On November 5, 2009, Houthi fighters infiltrated the Saudi village of Al-Khoubah in the Jazan region and climbed Jabal al-Dukhan, attempting to seize control of it, during what became known as the "Sixth War" between the Houthis and the Yemeni government led by then-President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Not long afterward, I remember a comment by a Houthi leader, Dhaifallah Al-Shami, in a BBC film. As he walked along rocky cliffs near the Saudi border, he said that "we do not recognize all borders," because all Muslim lands are available to us.
Today, we are hearing that the Houthis, along with their Iranian and other supporters, have seized the port of Mokha and driven out the government forces led by General Tariq Saleh, the nephew of Ali Abdullah Saleh, the former president killed by the Houthis.
Tariq had expelled them from Mokha in 2017, taking control of the port, the city, and the surrounding areas. His forces, along with others, also took control of the vital islands in the waters of Bab el-Mandeb, most importantly Mayyun Island at the entrance to the strait, as well as the Hanish and Zugar island groups. Today, the Houthis have returned to them.
There is no need to reiterate that the waters of Bab el-Mandeb and the Gulf of Aden are a global and international issue, not merely a Yemeni, Saudi, or Eritrean one. Around 7 percent of global oil production passes through Bab el-Mandeb, according to Kpler, a company specializing in tracking global shipping data. There are also numerous international naval military bases along the African shores opposite Yemen's coast.
Yet despite this success achieved by the Houthis with Iranian support, it remains certain that this war has not ended with such temporary victories within a protracted conflict.
The causes of the war remain, and the embers of the conflict are still burning. What the Houthis have reclaimed today in Mokha, Mayyun, and Hanish is merely what they had lost there years ago. The picture is larger, and the crisis is deeper.
Yemen and the Houthis are part of a larger whole, by which I mean "the Iranian question." Iran itself, as its President Masoud Pezeshkian acknowledged during a session of the BRICS forum in India, is struggling. Speaking about the US economic war against Iran, and now the European one as well, he said: "These pressures have reached a critical and dangerous stage in recent months... Economic security is inseparable from national and regional security."
I will conclude where I began. Saudi Arabia's confrontation with the Houthi threat has been going on for 17 years, from the Jabal al-Dukhan war in 2009 until today, and the story continues. Why?
Because it is one chapter in the confrontation with Iran, just as is the case with Iran's militias in Iraq. It is a larger war and a broader confrontation.
Now, prudence and resolve require a review of the military and political situation in Yemen, identifying where the shortcomings lie and correcting them, no matter how difficult, frank, or fundamental that reform may be.
This is one round in a much larger war. The most important thing is to learn from the setbacks and take further long-term steps toward the final gate, the gate of victory.
