After the liberation of Aden and Shabwa, the disastrous
adventure of the Iran-backed Houthi rebels appears to have
reached a dead end. Forces loyal to President Abed Rabbo
Mansour Hadi took back full control of Aden last month and
have since driven the Houthis from the provinces of Lahj,
Dalea and Abyan.
In an attempt to copy the Iranian revolution model and the
Lebanese Hezbollah, the minority sectarian group — Houthis
— tried to seize power in a country of 24-million people.
They were supported in their misadventure by former
President Ali Abdullah Saleh after receiving shiploads of
arms and ammunition from Iran.
Although they claim to be fighting for a democratic corrupt-
free society, they had in fact betrayed the sacrifices of the
Yemeni people who took to the streets to oust President Ali
Abdullah Saleh from power. Saleh had ruled the country for
over 30 years.
Initially, the Yemeni people had succeeded in making some
gains. Saleh was forced to hand over power to the
democratically elected government of Abed Rabbo Mansour
Hadi.
After surviving a bid on his life, Saleh came to Saudi Arabia
to receive treatment from injuries he had sustained in the
assassination attempt. In public, Saleh announced his
backing for a GCC and UN plan to settle the political dispute,
but in secret he was actually conspiring along with the
Houthis and even with Al-Qaeda terrorists to foil this plan.
This conspiracy has been documented by a former Al-
Qaeda activist in an interview as well as by a telephone
conversation with Houthi leaders. The interview and the
telephone conversation were broadcast by Al-Jazeera.
Eventually, the Houthis with the help of armed forces loyal
to Saleh succeeded in taking over the Yemeni capital Sanaa
and putting President Hadi and his ministers under house
arrest.
Believing that they were in full command, they started to
appoint ministers and even signed agreements with the
Iranian government that had openly backed their coup.
However, Hadi and his Prime Minister, Khaled Bahah,
managed to escape and eventually ended up in KSA.
Convinced that the UN Security Council and the international
community were unable to force the Houthis to implement
international resolutions, President Hadi asked the Kingdom
officially to help restore his legitimate government.
The Saudi leadership led by King Salman formed an Arab
coalition and launched Operation Decisive Storm. It was
even prepared to take on any country trying to meddle in the
affairs of Yemen. Iran, that was trying to foment trouble to
achieve its hegemonic designs, had sent some warships to
the Yemeni waters. During more than four months of
airstrikes against the Houthi and Saleh forces, the Kingdom
kept providing aid to the Yemeni people through its
humanitarian program. King Salman Center for Relief and
Humanitarian Aid has been sending tons of aids to Yemen.
This shows the sincerity of Saudi leadership to help the
people of Yemen. At the same time, Saudi Arabia provided
the illegal Yemenis staying in the Kingdom a good
opportunity to legalize their residency status.
The correction operation also included prisoners and those
with criminal records. According to correction procedures,
each Yemeni was issued a six-month renewable "visitor's
card" that allows its holder to work in the private sector.
More than 400,000 Yemenis have corrected their residency
status from all parts of the Kingdom till the first week of
August.
While carrying out air raids and fighting Houthi rebels the
Saudi leadership didn't close the door for any political
solution to the problem. It had agreed to a humanitarian
truce and peace talks. Unfortunately, things did not proceed
as anticipated because of the Houthis' stubbornness and
insistence on continuing the armed conflict.
In the meantime, the Iranian influence was contained in one
way or another following the deal with the US regarding
Tehran's nuclear project. To Houthis' surprise, popular
resistance against the group was growing in various parts of
the country. In fact, the Houthis and Saleh made a big
mistake by expanding their misadventure all over the
country without taking into account the difficult terrains and
diverse tribal loyalties. This also led to their failure.
Now, after the killing of over 4,000 civilians, chaos and
destruction, Houthis are retreating to their hideouts
following the shameful defeat. There are many lessons to
learn from Yemen. KSA can never accept presence of a
hostile regime in its neighborhood especially when the
regime poses a threat to its security. Iranian intervention in
Iraq was a different issue, but Tehran's intervention in
Yemen showed its hegemonic designs and deserved to be
stopped.
Also, it has been proved that a coalition led by Saudi Arabia
is much more capable of handling any threat posed to the
region by any rogue state than any such coalition formed by
international powers.
Source:arabnews
adventure of the Iran-backed Houthi rebels appears to have
reached a dead end. Forces loyal to President Abed Rabbo
Mansour Hadi took back full control of Aden last month and
have since driven the Houthis from the provinces of Lahj,
Dalea and Abyan.
In an attempt to copy the Iranian revolution model and the
Lebanese Hezbollah, the minority sectarian group — Houthis
— tried to seize power in a country of 24-million people.
They were supported in their misadventure by former
President Ali Abdullah Saleh after receiving shiploads of
arms and ammunition from Iran.
Although they claim to be fighting for a democratic corrupt-
free society, they had in fact betrayed the sacrifices of the
Yemeni people who took to the streets to oust President Ali
Abdullah Saleh from power. Saleh had ruled the country for
over 30 years.
Initially, the Yemeni people had succeeded in making some
gains. Saleh was forced to hand over power to the
democratically elected government of Abed Rabbo Mansour
Hadi.
After surviving a bid on his life, Saleh came to Saudi Arabia
to receive treatment from injuries he had sustained in the
assassination attempt. In public, Saleh announced his
backing for a GCC and UN plan to settle the political dispute,
but in secret he was actually conspiring along with the
Houthis and even with Al-Qaeda terrorists to foil this plan.
This conspiracy has been documented by a former Al-
Qaeda activist in an interview as well as by a telephone
conversation with Houthi leaders. The interview and the
telephone conversation were broadcast by Al-Jazeera.
Eventually, the Houthis with the help of armed forces loyal
to Saleh succeeded in taking over the Yemeni capital Sanaa
and putting President Hadi and his ministers under house
arrest.
Believing that they were in full command, they started to
appoint ministers and even signed agreements with the
Iranian government that had openly backed their coup.
However, Hadi and his Prime Minister, Khaled Bahah,
managed to escape and eventually ended up in KSA.
Convinced that the UN Security Council and the international
community were unable to force the Houthis to implement
international resolutions, President Hadi asked the Kingdom
officially to help restore his legitimate government.
The Saudi leadership led by King Salman formed an Arab
coalition and launched Operation Decisive Storm. It was
even prepared to take on any country trying to meddle in the
affairs of Yemen. Iran, that was trying to foment trouble to
achieve its hegemonic designs, had sent some warships to
the Yemeni waters. During more than four months of
airstrikes against the Houthi and Saleh forces, the Kingdom
kept providing aid to the Yemeni people through its
humanitarian program. King Salman Center for Relief and
Humanitarian Aid has been sending tons of aids to Yemen.
This shows the sincerity of Saudi leadership to help the
people of Yemen. At the same time, Saudi Arabia provided
the illegal Yemenis staying in the Kingdom a good
opportunity to legalize their residency status.
The correction operation also included prisoners and those
with criminal records. According to correction procedures,
each Yemeni was issued a six-month renewable "visitor's
card" that allows its holder to work in the private sector.
More than 400,000 Yemenis have corrected their residency
status from all parts of the Kingdom till the first week of
August.
While carrying out air raids and fighting Houthi rebels the
Saudi leadership didn't close the door for any political
solution to the problem. It had agreed to a humanitarian
truce and peace talks. Unfortunately, things did not proceed
as anticipated because of the Houthis' stubbornness and
insistence on continuing the armed conflict.
In the meantime, the Iranian influence was contained in one
way or another following the deal with the US regarding
Tehran's nuclear project. To Houthis' surprise, popular
resistance against the group was growing in various parts of
the country. In fact, the Houthis and Saleh made a big
mistake by expanding their misadventure all over the
country without taking into account the difficult terrains and
diverse tribal loyalties. This also led to their failure.
Now, after the killing of over 4,000 civilians, chaos and
destruction, Houthis are retreating to their hideouts
following the shameful defeat. There are many lessons to
learn from Yemen. KSA can never accept presence of a
hostile regime in its neighborhood especially when the
regime poses a threat to its security. Iranian intervention in
Iraq was a different issue, but Tehran's intervention in
Yemen showed its hegemonic designs and deserved to be
stopped.
Also, it has been proved that a coalition led by Saudi Arabia
is much more capable of handling any threat posed to the
region by any rogue state than any such coalition formed by
international powers.
Source:arabnews
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