Is Branding Them As Terrorist Outfit Best Way To Stop Al Houthis?
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Sulaiman
- . October 12, 2022
- . Update: November 11, 2022 12:44 am
Al Houthis continue to try and create a sense of ownership over key and oil rich places in Yemen. The government-controlled Marib region is not a new one on this but continues to be bombed by the Iran backed Houthis.
A recent attack of ballistic missiles has damaged the fragile peacekeeping efforts in the region. The UN backed and supported truce for a couple of months has gone kaput and things are back to square one; something that political analysts fear would happen.
Houthis continue to also trample over plans to develop maritime trade agreements with neighbouring nations, threatening to bomb and attack Israel for example.
Last week, a clash between pro-government Yemeni forces and Houthis in the southern province of Lahj killed at least 10 people. Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi militia stormed several northern cities and forced the Saudi-backed Yemeni government out of the capital Sanaa.
Read | Truce Between Warring Factions Comes To Knots End In Yemen Over Iranian Interference
Since 2021, fresh from rapid gains in Sanaa province, Yemen’s Houthi movement had been bombing and attacking into wealthy government-held areas of Marib, which holds some of the country’s most important oil and gas resources.
As of now, many Western countries are looking at Houthis to be designated as a terrorist group. The Yemeni government has accused the Iran-backed Houthi group of dealing with the truce as an “opportunity to blackmail and put Iran’s interests ahead of the interests of the Yemeni people.” But somehow, Iran has been able to pressure the Houthis into forwarding their own agenda of the nuclear deal.
Meanwhile, Houthis have also been attacking other energy sources in Saudi Arabia also, making it difficult for this key OPEC+ nation from protecting its resources. This is one major reason for oil production cuts and raised prices of oil everywhere.
It is imperative, as per the Kingdom that Houthis be now put on the list of terrorists, in order their activities of hurting energy resources of various Gulf nations can be curbed. As of now, the focus is only on the Saudi Arabian facilities which holds the largest energy resources in the world of all the OPEC + participating countries.
Unless they are then classified as a terrorist group, it is going to become difficult to keep oil prices in check, that are already fluctuating due to the ongoing economic slowdowns in various economies, Russian war and clamp up on natural gas reserves, and other related political tensions across the globe.
