Following failure to form an international coalition and also airstrikes on Ansarullah positions to deter the movement’s missile attacks on the Israeli ships in the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, Washington has resorted to its last trick, terrorism, in hope of gains.
To this end, the White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Wednesday night announced that Washington added Ansarullah to its so-called terror blacklist. He claimed that by this blacklisting, the White House wants to force the movement to separate ways from Iran as a backer of Palestinians that are being massacred in Gaza by Israeli regime.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the US re-blacklisted Ansarullah and this decision will go into effect within 30 days. Without referring to the positions of the leaders of Ansarullah, who have announced that in support of the oppressed people of Palestine they will only block the navigation of Israeli-bound ships and other ships can freely pass the strait, Blinken said that Ansarullah have carried out “unprecedented attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea and surrounding waters that have caused shipping disruptions.”
In recent months, the US has repeatedly claimed that Ansarullah is a serious threat to international peace and security and has asked the world to confront the missile operations of this movement in the Red Sea. However, the efforts of the White House to form an international force under name of ‘Guardian of Prosperity’ have failed due to the lack of approval by other countries, and at the end of the road , it, along with England, launched unilateral attacks against Sana’a.
The White House’s decision regarding Ansarullah is not new. Later in 2020, President Donald Trump’s administration blacklisted Ansarullah. At the time, many relief agencies in Yemen asked Washington to retract its decision. After assuming the power in January 2021, however, Biden revoked the decision, and State Department spokesman Ned Price told journalists that Biden administration made the move to ease the humanitarian consequences of blacklisting Ansarullah, a revolutionary actor holding the capital and the north.
At the time, due to the war the Saudi-led Arab coalition waged against Yemen, the humanitarian situation was tragic and rights organizations were calling for end of war and sea blockade to facilitate aid delivery. But since the Ansarullah-led National Salvation Government (NSG) was in power in Sana’a and this movement was on the US terror list, it was impossible to send aids.
At that time, the publication of shocking reports of large number of patients who needed urgent treatment, as well as the starvation of millions of others were so alarming that the US, as the accomplice of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, was criticized internationally. So, Biden, one of whose election slogans were ending the war and humanitarian crisis in Yemen, had to remove Ansarullah from the blacklist under global public pressures.
Although Ansarullah was ostensibly removed from the terror blacklist, the US and other Western countries did not facilitate advantages for Yemenis from this decision, and the all-out siege by the Saudi-Emirati coalition continued. Finally, what allowed aid entry to Yemen was not the American decision, but Ansarullah’s military power that brought Saudi Arabia to the negotiating table and concessions.
Just contrary to the imagination of the Arab-Western camp, the blacklisting and economic pressures not only did not undermine Ansarullah, but also it took the initiative with its military achievements, and now it is in such a level of power that even challenges the American navy and the Israeli regime. Experts suggest that the American move will only add to the civilians’ plights and not weaken military power of Sana’a.
From another aspect, 9 years after assumption of power in Sana’a, the movement has gotten a foothold not only inside Yemen but also in the region and has become an undisputed power in one of global trade arteries due to the collapse of Saudi-led military coalition and marginalization of the puppet Aden government due to the differences between Saudi and Emirati-backed forces. This is something that undermines the US efforts to question the legitimacy of Sana’a-based government, and continuation of interactions and communications of regional and international powers with the NSG bears witness to this reality.
Yemenis are used to these American double standards. Although Washington officials thought that with their recent decision, public pressures on Ansarullah will increase, the Friday protests of tens of thousands of Yemenis who condemned the American policies and named the US the “mother of terrorism” laid bare the uselessness of this policy.
Ansarullah’s insistence on supporting Gaza
The new American decision has not frightened Ansarullah leaders, and they have described this decision as a sign of the legitimacy of their pro-Gaza operations.
In reaction to the American move, Ansarullah Political Office chief said that Yemen is under American blockade for years and that it is “ridiculous to be blacklisted as a terrorist by a global terrorist country. This measure is an American effort to mislead world public and disgrace Ansarullah and Yemen.... This American move is like a medal of honor and pride for Ansarullah because we support the Palestinian people.”
Mohammed Abdul Salam, the chief negotiator and spokesman of Ansarullah, said in a conversation with Aljazeera that the US is seeking political goals behind adding Ansarullah to its terror list. What we are doing in the Red Sea is a kind of pressure to stop the war in Gaza, and this American action only makes us more committed to our position in supporting the Palestinians.”
Aref Al-Ameri, the spokesman of the ‘coalition of anti-aggression forces and political parties’ in Yemen, emphasized that the Yemeni authorities in Sana’a do not care about the decisions made by Washington on their blacklisting, because the United States in the past made such decision in a bid to blackmail Sana’a.
“American ships, whether warships or commercial ships, as well as American interests are within the target bank of our forces, especially since the right of response is reserved in international and humanitarian laws, and every nation has the right to defend the sovereignty of its country... The US committed a great crime by violating the sovereignty of Yemen and bombing some areas of Yemen with the complicity of England, and it must be punished and responded to,” said Hizam al-Assad, a member of Ansarullah Political Office.
By adopting these positions and launching missile attacks on Israeli and American ships in the Red Sea, the leaders of Sana’a make it crystal clear that they are ready for any scenario, and such American measures will not deter Yemenis who for 9 years countered the armed-to-the-teeth Saudi enemy.
Consequences of the US decision
Blacklistng Ansarullah at a time the region is like a powder keg can bring forth grave consequences for the US and its allies. Since Ansarullah repeatedly asserted the American actions will not distance it from supporting Gaza and it will continue its Red Sea operations as long as Israeli war on Gaza continues, the White House decision only inflames the tensions in the region.
Some Arab political analysts, meanwhile, described the American move escalatory and useless and only jeopardizing regional peace.
Ateq Jarallah, head of the Mokha Center for Strategic Studies, told Khalij Online website that “Washington has damaged its credibility in the matter of classification of terrorist groups and has proven that it has no real and legal criteria in this field. Rather, this classification is driven by the US interests and the special goals Washington follows. This move does not mean any group the US blacklists is really a terrorist group since the American standards are defective.”
He further believes that this will affect the peace talks between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, and should Ansarullah is banned, these talks will be halted, and this means that conflict in Yemen may last longer.
It is noteworthy that since 2022 that the two sides agreed on a six-month ceasefire deal followed by negotiations, clashes substantially dwindledand and the two sides continued quest for a way for a lasting peace, but American warmongering can disrupt this process. It may be because of this that Riyadh did not join US-led naval coalition and called for Red Sea de-escalation.
What was achieved in recent Sana’a-Riyadh was a crucial point resting on the political and field realities and does not take a step back. After all, Sana’a has shown its good will for Saudis to end the war and blockade. It, however, at the same time maintains military option on the table to punish the enemies should escalation return. And Washington seems to be pushing Sana’a leaders to this direction.
Jarallah also warned of grave humanitarian consequences for the American move, adding that these actions, both blacklisting Ansarullah and carrying out airstrikes in Yemen, will have effects and consequences on people and their living conditions in the form of negative economic effects.”
Yemeni journalist Ahmad Fozi, too, warned about serious consequences of the US decision, telling Khalij Online that this decision was “not a surprise, especially since the US used carrot and stick policy and through Oman sent messages [to Ansarullah] that it is ready to settle Yemeni issues related to peace process.”
Fozi believes that the American decision does not influence Ansarullah’s actions against the Israeli interests in the Red Sea both inside Yemen, in the Arab world, and in the world stage.
“Now all scenarios for expansion of war internally, regionally, and internationally are open and will directly influence the peace process between the Yemenis and Saudis,” said Fozi on the implications of this decision and the current regional tensions.
Ali al-Zahri, a Yemeni diplomat and media activist, told Al-Khanadeq news website that “this is a measure with political background that matches no legal logic or specific definition of terrorism. We look at the background and the timing and we know that Washington’s decision is meant to force Yemen away from its support to Gaza people and Palestine, and this is a regretful and useful behavior.”
The White House officials claim any action they take against Ansarullah is to defend the interests of the nations, but what is certain is that all Washington’s efforts are being made to ensure the safety of Israeli ships in the Red Sea and their safe passage through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, and that is why many countries, including Western ones, rejected to join the naval coalition.
As the recent American and British strikes have not pushed
Ansarullah back from its positions and instead broadened the scope of
its attacks, the blacklisting of this popular movement will deliver the
reverse. As a result, tensions are poised to elevate between the
resistance forces and the American-Israeli camp in the future, and
Ansarullah will continue its operations against Israeli and American
interests in the Red Sea, with the West and Israel taking the largest
part of the damage for fanning the flames of war instead of defusing the
tensions.
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