‘Soft Language Does Not Work’ – Criticism of International Inaction on Houthi Terrorism
Yemeni experts say the international community has the tools and the pressure to end the war and Houthi threats against peace in the country and the region.
The experts criticized what they called the “soft language of the international community, which shows double standards towards Houthi militias that undermine the peace of Yemen and the region”, in separate comments, in response to the statement of the Security Council and the US envoy to Yemen.
The UN Security Council expressed “disappointment” that the deadline for extending the truce in Yemen had expired for six months, stressing that “the excessive demands of the Houthi militias during the last days of the negotiations have hampered the UN’s efforts to extend the truce”.
Three days after the UN truce in Yemen ended without renewal, US envoy to Yemen Tim Linderking launched an attack on Houthi militias, saying they posed impossible demands.
The US envoy said on Wednesday that Houthi militias should show more flexibility, stressing that “all channels are still open, which is important at this sensitive time for Yemen.”
“The leadership council is biased towards peace and is ready for war,” said Brig. Gen. Tareq Saleh, deputy chairman of the Presidential Council. “All the issues of discussion are the result of the Houthi wars and Iran’s agenda, and we support any effort to overcome their consequences.”
“Restoring national sovereignty and the country’s constitutional institutions, enforcing the law, protecting people’s freedoms, rights and wealth, including salaries, and releasing prisoners and detainees are our issues, with or without truce,” Saleh said in a tweet.
There is no legitimacy to terrorism
Fahd Taleb al-Sharafi, advisor to the Yemeni Minister of Information, criticized the UN’s portrayal of Yemen as having saved the country from the “truce”, saying it should be extended and that it is too dangerous not to extend it before its expiration.
However, according to the Yemeni official, “it has not been extended due to the Houthi’s rude, provocative and catastrophic conditions, yet things remain the same.”
“No party or body, no matter how legitimate and legitimate it may be, can agree to any procedure or arrangement that would lead to any form of legitimization for the Houthi terrorist militia,” he said.
Any concession that is made under the pretext of peace is based on the sustainability of war, injustice and conflict,” he said. “Houthi terrorism has no legitimacy.
Soft treatment
The Houthis would not have been intransigent and would not have ignored all the efforts made by the international community without soft language, said Brig. Gen. Thabet Hussein Saleh, deputy head of the National Center for Strategic Studies.
He said that the Security Council and the permanent members did not exert serious and real pressure on the Houthi militias to agree to the extension of the truce and to activate the appropriate mechanisms.
“It is true that the intransigence of the Houthi militias is not in its interest, nor is it in the interest of security and stability in the region,” he said. “However, the international community is supposed to exert pressure mechanisms, and this language to the Security Council and the statements of the US envoy are not enough and futile.”
He stressed that “decisions, binding and pressing actions and the threat of the use of force against the party that will not succeed in peace and truce must be taken.”
Saleh believes that “the UN envoy still has a glimmer of hope that the Houthis will agree, even later, to an extension of the truce, but the decision of the Houthi militias is not in their hands, but in Iran’s hands.”
The strategic military expert testified to the video meeting between the envoy and one of Khamenei’s advisors, and considered it conclusive evidence that the decision of the Houthi militias is in Tehran and not in Sana’a, as is rumored by the leaders of the coup, looting and crime.
Houthi vs. the international community
The leader Nasseri Mujeeb al-Maqtari said the UN Security Council statement and the US State Department’s position reflect the international position rejecting the intransigence of the Houthi militias to extend the truce. The EU and China also shared the same position.
Al-Maqtari said that “Houthi militias have positioned themselves in the face of the international community by adopting impossible demands and raising the ceiling of their threats to the level of militarily making their confrontation the only way to force them to submit to peace.”
“Houthi militias put forward conditions wrapped in humanitarian slogans to extend the truce, and also issued terrorist threats targeting oil interests and shipping lines,” he said. “This compels the international community to treat these militias as a terrorist group that threatens international interests in the region.”
“The previous lax international stance encouraged militias to issue threats targeting oil shipments and international interests, which calls for taking deterrent measures to break the arrogance of the militias and forcing them to deal with international moves to reach peace in good faith,” he said.
Al-Maqtari described Houthi threats and the refusal of militias to extend the truce and issue threats to international interests as a terrorist position that requires the international community to deal with Houthi militias, as happened with ISIS in Iraq, by forming an alliance to protect international interests in the region from Houthi terrorism.
