The Houthis are being chastised for sabotaging peace talks to resolve the conflict

• Roshan Amiri
• . March 21, 2022
• . Update: March 22, 2022 2:27 pm
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Yemen–Yemen’s State Minister, Gen. Abdul Ghani Jamil, stated the Houthis will use all means at their disposal to sabotage the Riyadh peace negotiations. Fighting has intensified outside Marib and in Taiz since the beginning of the year, despite UN Envoy Hans Grundberg’s intensive direct negotiations with Yemeni parties.

AL-MUKALLA: The Houthis, who are supported by Iran, have been chastised for attacking civilian targets in Saudi Arabia and ramping up military operations in Yemen, even as the UN special envoy for Yemen urged a humanitarian cease-fire during Ramadan. Yemen’s government officials, human rights advocates, journalists, and the general public have blasted the Houthis for sabotaging UN and Gulf Cooperation Council efforts to negotiate a peaceful conclusion to the war.

Last week, the Gulf Cooperation Council summoned Yemen’s warring groups, including the Houthis, to Riyadh for peace negotiations under its auspices, reigniting hopes of resolving the country’s worsening humanitarian catastrophe. The Houthis swiftly declined the offer, starting deadly cross-border raids on Saudi Arabia and intensifying attacks on government-controlled regions in Yemen.

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The Houthis’ “aggressive and terrorist conduct,” as well as their continued hostility to all measures to end hostilities in Yemen, were blasted by Yemen’s Foreign Ministry, which described the recent strikes as the militia’s “reaction” to the GCC offer. “[The ministry] renews the Republic of Yemen’s firm and supportive position, as well as its solidarity in all measures taken to confront these cowardly terrorist acts, preserve the safety of its citizens and residents, and protect its vital facilities,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the official news agency SABA. Other Yemenis claim that the militia’s expanding military activities and cross-border attacks demonstrate that it is uninterested in peace and is seeking to sabotage efforts to end the war.

According to Hamdan Al-Alaly, the Houthis have declined to attend the next meeting because they would have to face Yemeni troops hostile to their goal. “In front of all the Yemeni components that reject them, they will find themselves insignificant and disgusting,” Al-Alaly said, adding that the Houthis sought direct discussions with Saudi Arabia to legitimize their armed seizure of power. “They’re calling for discussions with the coalition, not with the Yemenis, because they want regional nations to recognize their authority.”

Yemen’s State Minister, Gen. Abdul Ghani Jamil, claimed the Houthis will use all means at their disposal to sabotage the Riyadh peace negotiations, which would unite Yemenis together to oppose their repressive rule. “I believe the Houthis’ message tonight is quite clear. They don’t want an invitation that aims to unite [their opponents] behind the banner of the older sister, Saudi Arabia,” Jamil said.

Meanwhile, combat between the Houthis and the government erupted in hotspot areas outside of Marib, as the Houthis attempted to end a months-long military standoff. According to a local military officer, the Houthis have assembled large military troops and have increased drone and missile raids on government-controlled regions outside of the city.

“We fired down two drones that were loaded with bombs.” They also launched a ballistic missile against a displaced persons camp in Marib. The Houthis are preparing a massive assault,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, adding that army soldiers and allied tribal fighters repelled the latest Houthi raids while coalition airplanes targeted the militia’s bases and military equipment.

Since the beginning of the year, fighting outside Marib and in the city of Taiz has intensified while the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, has held lengthy direct discussions with Yemeni parties in the hopes of finding a breakthrough that may bring the conflict to an end. Grundberg said on Sunday that he discussed a humanitarian truce with Houthi senior negotiator Mohammed Abdul Salam and Omani authorities in Muscat before of the holy month of Ramadan, which begins early next month.