Yemeni politicians are collectively calling for the resumption of military operations set to free the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah from the hold of Houthi militias who have exploited a UN-sponsored ceasefire to step up their attacks against shipping routes, traffic Iranian arms, and plunder the country’s resources.
Houthis have been targeting vital energy installations and oil tankers in Saudi ports with bomb-laden boats, drones, and missiles.
The most recent attack took place last Monday when an oil tanker in the Saudi port of Jeddah was targeted by a booby-trapped boat.
Yemeni politicians warn that the leniency shown to Houthis by the international community has only encouraged the group to strike harder and reach out beyond Yemeni waters, attacking shipping routes in the Red Sea and Saudi ports.
“Freeing Hodeidah, which is the last outpost that Houthis hold which overlooks the sea, will inevitably impact Houthi military capabilities, given that they won’t be able to run arms through the port there anymore,” Yemeni political analyst and academic Fares al-Beil told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Beil underlined that removing Houthis from Hodeidah was vital to bring the group’s attacks against shipping routes to a halt.
He went on to describe how Houthis have used their hold of Hodeidah as a pressure card they played against international peacemaking efforts in Yemen.
“Hodeidah is the bomb Houthis threaten the world with,” he explained.
“The internationally recognized Yemeni government should have seized the opportunity when Houthis rejected the Stockholm Agreement (a UN-sponsored deal) and worked to sabotage it,” Beil noted.
Houthis have used the political and military vacuum created by the Stockholm Agreement to advance Iran’s agenda in the region by tightening their grip around Hodeidah.
If Houthis lose Hodeidah, according to Beil, they will be rendered into scattered gangs that can be easily chased.
“The Iran-backed group would have lost its economic and political pressure card,” he asserted, adding that Houthis will no longer be able to threaten international navigation.
