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The U.S. came to the aid of the United Arab Emirates during a ballistic missile attack on Abu Dhabi by Houthi fighters seeking revenge after recent gains by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.
The two missiles were intercepted by the U.S.’s Patriot missile system in the early morning hours last Monday and was seen as a significant escalation in the conflict.
Brett McGurk, the U.S. National Security Council’s coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, placed the blame squarely on Houthi fighters who he claims are unwilling to negotiate a ceasefire.
“Over the last year, the Saudis have supported UN initiatives… to wind down the war,” McGurk said, according to Defense One. “The Houthis have answered those initiatives by launching a massive offensive inside Yemen. It takes two to get to a ceasefire and end the war and right now the onus is on the Houthis.”
TRENDPOST: Why should the Houthis negotiate a ceasefire when they’re winning a war that was launched against them by Saudi Arabia?
We reported last week that the Houthis have been on a roll and have reclaimed land lost in earlier conflicts. Those gains are seen to dissuade the Houthis from having an interest in negotiating.
Some social media users took to Twitter to post videos of the missiles being intercepted by the Patriot system. The Houthis have promised revenge for recent U.A.E./Saudi massacres and warned the Emirates will “no longer be safe for investments.”
Video clips showed the rockets intercepted by a battery of the anti-projectile defenses. Those who posted the video face legal problems for sharing the interception on these platforms.
Abu Dhabi said these clips “endanger vital and military installations, and can impact the security and stability of society.”
The threat came after the Saudis and U.A.E. conducted bombings that left dozens killed in Yemen, including a prison, where 82 people were killed.
The Economist pointed out that missile attacks on Saudi Arabia have become a weekly occurrence, but the recent increase in strikes against the U.A.E. is a clear escalation by the Houthis.
The magazine said Abu Dhabi finds itself in a precarious position: it can decide to back off the conflict and allow the Houthis to take control of important cities, or risk more attacks that “could inflict real damage on its economy.”
Abu Dhabi has made an effort to portray stability in the region.
The report said there are thousands of U.S. troops at al-Dhafra, an airbase near Abu Dhabi, and the Houthis’ missiles cannot inflict serious damage due to the U.A.E. air defenses.
The war has destabilized the region and shows no signs of easing. As we have reported, the U.A.E. pulled most of its troops out of Yemen in 2019 but the Saudis and other members of the coalition were unable to keep the Houthis at bay, especially in the oil-and gas-rich Marib province.
Abu Dhabi sent its Giants Brigades back into Yemen on 15 November and the militia immediately made gains against the Houthis.
The Agence France-Presse reported that the militia is set to be pulled out of the country after delivering a series of defeats to the Houthis in Shabwa Province. But the Houthis tried to make up for losses on the ground by seizing a U.A.E.-flagged ship on 3 January and staging a deadly airstrike on Abu Dhabi two weeks later.
The deadly attack prompted the country to call on the Biden administration to re-blacklist the Houthis. President Biden told a news conference that the proposal is under consideration.
Biden was credited for removing the Houthis from the “terror” list after the Trump administration, but now seems to be reneging on the idea.
Iman Saleh, the general coordinator of the Yemeni Liberation Movement, told Al Jazeera that reapplying the Houthis to the list would “starve millions of Yemenis and he [Biden] knows that.”
“A designation would make him no different from Trump,” he said.
Protests broke out across Iran to voice solidarity with the people of Yemen. One person posted on Twitter, “There are more headlines about Joe Biden’s new cat than his support for a genocidal war in Yemen.”
TRENDPOST: Yemen’s civil war started in 2014, when the Houthis, who were ruling large sections of Yemen for over 1,000 years, overthrew the unelected president put in control by the Saudis. The Houthis eventually took control of Sana’a, and then seized the presidential palace.
The Saudi-backed coalition is concerned that Houthi rule in Yemen would mean rival Iran would gain a foothold at the border with Saudi Arabia.
The war, the worst humanitarian crisis on earth, has been dragging on for seven years and has been blamed for 150,000 deaths and displacing millions. (See “SAUDI-LED YEMEN SLAUGHTER ESCALATES,” “MURDEROUS YEMEN WAR: MILLIONS IN PERIL. WHO CARES?” and “YEMEN CRISIS WORSENS. IT’S NO NEWS.”)
TREND FORECAST: The Trends Journal has reported extensively on the humanitarian crisis in Yemen that is playing out due to Saudi Arabia’s attack on the nation.
Thus, we maintain our forecast that the Saudi/U.S. alliance will not defeat the Houthis, and the war will rage on, killing tens of thousands of innocent people while inflicting devastating and deadly hardship across the nation.
The war will continue to be ignored by the mainstream media and the vast majority of the world will be ignorant to the human suffering the United States and Saudi Arabia have inflicted upon the nation.
So what is the U.S. going to do now that the Houthis are gaining ground in the conflict?
According to Anti-War.com:
“Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar has leaked details from a document on talks between Saudi officials and the US special envoy on their respective intentions in the Yemen War.
As the U.S. understands it, the Saudis are very keen to end the Yemen War and leave ‘with dignity.’ They are envisioning a step toward a transitional government in Yemen.”
However, they note U.S. Special Envoy Timothy Lenderking made it clear that Washington, which has sold billions of dollars of weapon to the Saudis and its allies to fight the Yemen war, is not ready for peace, saying there is “the necessity of not leaving Yemen completely,” and that they want the Saudis to remain involved in Yemen’s government.
As for the Houthis in power, Anti-War.com notes, “The tragedy of such an end is that it could’ve avoided the war entirely, as all the Houthis ever wanted was a move toward free elections and a new government, and it was only the insistence to try to keep President Hadi in power beyond his term in office, which ended 8 years ago, that led to the Saudi-led invasion.”
War and Misery
The United Nations said January will “almost certainly” be the bloodiest month for civilians in Yemen since the seven-year war started.
Hans Grundberg, the UN special envoy for the country, and David Gressley, the world body’s humanitarian coordinator, blamed U.A.E. missile attacks on hospitals, telecommunication infrastructure, airports, and a school, Al Jazeera reported.
Eight million Yemenis have received reduced assistance from food agencies since the beginning of January, they said. Doctors Without Borders verified their claims and said frontline workers have been more active than ever.
“This year we thought the situation would be calmer, that there would be negotiations, and the Yemenis would be spared more agony. Instead, we have seen an escalation.”
The Al Jazeera report, citing the World Food Programme, reported that more than five million people in the country are on the brink of famine, and 50,000 were already living in famine-like conditions.
Human-rights groups have urged the Biden administration not to label the Houthis a “terrorist” group because it could further complicate the effort to get humanitarian aid to civilians. President Biden revoked the “terrorist” label in the early weeks of his presidency, but now says he is considering reapplying the label.
“It’s extremely disappointing that the Biden administration is considering this position when they know very well the humanitarian impact it would have,” Scott Paul, senior manager of humanitarian policy at Oxfam America, told Al Jazeera. “A year ago, the administration heeded our warnings—and nothing has changed since then to improve the outlook for what these designations would mean.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog was welcomed by Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Sunday in Abu Dhabi.
“This visit is an expression … of the vision and dream of peace and the spirit of peace, which we bring to the entire region. We are two successful nations who started with very little in our hands, developed our lands into a successful paradise and in many ways set an example to the world of how to lead and develop a nation with a vision of the future,” Herzog said.