The truth is that one cannot understand how the Arabs have remained silent about the abnormal situation in which the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, has found itself for some time now. The period I am referring to dates back to 2014, when the Houthi group entered Yemen’s capital and then closed it off to the legitimate Yemeni government, recognized by the world and by Yemenis whose loyalty lies with their country and who accept no alternative to it.
How have the Arabs remained silent all these years while Yemen’s capital has been held captive in the grip of a group pursuing a regional agenda, and even one with international dimensions, as became evident from the network of its communications and, more recently, from meetings involving its representatives in an Arab capital?
Of course, I understand that Yemen’s stability is primarily a Saudi concern, if only because geography has made the two countries direct neighbors. Therefore, Saudi Arabia’s interest in Yemen, its stability, and the necessity of having its government present in its own capital requires no explanation, justification, or interpretation. It is a matter directly tied to Saudi national security and is not open to bargaining or compromise.
At the same time, however, I also understand that Yemen’s stability is a collective Arab concern, just as it is a Saudi concern shaped by geography. Why is it an Arab concern as well? Because the regional actor that employs, directs, and sustains the Houthis is the same actor that targets the Arab world as a whole just as much as it may target Saudi Arabia or the Gulf region in general.
When Riyadh led, and continues to lead, the coalition supporting Yemen’s legitimate government, it did so out of a firm conviction that Yemen belongs to the Yemenis, not to a group that claims to be Yemeni but whose actions demonstrate otherwise. It neither represents Yemeni national identity nor serves the interests of the Yemeni people. Rather, it acts in ways that advance the interests of the party or parties that use it as a proxy. In this regard, it makes little difference whether the driving force is a regional actor we know and can identify or an international actor we likewise recognize. The outcome, in either case, is the same.
If Saudi Arabia has moved to activate the Makkah Defense Agreement as a deterrent against a reckless group, then that is a legitimate Saudi right dictated by the country’s broader interests, by necessity, and by the realities on the ground in Yemen. The Saudi government sees itself as obligated to help change those realities by supporting Yemen’s legitimate government, strengthening the capabilities of the Yemeni army, and enabling Operation Dawn of Yemen, launched by that army, to achieve its necessary objectives.
Yemen is a country with a long history, a deeply rooted civilization, and a culture that has left its mark on the past and continues to shape the face of Yemen today, regardless of how that face may appear at any given moment. Given the weight of a country like Yemen, Arabs should recognize the danger of allowing a nation of such civilizational and cultural significance to be detached from the broader Arab entity. There is a need for all Arabs to unite in resisting any assault on Yemen, its civilization, its culture, or its history, because all of these form part of our enduring Arab heritage.
One cannot help but feel sorrow when looking around and seeing the fate of a country like Yemen in the hands of a reckless group that continues to engage in childish games, despite the fact that the regional environment can no longer tolerate such behavior, nor can a region already walking through minefields in every corner.
One also feels sadness when observing that Arab capitals have watched what has been happening in Yemen for more than a decade and yet have failed to take meaningful action to return Yemen to its people, free it from the recklessness of minor players, and reclaim it from a group that has overrun both the country and its citizens.
If religious bonds were able to unite Riyadh, Ankara, and Islamabad along a common thread, then alongside that bond exists an Arab bond that should not disappear while witnessing criminal aggression reach the city of the Prophet, peace be upon him, on one occasion, then the city of the Holy Mosque on another, and later schools, civilians, and markets in southern Saudi Arabia.
Such recklessness cannot be allowed to continue unchecked. It requires a determined Arab response to stop it and to uproot its perpetrators from Yemeni soil, which the Houthis have turned into a platform for targeting Saudi Arabia in particular and the Arab body in general. Any harm inflicted on a single Saudi civilian in Najran, Jazan, Taif, or any other area targeted by the Houthi militia is, in essence, an attack on every Arab, wherever he or she may be between the Ocean and the Gulf.
The battle now being fought to reclaim Yemen from those who have seized it is not Saudi Arabia’s battle alone, nor should it be. It is the battle of all those who share with the Kingdom ties of language, religion, blood, and culture in the broadest sense of the word.
Sanaa is Yemen’s capital, and the seat of government belongs there. The continued presence of the Yemeni government outside its natural seat is an abnormal situation that cannot remain acceptable, no matter how long it persists. Reclaiming the capital is ultimately unavoidable.
