Since the Iranian-backed Houthi military coup began, news from Yemen is rarely encouraging.
After five years without any real progress toward ending the persistent violence, relieving the deepening humanitarian crisis, and redirecting the nation from its slide toward irreparable failure, it’s understandable that some in the West, including even some in Congress, would prefer disengagement to a continued struggle that has until now defied resolution. But if history has taught us anything, it is that those who want to do harm and create discord can only do so when global leaders turn a blind eye and decide that the struggle of another is not their own.
Certainly, events in Sana’a and Hodeida can seem distant to Washington, New York, or Des Moines, Iowa. But in our globally interconnected community, nations cannot isolate themselves from the problems of other nations. When terrorism is not confronted in one place, it becomes a threat to all places. When insecurity and instability is allowed to persist in one nation, then the risk increases for all nations.
That’s why what happens in Yemen does not stay in Yemen, why the Iran-backed Houthis who seek to take over Yemen from the legitimate government of its president, Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, are not just a limited threat. The Houthi flag tells us everything we need to know: It reads, “Death to the U.S., death to Israel, and a curse on the Jews.”
This vile rhetoric has been systematically taught to a significant swath of Yemeni children in the educational curricula instituted and imposed by the Houthis in schools under their control in a campaign to brainwash a generation of young Yemenis to serve a long-term Iranian agenda in my country.
The fight against global terrorism is a shared responsibility, and our united partnership to confront it must never give an inch, not anywhere, not even in a distant place, not even where hope struggles to breathe, not even in Yemen.
The Houthis have access to Iranian high-tech weaponry, including drones and remote-controlled, explosive-filled boats to attack commercial shipping and oil tankers. The Houthis have used Iranian-made ballistic missiles to threaten civilians in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as well as Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, where many people from around the world, including Americans, live, travel, and work.
And while there are times when there are shortcomings or challenges to the global response to these terrorist threats, we must never allow those deficiencies to misdirect us from our common objective to protect innocent civilians, support rightful governments, and confront extremism and terrorism wherever it attempts to find a home.
There’s a reason Iran helped the Houthi militias overthrow the legitimate government of Yemen. It’s the same reason Iran supported Hezbollah, and the same reason the United States just designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a foreign terrorist organization.
Iran is a terrorist state. It seeks to exert influence by directing extremist proxies to use violence and aggression to create instability and uncertainty that, once it takes hold in one nation, threatens many nations.
If the United States and our other global partners do not remain committed to the efforts to bring a political settlement to the crisis in Yemen, then the chances that Iran is able to transform Yemen into a safe haven for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Yemen to launch regional and transnational attacks becomes significantly more likely.
This is why President Trump’s veto of the congressional joint resolution to curtail U.S. military operations in Yemen was so important for the continued efforts to bring peace and stability to Yemen — something that will not happen without the concerted and unwavering support of our global partners.
So far, the Houthi militias have resisted all efforts at a political resolution, refusing to comply with the National Dialogue Conference, the Gulf Cooperation Council initiative, all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, and most recently the 2018 Stockholm Agreement.
The message to the international community from this intransigence is clear: The only pathway to a stable and peaceful Yemen is with the continued and full engagement of the international community, including the United States.
Dr. Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak is the ambassador of the Republic of Yemen to the United States. He is also the secretary general of the National Dialogue Conference and has also served as chief of staff to the president of Yemen.
