by deflating their national currency and sanctioning major banks bringing a halt to salary payments throughout the country. Adbul-Salam highlighted a need for Saudi Arabia to separate humanitarian issues from military issues and reiterated the fact that Ansar Allah's demands apply to all the people of Yemen regardless of race, ideology, or origin.
Saudi Arabia, the United Nations, and any other nation involved in the conflict in Yemen should take lessons from history. A history that tells us that Yemen was an Imamate for over 900 years, controlled by Zaydi Imams. The UN Security Council chose to allow the blockade and bombardment of Yemen because it meant that the Bel el-Mandeb strait and the Red Sea would be secure. Securing the Bel el-Mandeb strait and the Red Sea, which leads to the Suez Canal, is more important to the UN Security Council and the GCC than bringing peace to Yemen; the international community is well aware of this, and so is the Arab world.
By Joziah Thayer - You can find me on Twitter @ Dapeaple and wedacoalition.org