Part 1

[This article was published first in Spanish on Jan. 3, before the U.S.-British bombing attacks on Yemen, a country with nearly the same area and population as Afghanistan.]

In 2015 Yemen, a country unknown to many in the West, began a war in defense of its sovereignty, which was being threatened by an interventionist alliance led by Saudi Arabia. The Yemeni people had to pay with the lives of almost 400,000 of their people to maintain their independence. Many people have wondered how it was possible that a country considered the poorest in Western Asia has been able to resist and defeat a coalition made up of some of the richest countries on the planet.

Although the conflict continued for almost a decade, it appears to have reached a situation that could lead to its possible cessation. Although a tense situation remains and war actions of different kinds continue, there has been a reduction in military actions in recent months. While there is no longer total war, peace has not come either.

Following China’s mediation, Saudi Arabia and Iran reconciled, thus paving the way for resolving several conflicts in Western Asia and North Africa. Apparently, the war with Yemen was one of them.

Now, after the Israeli invasion of Gaza, the Yemenis, together with the Lebanese Hezbollah movement and other Arab and Muslim revolutionary forces, have taken an active role in solidarity with Palestine. Once again, Yemen has surprised everyone by making decisions that have not only a local impact but also a regional and global one. Once again, the world has wondered how this could have happened.

In two installments, I am going to present some elements that allow readers to get acquainted with Yemen and learn about its historical struggle and the heroism of its people. This will help readers to understand the scope and dimension of the Yemeni decision to support, with all the resources at its disposal, the just struggle of the Palestinian people.

The Republic of Yemen is located at a strategic place on the planet, in a region where trade routes connect Asia, eastern Africa and the Mediterranean. Its territory, located on the coasts of the Arabian Sea and at the gate to the Red Sea, dominates the Strait of Bab el Mandeb, placing it in a privileged place on the globe. This is true especially since the 20th century when, on the one hand, large energy deposits (oil and gas) were discovered in the region, and on the other, the enormous economic growth and development of East Asia transformed Yemen into a country astride an essential sea route for much of world trade.

In ancient times, the cities of the territory that is now Yemen were unified into the biblical kingdom of Sheba. From that moment on, the struggle of the inhabitants of the current Yemen for their liberation and independence began, as they had to face the Roman Empire in the first century A.D. The Yemenis defeated powerful Rome’s attempt at domination.

‘Happy Arabia’

Unlike the rest of the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen’s portion had prodigious vegetation that provided great wealth to its population, due to the possibilities for consumption and trade it offered. The Greek mathematician and geographer Ptolemy named Yemen “happy Arabia.”

In the course of history, the Yemenis had to fight with Himyarites who, from their Jewish religion, persecuted the majority Christian population until the intervention of the Ethiopians in the sixth century. Islam arrived in the region in the ninth century, beginning to shape a culture based on the merging of knowledge from varied sources and that made great contributions to humanity.

For many centuries, however, Yemen remained outside the cultural and economic development established by Islam. In the 15th century, the territory of today’s Yemen began to gain strategic value. In their desire for commercial expansion, the European rulers began the domination of territories throughout the planet. The first European conquerors to arrive in the region came from Portugal. They dominated the country in order to control the sea route, which allowed them to trade spices from Asia to Europe through the Red Sea.

In the 16th century, the Ottoman empire, whose capital was Constantinople (now Istanbul), began its conquest with the occupation of places on the Red Sea coast, while the interior of the country and the southern coast remained independent, governed by an imam. Shortly after, the English made their appearance in the area, installing a post of the East India Company in the port of Mokha on the Red Sea.

In the 19th century, the British expanded their presence by occupying the entire southwestern tip of current Yemen, settling in Aden in 1839 — the best seaport in the region. At the same time, in 1872, the Ottoman Turks managed to consolidate their dominance in the interior of the country, for which they installed de facto a hereditary monarchy in the name of a local imam. This division effectively split Yemen into two countries.

Around 1870, with the inauguration of the Suez Canal and the consolidation of Turkish rule over northern Yemen, Aden acquired new importance for British global strategy: It was the key to the Red Sea and, therefore, to the new canal.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Türkiye and Britain marked a border between the territories they controlled, which became known as North Yemen and South Yemen, respectively. In 1934, British imperialism secured control of the entire south of the country, up to the border with Oman.

During World War I, the Imam of Yemen allied with the Ottoman Empire and remained loyal to it until the end of the war, when the defeat of the Turks allowed Yemen to regain its independence in November 1918. However, Britain, after recognizing the independence of Yemen in 1928, converted Aden into a protectorate and in 1937 into a colony.

Once again, the Yemenis had to resort to an armed struggle for independence. In 1940 the nationalist movement Free Yemen emerged to fight against the control of the country by the imams, who had allied themselves with Britain.

The fighting took separate paths in the north and south. In 1962, the Yemen Arab Republic was created in the north. In the south, the National Liberation Front, created in 1963, took over Aden in 1967 and proclaimed its independence, declaring a socialist revolution.

People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen

South Yemen was renamed the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen. It closed all British bases in 1969, taking control of banking, foreign trade and the naval industry while undertaking land reform. In foreign policy, the PDRY maintained a close alliance with the Soviet Union. Likewise, it promoted an openly anti-Zionist struggle and support for the Palestinian people.

In October 1978, at a congress that enjoyed considerable support from the population, the National Liberation Front founded the Yemen Socialist Party. In December of that year, the first popular election since independence was held to appoint the 111 members of the People’s Revolutionary Council.

From the first years of its existence, the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen faced the permanent hostility of Saudi Arabia, whose monarchy aspired to control parts of the territory — precisely those in which oil deposits had been discovered. Tensions were aggravated by a growing U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, in the north, the National Democratic Front (FND), which had brought together all the progressive forces in the country, was developing an armed struggle against Ali Abdullah Saleh, who had ascended to the government in 1978.

Just as the FND was about to take power, Saudi Arabia intrigued to divert the conflict into a war against the Democratic People’s Republic of Yemen. The mediation of some Arab countries led to a ceasefire and an agreement by which negotiations for reunification, suspended since 1972, were resumed.

Finally, on May 22, 1990, both republics united to form the Republic of Yemen and established that the political capital was Sana’a, former capital of the Yemen Arab Republic. Aden, former capital of the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen, was designated the economic capital.

A joint session of the Legislative Assemblies of both states, held in Aden, elected a Presidential Council led by General Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saudi Arabia’s rulers were hostile to the unification of Yemen, which is why they began a policy of supporting secession. In May 1994, secessionists proclaimed a Yemeni republic in the south of the country but were defeated by forces loyal to the government.

Emergence of Ansarallah movement

Between June and August 2004, a movement emerged that expressed the beliefs of a specific branch of Shiite-oriented Islam: the Zaidites, whose leader was the cleric Hussein al-Houthi. To honor him after his death in combat in September of that year, the movement assumed the name Houthi, Huthi or Ansarallah: supporters of God.

Although this current is the expression of a minority in Yemen, its history is not recent but dates back to the mid-eighth century. Zaidism is identified by the greater preparation of its members and is associated with the fight for justice and the defense of Muslim ethics. This ideology, added to the position of marginality to which they were subjected after losing power in 1962, would form the substrata from which Houthi thought would develop in the future.

The Houthis’ fight against the pro-Western and pro-Saudi government of Ali Abdullah Saleh was long and bloody. They had to resort to arms on five occasions between 2006 and 2008 in defense of their territory in the north of the country, until they began to expand their support base and the geographical space under their control. In 2009, Saleh, trying to stop the Houthis, turned to Saudi Arabia for support.

For the Houthis, that a country like Saudi Arabia, ruled by those in an extremely conservative Wahhabi current, was present and interfered in the country’s affairs was seen as a threat to the sovereignty of the Yemeni nation in general and its minority current in particular. From that moment on, their struggle, which up to then had a strictly internal character, became a confrontation with foreign intervention.

Although the Houthi fighters at first suffered heavy defeats, including (as mentioned before) the fall of their top leader, they grew stronger over time and from 2011, under the new leadership of al-Houthi’s younger brother Abdul Malik, began to inflict significant setbacks on the enemy. The anti-imperialist and anti-Zionist rhetoric was strengthened by identifying Saudi Arabia as the partner of the United States and Israel and executing their plans in the area.

The so-called “Arab Spring” had a special influence on the growth of support for Houthi thought in their fight against Saleh’s repressive government. In Yemen, the earthquake that shook an important part of the Arab world had a much more organized response than in neighboring countries.

Faced with the strength of the protests, Saleh fled the country and took refuge in Saudi Arabia. He was replaced by his vice president, Abdo Rabu Mansur Hadi, who tried to restore order in the country by reaching an agreement with factions opposed to Saleh “to change everything in order to change nothing,” leaving the Houthi movement out of the government.

At the end of 2014, the Houthis began an offensive on the capital. In this context, Saleh — surprisingly in an attempt to regain power — established an alliance with the Houthis to confront Hadi. The Houthis, who had not supported the peace agreements signed by Hadi, allied themselves with their greatest enemy to take the capital.

Saudis enter Yemen’s civil war

The Republican Guard, a force loyal to Saleh, favored the entry of the Houthis into Sana’a. Hadi fled to Riyadh, the Saudi capital, from where he “runs” the territories not yet controlled by Ansarallah, in reality acting as a puppet of the Wahhabi monarchy.

Once in power, the Houthis formed a Revolutionary Committee to run the country. Likewise, they were forced to fight simultaneously with the terrorist forces of Al Qaeda and with Saudi Arabia, which protects them.

Saleh considered that the Houthis had not fulfilled the agreements which, according to him, meant that he should assume power again. With Saudi support, Saleh turned against the Houthis. When the betrayal was consummated, the Houthis attacked Saleh’s house, executing him on the spot.

From Riyadh, Hadi called for Saudi intervention in Yemen. Faced with this request, the Saudi monarchy organized a Sunni-majority coalition that in 2015 launched the “Decisive Storm” operation, structured around air attacks on the main enclaves controlled by the Houthis, which resulted in thousands of deaths.

This action was planned as a definitive offensive to take control of the country in order to launch a second operation, called “Restore Hope,” focused more on a diplomatic rapprochement. In reality, the war activity did not cease at any time. On the contrary, the alliance’s land, air and maritime actions were reinforced by a naval blockade that prevented the entry of international aid.

These actions plunged the area into what became the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, until the current Zionist actions in Gaza were unleashed. Both crimes had explicit support from the United States.

The Houthis, making use of a wide margin of maneuver, supported by greater and better knowledge of the terrain and using guerrilla warfare tactics, inspired — according to them — by the liberation struggle in Vietnam and “the resistance movements in Latin America,” demonstrated great capacity to hit an invading army that has low morale and lacks a drive for combat and discipline.

Likewise, the broad origin of the soldiers in the Saudi-led coalition, which has included the participation of a very large contingent of mercenaries hired by private companies, has reduced the alliance’s combat capacity.

Riyadh received forceful blows, even in its own territory, when Ansarallah’s combative operations moved deep into the Saudi area through an advanced attack system using drones and long-range missiles. It reached armed forces barracks, oil refineries and critical infrastructure at distances far from the common border.

Part 2

[This article was first published in Spanish on Jan. 10, just as the U.S. and British imperialists began bombing attacks on Yemen.]

The transnational media have spread the idea that the Houthis act under the influence of the government of Iran. Neither Iran nor the Houthis [Ansarallah] have denied belonging to an axis of resistance to imperialism, colonialism and Zionism, an axis that also incorporates political forces from Lebanon, Syria, Bahrain and Palestine itself. Simplifying the equation to a relationship of “subordination,” however, is still superficial and banal, given the Yemeni people’s own history of struggle.

In Western Asia, Israel’s growing aggressiveness and the interventionist presence of the United States have polarized the political situation. Iran’s recent agreement to settle differences with Saudi Arabia, as well as other agreements have brought Egypt and Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, among others, closer — after years of distancing. All this added to the cessation of the war in Yemen and pointed to a weakening of the imperialist-Zionist pole and strengthening of the resistance.

In this context, due to history and geographical location, the role of Yemen and the Houthi movement is decisive. It is worth saying that Ansarallah has never hidden its relationship with Iran. They are united by their common membership in the Shiite branch of Islam.

Both the founder of the Ansarallah movement and his brother, who leads it today, spent part of their lives in Qom (Iran), training politically and ideologically, and at the same time studied the Shiite current.

Shiism is based on the idea that the legitimate succession of Muhammad corresponds to the descendants of his son-in-law Ali. The Sunnis believe that Muhammad’s successors should be the prophet’s companions. Sunni comes from “Ahl al-Sunna,” which translates as “the people of tradition,” and Shia comes from “Shiat Ali,” which means “the party of Ali.”

None of this means that the Yemenis are simple “accessories” to Iran. Beyond the financial, military, communication and political support it has received from Tehran, the Ansarallah movement has demonstrated autonomy. It made its own decisions regarding its strategy and the execution of its actions in the war against Saudi Arabia and its allies since 2015 and now in support of Palestine.

In addition to its aid to Palestine, Yemen has a direct conflict with Israel due to the support that the Zionist entity gave to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during the war that began in 2015. This support allowed the UAE to occupy the strategic Socotra archipelago — which are Yemeni islands located in the Arabian Sea about 350 kilometers south of the country’s coast — to establish a series of spy bases there. These bases gather intelligence information throughout the region, particularly the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb [entrance to the Red Sea].

The UAE/Israeli base in Socotra also benefits the United States military, since, through it, the U.S. military could control the port of Gwadar in Pakistan, which is part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Beijing developed this port so that goods unloaded there could be shipped overland to China, particularly its western region.

Yemen’s actions support Palestine

However, in relation to current events, it should be known that Yemen’s actions in support of Palestine began almost immediately after October 7. On Oct. 19, a U.S. Navy ship shot down missiles and drones fired by the Houthis against Israel — according to Pentagon information published at the time.

On Oct. 27, six people were injured when two drones fell on Taba, an Egyptian town bordering Israel, after their interception by the Israeli air force. On Oct. 31, the Houthis claimed responsibility for a drone attack against the Zionist entity, whose army reported that it had intercepted a missile launched from the south.

Houthi military spokesman, Gen. Yahya Sari, said in a televised statement that the group had launched a “large number” of ballistic missiles and drones toward Israel and that there would be more attacks in the future “to help the Palestinians achieve victory.” In response, Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi said the Houthi attacks were intolerable but declined to elaborate when asked how Israel would respond.

In mid-November, Ansarallah announced that its armed forces would attack all ships sailing under the Israeli flag or owned or operated by Israeli companies. A few days later, General Sari indicated that, “The Yemeni armed forces continue to prevent ships of all nationalities heading to Israeli ports from sailing through the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea, until they transport the food and medicine that the Palestinians need” in the Gaza Strip.

Faced with this decision, and after the first attacks on ships heading to Israel, four large shipping companies (the world’s largest container line, Mediterranean Shipping Co. [MSC], based in Switzerland, the Danish Maersk, the French CMA CGM and the German Hapag-Lloyd) suspended the passage of their ships through the Red Sea. These companies transport approximately 53 percent of the world’s maritime containers and around 12 percent of global trade in terms of volume. It must be said that 30 percent of the world’s container traffic passes through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

In response, on Dec. 19, the United States proposed creating a naval alliance to launch an operation they called “Prosperity Guardian,” supposedly dedicated to “ensuring freedom of navigation in the Red Sea.” In reality, this meant declaring war on Yemen and militarizing that sea. But the Arab country has remained loyal to its position. Its armed forces have stated that “any attack against Yemeni assets or against Yemen’s missile launch bases would stain the entire Red Sea with blood” and that they have “weapons to sink your aircraft carriers and destroyers.”

The escalation of actions since then has been evident. In a speech on Dec. 20, the leader of Ansarallah, Sayyed Abdul Malik Al-Houthi, declared that the responsibility of the Islamic world in the conflict in Palestine was great, especially that of the Arab region, as it is “the heart of that world.” In this sense, he deplored the Islamic-Arab position in the summits that were held to debate the issue, especially the one held in Saudi Arabia. He characterized that view as weak.

Al-Houthi noted that there should be a commitment by Arab and Muslim people to support Palestine. He deplored that some countries focused on what he called the “conspiracy against Palestine.” The Yemeni leader said that his nation did not expect a positive position or role from the United States and European countries towards Palestine. For these reasons, he considered that the perspective of the resistance axis should be aimed at raising the level of military support for Palestine.

U.S. ‘seeks to militarize maritime space’

In this context, Al-Houthi warned that Ansarallah was going to “attack American warships if his forces were attacked by Washington after the launch of Operation Guardian of Prosperity.” According to Al-Houthi, the United States is not trying to protect global shipping but rather seeks to militarize maritime space.

However, the United States did not achieve a consensus to carry out the missions of the created naval alliance. Disagreements arose with the Arab countries which were called to form part of the coalition. This failure has made a coherent response to the Houthi attacks against ships transiting the Red Sea difficult.

Two key countries in the region involved in the long war against Yemen — the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia — maintain opposing positions towards the Houthis. These differences are a major obstacle to the U.S. plan to end maritime attacks. One possibility considered by Washington is to carry out a military attack on the Houthis, but some Arab allies have refused to do so. These prefer to insist on diplomatic channels and reinforced maritime protection for ships.

Specialized analysts consulted in this regard agree that the objectives of the operation are vague if it is considered that the naval commanders have not been given precise missions. Likewise, coalition ships, although equipped with advanced weapons, can be limited to only repelling missile attacks and escorting merchant ships with warships, which is questionable, since Yemen’s missile arsenal is inexhaustible at any time.

In light of the actions undertaken over the last eight years, in addition, “neither the management of global shipping companies, nor the captains of merchant ships, nor insurance companies will be willing to play this lottery,” according to Ilya Kramnik, a Russian naval forces expert.

Likewise, Michael Horton, co-founder of Red Sea Analytics International, an independent advisory firm dedicated to providing impartial analysis of security dynamics in the Red Sea, noted that the Houthis “have only deployed a portion of their weapons, without using missiles — longer range, more advanced drones and sea mines that are difficult to detect.”

In this situation, U.S. Vice Admiral Kevin Donegan noted that, “The United States has also been accepting as normal the persistent attacks […] by the Houthis.” According to the New York Times, this has led to President Biden being forced to face a difficult choice related to future Houthi deterrence plans. To do this, he must consider that Saudi Arabia is not seeking an escalation of the conflict that could sink a truce with the rebels that was negotiated with great effort. For his part, Tim Lenderking, U.S. special envoy for Yemen, stated in mid-December that, “Everyone is looking for a formula to reduce tensions.”

Possible blockade of Israel

On the other side of the conflict, on Dec. 24, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Major General Hossein Salami, announced that progress could be made towards a total naval blockade of Israel, including the Mediterranean Sea, the Strait of Gibraltar and other navigable waterways.

To date [Jan. 10], Yemen has already managed to almost completely block the Israeli port of Eilat, located on the Red Sea, which is operating at only 15 percent of its capacity. It is worth saying that Ansarallah’s military forces managed to hit an Israeli ship deep in the Arabian Sea, near India, a long distance from Yemeni territory. For its part, Iran has drones and long-range hypersonic missiles that, in the event of an all-out war against Zionism, could easily target commercial ships moving through the Mediterranean towards Israeli ports.

Likewise, in preparation for a combat of other dimensions against Israel, the Yemeni army announced that it has 20,000 reservist soldiers trained and willing to fight alongside the country’s armed forces against the Zionist entity and the coalition it leads.

On Dec. 28, Yemen warned the United States and its allies about the militarization of the Red Sea and stated that it will intensify its attacks against enemies if the blockade and bombardment of Gaza continue. In this context, a day earlier, the main commanders of the Yemeni Armed Forces met to discuss the latest regional developments and review the combat readiness of the troops. At the end of the meeting, they stated that they were ready to carry out the orders of the leader of Ansarallah.

On Jan. 4, after a Yemeni naval contingent came face to face with U.S. military forces in the Red Sea, with the Yemenis losing three small boats and 10 fighters, the commander of the Yemeni Coastal Defense Forces, General Muhammad Al-Qadiri, warned that his country would respond by selecting the target in each case on the islands, in the Red Sea and in “the bases where the Zionists and the Americans are stationed.”

If the United States and its alliance ultimately decide to directly challenge the Houthis in the Red Sea, they will face a vast naval war from the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. If that were to happen, an unstoppable spiral of confrontations of incalculable dimensions would be unleashed.

In any case, Yemen has already managed to use its strategic position as a force in global balances and impose itself as an important part in the ongoing confrontation by expressing one of the bravest forms of support for the Palestinian people, who face the Israeli-backed war machine, backed by the United States and Great Britain. The Yemeni position contributes important pressure against Zionism and its North American mentor.

Controlling the Suez Canal means controlling 90 percent of world trade that directly involves Israel and can affect its economy. In this sense, the Houthis have managed to do what Israel and the United States have tried to avoid at all costs until now: “to turn the genocide in Gaza into a global crisis.”

Lebanese journalist Khalil Harb, citing the World Bank in an article in the online magazine The Cradle, stated that the “occupation state imports and exports nearly 99 percent of goods via waterways and shipping” and “more than one-third of its GDP depends on trade in goods.”

For his part Eduardo Vasco, a Brazilian journalist specializing in international politics, pointed out that in addition to the direct impact that the Houthi movement is causing in Western Asia, its actions are “paralyzing the world economy, that is, the very functioning of the capitalist regime, which is at the root of the problem of the war of aggression in the Middle East.”

In this framework, Vasco believes that the United States and Israel are limited in carrying out a direct attack on Yemen, because there could be reprisals against the United States’ allies in the region, “mainly against their oil fields, which would brutally aggravate the economic crisis with one of oil (which has already started). For this reason, while the UAE wants strong action against the Houthis, the Saudis are cautious.”

At the last minute and almost as this article was closing, information arrived that Yemen had attacked a U.S. ship transporting supplies to Israel, thus responding to recent U.S. attacks against Yemeni naval forces. Likewise, responding to the statements of U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, the deputy foreign minister of Yemen, Hussein Al-Ezzi, ratified that Yemen would respect, “the security of navigation to all destinations, except the ports of occupied Palestine,” categorically denying the false information disseminated by Washington, London and Berlin regarding the safety of navigation.

The preceding lines show the capacity and decision of the Yemeni people to assume an active role combating Israel’s war against Palestine. By their deeds, they make it clear that, even though Yemen is a relatively small country and marginalized globally and regionally from economic development, it maintains a will to fight that expresses the ancient feeling that it exists as an independent nation. The Yemenis call into question the main world powers by placing obstacles and impediments to the imperial execution of their policy in the region that they express through their full support for Israel.

[The author is a consultant, international analyst and former Director of International Relations of the Presidency of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and Ambassador for the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to Nicaragua. Translated by the author and edited by Workers World staff. Courtesy: Workers World, a US-based left party founded in 1959 by Sam Marcy.]