The Houthis have fulfilled the prerequisites of terrorism

The recent desperate actions of the Houthi militias failed to affect the security and stability of the UAE and, contrarywise, they demonstrated the UAE Armed Forces’ readiness for action, its distinguished defensive capabilities, and its armament which is considered among the best in the region. These factors together are capable of transforming the terrorist attempts of the Houthis to entirely ineffective faulty propagandic farces. This Emirati position is not new, as Abu Dhabi has often proven its military superiority and readiness for action.

The confused aimlessness of the Houthis asserts that they are losing ground control following the military shift accomplished by the southern Yemeni Al Amaliqah brigades, as they managed to erase the dream of the Houthis – who were exploiting power supplies – to exchange interests with the Muslim Brotherhood in Shabwah, whereas the Maarib Governorate was the bargaining chip displayed by the Houthis and their supporters during negotiations. Altogether, Al Amaliqah brigades managed thus far to liberate some 2,255 sq km, particularly following the expulsion of the Houthis from the Shabwah Governorate, the arrival at the Houthi strategic depth in the south of Maarib, and the liberation of Huraib District up till the outskirts of the first towns Al Abdiyah District. Accordingly, these accomplishments led to relieving more than one million internally displaced people in Maarib from Houthi danger.

The Houthis have excelled in fulfilling all the prerequisites of terrorism, be it through their intrinsic abhorrence of all manifestations of vividness and construction, or their adoption of the culture of hatred. This was shown by the thousands of mines they planted throughout the cities they were later expelled from, and at a particular instance Al Utayr charity hospital had to be shut down because it was encircled by Houthi mines. In the same vein, the Houthis have been exploding bridges and roads, in an attempt to hinder the advancing Amaliqah brigades, and they targeted civilian neighborhoods in Maarib. Reports indicate that some 1028 children were killed by Houthi ballistic missiles since 2014. Even houses of worship were not spared from Houthi aggression, and the latest such incident was when they shelled the Abdullah bin Masoud Mosque in Usaylan, killing or wounding nine people, in flagrant violation of the sanctity of the houses of God.

Meanwhile, the Houthis are still using Al Hudaydah Seaport in launching rigged boats that target cargo ships in the Red Sea. In fact, the Houthis must be stopped from exploiting the Stockholm agreement through their usage of that seaport for shipping armaments, in a flagrant breach of international agreements.

Thus, the US administration is in no need of further evidence to reenlist the Houthis as a terrorist organization, for such evidence is already abundant. Meanwhile, we can understand the motivations behind the decision by the administration of US President Joe Biden to remove the Houthis from the list of terrorist organizations, which was made one week after President Biden was sworn in. The first motivation, or rather, pretext, was the need to provide humanitarian aid to people devastated by the war, but the second motivation – which is the genuine one – was to spite former President Donald Trump and his legacy. However, the result of that decision was a surge in the terrorist attacks launched by the Houthis, and the latter making better use of the security vacuum in developing their military training and armament.

Hence, reenlisting the Houthis among the terrorist organizations has become an urgent security-related and humanitarian necessity, as doing it will put an end to the suffering of the Yemeni people, and the need for the Biden administration to review its strategically erroneous decision regarding the Houthis is now an utmost priority. It remains for us to wonder whether Washington would retract from that decision it took on 16 February 2021, or not!

Finally, the recent visit by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa to Abu Dhabi has reiterated the solidarity of the Bahraini government and people with the UAE in confronting all kinds of threats to our joint security, as the historical and brotherly relationship that binds both nations makes our destinies identical, so that the security of Manamah equals the security of Abu Dhabi.

This article was published in and translated from the Emirati outlet al-Ittihad

Read more:

The US and the dilemma of ‘Houthi terrorism’

An international coalition against the terrorism of Houthis is a must

Yemen: Taking stock of Arab-American relations