Multiple episodes of violence: Houthis threaten Yemen’s fragile stability

Despite Yemen’s suffering in recent years, the past six months have been relatively peaceful, even with sporadic violence by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia, to inconvenience the Yemeni people and threaten their fragile peace and stability.

The National, an English-language newspaper, said that as a result of the commendable international diplomacy and local engagement that led to last April’s temporary ceasefire, which has since been extended twice in two-month intervals, the Yemeni people have managed to catch their breath, but the Houthi militia’s sporadic rings of violence have almost spoiled this fragile calm.

She added that it is hoped that the current calm will help alleviate the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the country and provide a space for diplomacy and negotiations between the two sides to reach a long-term ceasefire, under the supervision of international partners, that is “relatively peaceful” for Yemen. However, there is still unacceptable hardship, danger and uncertainty, and as recent days have shown, the situation may soon worsen if sufficient attention is not paid to the crisis.

Taming the Houthis will be the biggest challenge to moving forward. They are violent militias that follow an extremist ideology and are under the influence of Iran. The past few days have shown a number of incidents that reflect the multifaceted threat the Houthis still represent, even during the current relative calm.

In the past week, the militias have been met with global outrage and condemnation over a military parade in the port city of Hodeidah, with many considering the show of force a violation of the 2018 agreement to disarm the city, maritime mines, drones, anti-ship missiles and much more on display, and outright violence.