Four years of hell: to crush Yemen’s independence, US-Saudi war created world’s worst humanitarian crisis
On
the fourth anniversary of the US-Saudi war on Yemen, the Middle
East’s poorest nation suffers from the worst humanitarian
catastrophe on Earth. But the Houthi movement — and Yemeni people —
remain unbroken.
by
Ben Norton
Part
4 - Failed attempt to crush Yemeni uprising
Beyond
the stomach churning statistics, there is a key question: Why have
the US, UK, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE spent the past four years
waging such a cruel war on the poorest country in the Middle East?
This
question is almost never asked, yet alone answered, in corporate
media. When they have rarely reported on Yemen, corporate media have
endlessly repeated the myth that war is an “Iran-Saudi proxy war”
or a “Sunni-Shia conflict.” This is a false narrative designed to
obscure the real motives behind the assault.
To
understand the war on Yemen, historical and political context is
crucial.
This war
was conceived to prevent Yemen from ever enjoying the capacity to
rebel, wage a revolution, or govern itself as an independent state.
Yemeni nationalists have tried for decades to forge a path
independent of the US and Saudi Arabia, and have been ruthlessly
punished for it.
Since
the overthrow of the Soviet Union and the unification of North and
South Yemen in 1990, the country has increasingly come under the
control of Washington and its allies.
With the
collapse of South Yemen’s Soviet-aligned socialist government and
the move toward pro-American neoliberalism by North Yemen’s
nationalist government, Saudi influence began to spread throughout
the country.
With
increased Saudi investment in the country came Wahhabi doctrine. As
Yemen fell under Saudi domination, right-wing sectarian Islamism
spread in the south of the country.
In the
north, a grassroots movement emerged in the community of mostly Zaidi
Muslims, who are often described as Shia but share more in common
with mainstream Sunni Islam. The Houthi movement was formed, to
resist Saudi influence and Wahhabism.
As the
Houthi movement began fighting against Yemen’s US-backed,
Saudi-allied central government, it became increasingly political.
The Houthis, who refer to themselves as Ansar Allah, preached against
oppression and corruption. Eventually they developed a pronounced
anti-imperialist ideology, vociferously condemning the US war on Iraq
and Israeli war on Lebanon, even adopting the slogan “Death to
America, Death to Israel.”
As Ansar
Allah grew stronger and began to take over more territory, it formed
a coalition with Yemeni nationalists loyal to the former President
Ali Abdullah Saleh. Both of these forces opposed the regime of
President Abd-Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a corrupt autocrat with no
democratic legitimacy, whom they referred to as a Saudi puppet (a
designation Hadi later confirmed when he fled to Riyadh, where he has
remained for nearly all of the war).
By late
2014, Ansar Allah and the nationalists captured Yemen’s capital,
Sanaa, seizing control of the state and carrying out what they
described as the September 21 Revolution.
This
is what so terrified the Saudi monarchy and its protectors in Western
capitals: A revolt against a faithful US-Saudi puppet, led by an
anti-imperialist political force that chants “Death to America,
Death to Israel” — along with the prospects of an independent
state in a strategically important area in the Arabian peninsula,
near important trade routes on the Red Sea through which flow 4.8
million barrels of oil per day.
Riyadh
launched its bombing campaign on March 26, 2015 with the express
intention of reversing the September 21 Revolution, ousting Ansar
Allah, and reasserting control over Yemen.
Because
the Houthi movement has politically expressed support for Iran,
Syria, Lebanese Hezbollah, and Palestinian resistance groups, along
with other anti-imperialist states like Venezuela and Cuba, Western
governments and corporate media have portrayed it as a cat’s paw
for foreign interests, a “proxy of Iran.” But this misleading
myth is used to obscure how Ansar Allah and its allies are organic
political forces that developed in the grassroots of Yemeni society
to resist foreign domination.
In a
way, the fact that the Houthi movement still governs northern Yemen,
including the most populated areas of the country, is a sign that the
US-Saudi war has failed.
When
they announced their military intervention, Saudi officials said
confidently that it would be over within a few weeks, that Ansar
Allah would quickly surrender.
After
four years, there is still no end in sight to the war. Several past
attempts at peace talks have failed, largely because the US, UK,
Saudi Arabia, and UAE will not tolerate an independent government
allied with Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah.
In
December 2018 there was a slight breakthrough, with the signing of
the Stockholm agreement. But these provisions only delivered a
partial ceasefire, and deadlines for the accord have already been
missed — while US-Saudi airstrikes have continued, relentlessly.
The war
has slowed in 2019, but it is far from over. And the suffering of the
Yemeni people has shown no sign of abating.
Despite
the enormous international onslaught, hundreds of thousands of
deaths, widespread famine-like conditions, hundreds of billions of
dollars wasted on war — despite all of this, the US-UK-Saudi-UAE
coalition has been unable to crush the will of the Yemeni people, who
continue to fight for independence and sovereignty.
***
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