The forgotten front from Murais to Yarim.. The shortest path of decisiveness in the north against the Houthis
English - Saturday 29 October 2022 الساعة 09:57 am
Al-Dhalea, NewsYemen, Special:
With the Houthi group continuing to obstruct international efforts to extend the UN truce as a blackmail card to impose its conditions, memories go back to the events that the war has gone through in Yemen since its inception 7 years ago, and how legitimacy under Hadi managed the battle badly, which prevented a military resolution against the group on the ground and it has remained to this day.
A decisive decision was within reach due to the availability of all conditions and capabilities during the first years of the war and at the lowest costs, after the southern resistance managed to succeed in that in the first year, and liberated the governorates of Al-Dhalea, Lahj, Aden, Abyan, and later Shabwa, which added an important starting base for the battles to liberate the north and across more than one front.
The most important of these fronts - and perhaps the easiest - was in the north of Al-Dhalea, specifically its northern directorates, starting from the Murais front in Qataba to the fronts of Hamak and the Oud Mountains on the Ibb borders, which represented the fiercest fronts in the face of the Houthi militia and were unable to overthrow it, and the situation was reinforced with the outbreak of the resistance inside the city of Damt, north of Qataba District, in late 2015.
Although Iran’s arm was able to resolve the battle in Damt, it reflected the fact that the popular incubator for it was absent there, which is the most important advantage of the northern Al-Dhalea fronts in the ease of achieving a military victory at the expense of the Houthis if they had support and rearranged and organized their ranks whenever there were intentions and leadership.
The heavy losses incurred by the militias in the battle of Damt reminded me of the battle that took place in the neighboring Al Radma district of Ibb governorate in late 2014, between the tribes of the district and the Houthis, and was renewed with the outbreak of the Decisive Storm the following year, battles that inflicted humiliating defeats on the militias, with the tribes' personal weapons and without any support from the coalition or legitimacy.
Also, a bloody battle in which the resistance elements withdrew from some directorates of the neighboring Ibb governorate, led by Baadan, after confronting the Houthi militia with their personal weapons, which highlights the weakness of the popular incubator for the militias in this governorate, which was reinforced by what its directorates witnessed with the outbreak of fighting between Houthi militias and supporters of former President Ali Saleh in late 2017, in Sana'a, where most of the governorate's directorates were declared liberated from Houthi elements.
Incidents and facts that show the importance of the forgotten front from the map of attention since the beginning of the war, and the size of the conditions created to inflict a military defeat on the Houthi militia at the lowest cost in the event of the ability to employ all this legacy of popular and societal rejection of the presence of the Houthi and his militias, to restore the scenes of 2014, 2015 and until late 2017.
Achieving this would represent a strategic victory with the realities of geography. Reaching Al-Radmah means opening the shortest path towards the city of Radaa, the heart of the strategic Al-Bayda governorate, with its tribes and sons who strongly reject Al-Houthi, with the liberation of Jubban District, the largest district of Al Dhalea without a fight.
Also, reaching Al-Radmah and its aftermath, with the matter being repeated in the rest of the districts of Ibb, as happened in late 2017, means that the battle is now on the walls of Dhamar Governorate, and this means that the situation in Taiz will be resolved without a significant cost.
A scene that some may see as closer to rosy dreams or a call to war and to bury peace efforts in Yemen and prolong their suffering, but in fact it is closer to the possible and the only way to force the Houthi group to peace by breaking it militarily on the ground.
