An American analyst on al-Qaeda affairs: Washington's negative policy has strengthened the Houthi authority in Yemen
English - Sunday 25 December 2022 الساعة 06:25 pm
Aden, NewsYemen:
A prominent researcher at the American Enterprise Institute revealed that Yemen's issues have fallen off the map for most Americans, explaining that the negative policy of the United States with the Yemeni file gave the Houthi militia a chance to survive and strengthened their authority.
Researcher Kathryn Zimmerman, a senior research fellow at the Institute and an analyst on al-Qaeda and critical threats, explained that Yemen, located along the Bab al-Mandab, represents a strategic maritime choke point, and that the United States has an enduring interest in ensuring that developments within the country do not threaten maritime security or Gulf stability.
The researcher stated, in a report published by the American newspaper "The Hill", that the Houthi militia refused to implement its obligations in the recent UN armistice, in which Washington mediated to conclude it in April and was aborted last October.
Catherine Zimmerman indicated that there is a failure in the US Congress to discuss the file of the Yemeni crisis and it must be reviewed, explaining that the Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs of the US House of Representatives Committee and Countering Global Terrorism recently held a hearing on the situation in Yemen, considering it "an opportunity to raise The right questions about what the United States is doing to advance its interests in the region.
The researcher was surprised that Congress dropped a package of important questions that were supposed to be directed to the US envoy to Yemen, "Lenderking", and the director of the US Agency for International Development, "Sarah Charles".
And she stressed that turning a blind eye by the United States to aborting the armistice gave the Houthis the opportunity to further consolidate their authority, and contributed significantly to increasing their threat to international shipping lanes.
Zimmerman said: "The recent UN armistice only provided time for the Houthis to consolidate their authority," adding: "The Houthis benefited from the armistice to extract concessions from the other side, while they did not implement the conditions they agreed to."
She added, "Yemen, in relation to US foreign policy, no longer tops the list of crises affecting US national security, and it rarely gets time in Congress." Therefore, it believes that "the conflict in Yemen is complex, and it is rarely covered by newspapers and international news sites, which makes it difficult to follow it, and even difficult to evaluate the administration's messages regarding the conflict."
The researcher at the American Enterprise Institute confirmed that the Yemenis want an end to the conflict. However, the balance of power on the ground is in the interest of the Houthis, whose interests differ from those of the United States in Yemen, especially on Iranian influence in Yemen and the protection of basic civil liberties.
The Houthis are still empowered in Yemen, which allows them to make extreme demands,” says Zimmerman. “Even if Iran stops supplying weapons to the Houthis - and there are no indications of that happening - the Houthis have a massive stockpile. Iran continued to supply them during the six-month truce period. months, ensuring that they will continue their fight.
The American researcher confirmed that the Houthis' emboldenedness has increased through messages from Congress against Saudi Arabia and conflicting signals from the international community that call on them to back down from their current positions, but criticize any resumption of fighting that might weaken the Houthis. Stressing that the impact of US sanctions was as small as the Houthis' public warnings to make the necessary concessions for the sake of peace
Zimmerman believes that the Houthis seized an opportunity to accelerate their efforts to "convert Yemenis into an extremist ideological community after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan," adding: "They have already made significant changes to the education system in Yemen to indoctrinate children with extremist ideology instead of teaching them." In the past, the Houthis took measures to ban women from public spaces, not only dimming prospects for the future of Yemeni women, but also obstructing female NGO employees from doing their jobs.
The American researcher pointed out that "the United States has been the largest single donor to Yemen for years, and has provided emergency humanitarian relief." But one of the most important long-term threats to Yemenis is the weakness of government infrastructure and the institutions necessary to provide basic services such as clean water and health care, which are near collapse.
