AL-MUKALLA: The president of Yemen’s Leadership Council has called on Arab nations to identify the Iran-backed Houthis as terrorists responsible for initiating a conflict that has led to the deaths of more than 500,000 people and displaced 5 million.
Speaking on Wednesday at the Arab League summit in Algiers, Rashad Al-Alimi said that the Houthis refused to extend the UN-brokered truce, carried out drone assaults on oil installations that halted shipments from regions under government control, and continued to further Iran’s goals in Yemen.
“We have made the decision to revise our strategy to deal with this extremist group by designating it as a terrorist organization, and we call on you, our honorable brothers, to do the same, based on the facts,” the Yemeni leader said, promising to lessen the effects of the Houthis’ assault on the economy and to ease Yemen’s humanitarian crises.
“This terrorist group has killed about 500,000 Yemenis, including women and children, displaced about 5 million others across the country and countries and continents, planted millions of mines, explosives, and explosives that are prohibited by international law, and pushed thousands of children and youth soldiers to the crematoria of death.”
Al-Alimi restated Yemen’s long-standing accusations that the Iranian government is attempting to destabilize the country by backing and arming the Houthis, and using Yemen as a platform to launch cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
“We did not have any problem with Iran and its people, who are now bearing all the troubles of its regime’s absurd adventures. Iran should instead work with its neighbors and the regional and international community and focus on serving and the welfare of its citizens.”
The Yemeni leader also called for Arab efforts to confront Iran’s expansionist ambitions in the region, including disrupting arms shipments and military know-how to the Houthis, shutting down Houthi media channels, and putting pressure on the militia to choose peace.
Yemen’s government branded the Houthi movement a terrorist group on Oct. 22, shortly after they fired drones at oil installations in the southern districts of Hadramout and Shabwa, and vowed to withdraw from the Stockholm Agreement, the UN-brokered truce, and other diplomatic measures to end the war if the Houthis continued their attacks on oil installations.
The Houthis had previously threatened to strike oil ships transporting oil from state-controlled ports if the government did not pay public employees in areas under their control.
“It is time for Arabs to stand together on Yemen to confront the subversive (Houthi) coup project based on superstition and racism, as well as attempts to separate our country from its Gulf and Arab fabric and turn it into an Iranian starting point for threatening Arab national security and global energy supplies,” the Yemeni leader said.