The War in Yemen is Approaching Its End
Oman-mediated peace talks are underway between the Houthis and the Saudis to finally bring an end to the eight-year-long catastrophe in Yemen.
The eight-year-long war in Yemen could very well come to an end soon. Reuters reported on Friday that “Saudi and Omani envoys are planning to visit Yemen's capital Sanaa” in the coming days with the purpose of negotiating “a permanent ceasefire deal with Iran-aligned Houthi officials and end an eight-year-old conflict there, two people involved in the talks said.”
If an agreement is reached to permanently end the Saudi-led war in Yemen, the deal would mark a historic shift toward stability in the war-ravaged Arab nation and, in a broader sense, the Middle East at large. For the past eight years, the Yemeni people have been subjected to a devastating war waged by the American-supported Saudi coalition against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, suffering immensely due to widespread hunger, water shortages, disease, and malnutrition.
Thanks to the Beijing-brokered rapprochement between Riyadh and Tehran in early March, the prospect of possible peace in Yemen has risen dramatically. Now, we are beginning to witness the chain reactions resulting from the dialogue between the two rivaling powers as the two warring sides in the Yemeni war are embracing communication.
On Saturday, delegations from Oman and Saudi Arabia arrived in the capital city of Sanaa to officially hold cease-fire talks with Houthi officials “as Riyadh seeks a permanent ceasefire to end its military involvement in the country's long-running war.” In Oman-mediated talks, the head of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, Mahdi al-Mashat, met with Omani and Saudi envoys to iron out potential solutions to end the conflict.
High on the agenda of the Yemen peace consultations are the lifting of Saudi Arabia’s naval and air blockade, reopening the Sanaa airport, payment of wages to public servants, restoring relations, and a timetable for foreign forces to leave the country. Additionally, the deliberations are centered on reopening Yemen’s major ports, which is paramount to restarting the economic engine and delivering critical needs to the population.
Despite promising to end American support for the Saudi-led war on Yemen before and after he inherited the White House, President Joe Biden has produced no discernible efforts towards enacting a peaceful resolution to end the war. “This war has to end,” Biden proclaimed in his February 2021 speech. Concurrently, the war in Yemen appears to be approaching its final stages, not because of any American effort but more so because of Beijing’s increasing role in fostering diplomacy across the Middle East.
As China solidifies its role on the world stage as a peacemaker, the Biden administration continues unremittingly to sustain America’s decades-long foreign policy of provocation, subjugation, and advancing the empire, at a palpable cost to its citizenry and the world. The open hostility displayed against peace by the Biden White House has not changed.
In the weeks following the historic reestablishment of relations with regard to Saudi Arabia and Iran, Biden dispatched current CIA Director William Burns on a trip to the Kingdom to express “frustration” with the Saudis about the deal, claiming that Washington was “blindsided.”
The Wall Street Journal reported on April 6:
In an unannounced visit to Saudi Arabia earlier this week, CIA Director William Burns expressed frustration with the Saudis, according to people familiar with the matter. He told Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that the U.S. has felt blindsided by Riyadh’s rapprochement with Iran and Syria—countries that remain heavily sanctioned by the West—under the auspices of Washington’s global rivals.
American foreign policy is unraveling at an increasing speed. Relations with the Saudi Kingdom are slowly deteriorating. Washington’s proxy war against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was an abject failure, as Damascus’ regional isolation is disintegrating as surrounding nations are reconstructing ties with Assad. Now with Yemen, the Biden team passed up on a golden opportunity to push for peace. As a result of these failures, America’s standing on the global stage is shattering by the second.
March 25 marked the eighth anniversary since the war in Yemen commenced. At least 377,000 people have perished in the war, with tens of thousands of infants and children dying from starvation or from other preventable causes. In truth, there are no American interests involved in continuing to support this brutal war, which is one of the most horrific conflicts in recent memory.
The Houthis are not enemies of the American people, nor do they pose a threat to national security. Ultimately, it was never essential to stand behind the Saudis as they launched this barbaric war, no matter what the interventionist hawk might say. Thankfully, the war in Yemen looks like it’s coming to an end, absent any provocative actions from the parties involved.
You would think the U.S. might learn lessons from their disastrous foreign policies, but I’m not holding my breath!