Alongside condemnations of Israel, if Arab leaders, who are to hold a summit in Doha Monday, truly want to do something useful, they should also use the opportunity to address themselves to a fire burning in their own backyard: Yemen’s Houthi rebels, suggested Dan Perry in an opinion published by universul.net.
Perry added “For now, they are leaving the dirty work to Israel. It’s strike in Qatar appears to have failed (and indeed is looking like a reckless gamble) — but about two weeks ago, Israel carried out a far more successful and defensible strike at other enemies far away, assassinating half the “cabinet” of the Houthis”.
Yet what is most astonishing is not the reach of Israel’s military arm, but the fact that the Houthis seem completely unmoved. They have since staged about a dozen missile and drone attacks at Israel. Eventually Israel will be compelled to do more, like blockading or disabling the vital port of Hodeida, bringing more misery to the poorest Arab country. That may be the Houthi’s diabolical plan.
Perry thought that the Houthis have already brought Yemen to the brink. Since they seized the capitol Sana’a in the mid-2010s, their war, and the famine and disease it unleashed, is estimated to have killed almost a half million people. Millions hover near starvation, dependent on aid shipments the Houthis regularly plunder.
Today, the Houthis remain in firm control of northern Yemen, including Sanaa and key Red Sea ports, while the south is fragmented between UAE-backed separatists and the weak internationally recognized government.
Yemen as a whole is devastated: its economy shattered, infrastructure in ruins, and millions displaced. The war left the country fractured, impoverished, and dependent on humanitarian aid—an enduring reminder of the limits of external military intervention.
The Houthis may have bitten off more than they can chew, however, after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Beginning in mid-November, they significantly escalated attacks on hundreds of commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea corridor, including missile and drone strikes.
The world community has this information, and has done nothing as the stakes kept getting higher. It is time to focus minds.