As the Israel Defense Forces called on people to evacuate Sana’a International Airport, a report at Al-Ain media says that people in Yemen are lamenting the Houthis’ reckless attacks on Israel.
The report, published on May 6, is titled “Yemenis groan over the Houthis’ reckless adventures and Israeli bombing,” and says that Yemen is suffering heavy losses as a result of the Houthi “reckless adventures, which have prompted Israeli strikes that have destroyed the country’s most vital facilities.”
This is an important article. The UAE has opposed the Houthis and was part of the Saudi-led coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015. Although the Saudis and UAE did not always agree on Yemen policy, they both opposed the Houthis and backed groups opposed to the Houthis.
Yemen has an official, internationally recognized government. The Houthis are a rebel group that controls the mountainous area north of Aden. People in Yemen suffer under the Houthi yoke.
The point of the piece at Al-Ain is to show there is an alternative to the Houthis. The report says that the recent Israeli strikes on May 5 “targeted the Hodeidah port docks, putting it out of service, and destroyed the Bajil cement factory and fuel tanks, did not directly impact the Houthi militias. Instead, the cost was paid by more than 5,000 workers and employees at the two facilities, who are now threatened with unemployment after losing their jobs.”
The report notes that Israel acted after the Houthis targeted Ben-Gurion International Airport. “According to sources at the port of Hodeidah, the Israeli airstrikes targeted container and cargo docks, with Dock 5 completely damaged, while the remaining docks were partially damaged, putting the port out of service,” the report says.
“Observers and analysts believe that the Yemeni people are the losers in the conflict between the Houthi militias and Israel, which has resorted to bombing service facilities that the Houthis exploit in both civilian and military terms,” the report added. “In contrast, analysts considered the Houthis’ bombing of Israeli targets an ‘adventurism without a political dimension,’ given their disregard for any consequences of Israeli retaliation against Yemeni civilians and the country’s infrastructure.”
Gulf countries are speaking on Houthis as continued attacks risk their regional interests
This shows that policymakers in the Gulf are beginning to speak more openly about the Houthi threat. The fact is that the Houthis were able to fight the Saudis to a standstill between 2015 and 2022. This led to a ceasefire. The Houthis have also threatened the UAE. However, many Gulf states prefer calm and stability. There is more to this than just the Houthis.
The UAE also has interests in Sudan and the civil war there. The UAE is also keenly interested in developments in Somaliland and the Horn of Africa. Therefore, the Houthis destabilizing attacks on ships in the Red Sea and the Houthi attacks are harming the region. Clearly, many would prefer to see the Houthis weakened or removed.
Al-Ain quotes a Yemeni political analyst named Abdul Karim Al-Madi, who stated that “the Houthi militias are merely exploiting the Palestinian cause.” He believes that the “militias will bring destruction and devastation to Yemen through adventures devoid of a political dimension.”
The report goes on to say that the Houthis “don’t care how many facilities America and Israel have destroyed or blown up, nor how many citizens have fallen victim to his foolishness, through which [the Houthi leader] seeks to turn the country and its resources into rubble, displace the people, and transform its resources into a target bank for Israel and others.”
In fact the analyst believes that “the Israeli bombing provides life [succor] for the Houthi militias, as the group’s established policy is that it cannot survive without wars, and whenever the results are devastating, the militias become optimistic and prepare for future destruction and successive wars.”
In fact, this analysis could also apply to the role Hamas plays. Hamas and other Iranian-backed groups all bring ruin to their countries. Now things may be shifting in Yemen.
The report says that “the Israeli response to the Houthi militias comes at a time when there is talk within Yemen of a ground offensive to liberate the country from the grip of these Iranian-backed militias.” The report goes on to predict that Israel will expand its campaign in Yemen. “Fire will rage across large swathes of Yemen…[Israel may] expand its target bank to include targeting Houthi leaders and the economic infrastructure of the Iranian-backed militias.” The reports about the airport evacuation on May 6 appear to confirm this report.
A second analyst noted that the Houthis are “exploiting the war with Israel as a pretext to silence dissenting voices in the rebel-held areas of northern Yemen.”
Yemen’s official government sees the bombing of Hodeidah and the cement factory as “a new tragedy adding to the series of disasters brought by the Houthi militias to Yemen and the Yemenis, and one that cannot be separated from the series of military and hostile adventures they have carried out in the Red Sea and beyond.”
This may be a turning point as the voices in Yemen may be rising against the Houthis.
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