American arms and hypocrisy in Yemen; Yemenis united

Amnesty International has once again accused the United States government of “deadly hypocrisy” for its military aid and massive arms deals with the Zionist regime of Israel and Saudi Arabia that have carried out war crimes and other violations of international protocols.

The international organization has also called on the US government to do an about-face on its current policy of providing vast arms sales and military aid to repressive client states in the Middle East. Since Barack Obama took office, the US government has done a staggering $110 billion in arms sales with the Saudi monarchy alone - amounting to an unprecedented increase. Like Israel, Saudi Arabia has long been a close US ally, and the US-Saudi military alliance has grown dramatically since 2015. Throughout the past year, US weapons have kept flowing to Saudi Arabia, even while the United Nations and human rights groups have documented a slew of Saudi war crimes in Yemen.

Here, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have also condemned the US and UK governments for providing weapons, military intelligence and support to the Saudi-led coalition that has since March 2015 launched thousands of air strikes in Yemen, warning that they may be complicit in war crimes. The bottom line is that the US government considers to arm Saudi Arabia with precisely the kinds of weapons that Saudi Arabia and other proxies have used to attack civilian communities in Yemen. That’s the fundamental problem and International Law is clear on that: Nobody should be putting more bombs or weapons in the hands of the so-called Saudi-led coalition.

As is, the US-backed air campaign is designed to help the Saudis and their military re-establish regional position, silence the opposition, and maintain a kind of international prestige. It’s a huge relief for Israel too, because under the pretext of fighting terror and humanitarian intervention, Riyadh has effectively shut down any regional discussions about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Here is the final argument though: Under the fundamental rule of International Law, Saudi Arabia and other US proxies have no right to bomb Yemen. They have no authorization from the UN Security Council and they are not acting in genuine self-defense. They offer no explanation. Without UN mandate, they have no right to act as unilateral cop or in alliance with others to strike Yemen.

Into the argument, it is wrong to assume that the airstrikes, supported by the US government, are peripheral. They are central to the balance of power within the Arab world, to tensions within the region, and are at the core of fears in the global oil market. That said, the campaign has failed to affect regime change in the war-torn country. That’s the nature of any illegal war. Calling it anything even close to a proxy war against Iran is deceitful too, since the Saudis aren’t acting by proxy, and meantime, the popular forces - that are formed of Ansarullah movement and a dozen other large groups who altogether set up the popular committees - and army of war-ravaged Yemen are no proxy of Tehran. In effect, the Saudi-led warplanes are bombing the civilian infrastructure with no care for civilian life on the ground. They seek to salvage the US imperial policy and maintain the regional status quo. It is past time for the UN Security Council to stop playing politics, and start using the leverage it has to stop this madness. This kind of outdated aggression and barbarity is condemnable by any decent human being. It has no place in the 21st century.

Meantime, Yemen’s war has taken an unprecedented turn: Yemen’s war took a turn that Saudi Arabia and its Western allies never anticipated, let alone planned for. Some 18 months into what has arguably been one of the most violent, cruel, and vicious military interventions of our generation, impoverished Yemen is set to teach wealthy Saudi Arabia a lesson in Resistance, it is unlikely to ever forget.

It is two of today's Saudi Arabia southern provinces which stand under the control of Yemen Resistance Movement: Asir and Najran. In the face of aggravated political, financial, military and humanitarian pressure, Yemen has managed to rise a revolutionary tide against the very Tyranny which has blotted the Sun of Arabia for decades. The very war which should have ended all others – yes, Yemen, which was meant to serve as a cautionary tale against those nations foolish enough to think themselves free under the blade of Wahhabist Saudi Arabia and neocon America, has flipped so completely against the aggressors, that the wolf has now become the prey!

And while Yemen still burns bright under the fire of al-Saud … vengeance as it were, comes easy to al-Saud, especially when it involves the slaughtering of innocent civilians, a nation has answered genocide with absolute defiance. Far from surrendering to the will of the mighty, Yemen has carved itself a way into the kingdom – together an inspiration and a hope, proof, that valor lies in the hearts of those who wield courage, instead of money.

The systemic destruction and blackmail of Yemeni people was subjected to so that al-Saud could claim control over Arabia altogether, and the world oil route entirely. It would have been much easier to give up! Yemen, it needs to be said, could have long ago sold out to al-Saud’s Wahhabi theocracy to be reborn as yet another monarchy. Let's be abundantly clear, Yemen’s war is a war of political enslavement and religious indoctrination – talks of democracy, and institutional legitimacy have been but distraction thrown at certain gullible public, by an accommodating media. Twice-resigned, runaway President Abde Rabbo Mansour Hadi could not have possibly warrant such a furious military storm.

Why would foreign powers even attempt to rescue this pale figure of a politician’s presidency, if not to serve their own interests? According to the Shafaqna Institute for Middle Eastern Studies and the Mona Relief Organization over 12,000 civilians have lost their lives since March 2015, besides an excess of 70,000 casualties … not exactly what the United Nations has been parading around. Riyadh has played its billions of dollars to whitewash its many despicable crimes at the feet of those acting in self-defense. Any criticism today of Yemen Resistance Movement really translates in the negation of Yemen’s right to protect its national sovereignty and integrity. How can we challenge a nation’s right to protect the integrity of its territories and the future of its institutions, while others take such rights for granted? However, insane and ludicrous this may sound, this is exactly what certain powers has asked of Yemen. An echo to Saudi Arabia imperialism, the so-called international community has campaigned in part, and argued for Yemen’ surrender, making such injustice palatable by dressing it in political righteousness. But Yemen is not of those who bow before tyranny.

Sadly the veil of deceit remains as thick as the Westerners’ greed. In fact, as Professor Mohammad Marandi from Tehran University noted in an interview with the Shafaqna Institute of Middle Eastern Studies: “Saudi Arabia, however difficult it is to say, did Yemen a favor by uniting its people under one common banner.” Indeed, before Riyadh’s murderous colonialism, Yemen rose united in its Resistance Movement. No longer fragmented, no longer opposed to one another, Yemen was truly reborn in the fires of war. Today, this Phoenix is reclaiming its due.

Today, Yemen is calling for the return of its land, and the fall of the House of Saud. Today, Yemen has asserted control over two out of three of its former provinces: Asir and Najran …. Soon maybe Jizan. Yemen Resistance Movement is no longer fighting a losing battle. Yemen is certainly not alone. Tribes in Asir, Jizan and Najran have longed declared their loyalty to Yemen – their homeland. And why would not they, when they have suffered in their flesh and in their faith the brutal intolerance of Wahhabism – this cult which has called upon the murder of all religions but its own?

EA/ME