I would say here that Fate, not to use another word, has a sense of humour. 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.
As I sit at my computer typing Yemen’s military prowess, it is two of 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 one too many centuries.
The very war which should have ended all others – yes, Yemen 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 valour lies in the hearts of those who wield courage, instead of money.
I don’t think the public appreciates still the extent of Yemen’s pain – the systemic destruction, and blackmail an entire 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 gulf monarchy.
Let me be abundantly clear here, Yemen’s war is a war of political enslavement and religious indoctrination – talks of democracy, and institutional legitimacy have been but distraction thrown at a gullible public, by an accommodating media. Twice-resigned, runaway President Abdo 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 died since March 2015, notwithstanding an excess of 70,000 casualties … not exactly what the United Nations has been parading around.
Need I remind readers how Riyadh has played its billions of dollars to whitewash its many despicable crimes and land blame at the feet of those acting in self-defence. 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, when we ourselves take such rights for granted? However insane and ludicrous this may sound, this is exactly what the world has asked of Yemen.
An echo to Saudi Arabia imperialism, the international community has campaigned, 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.
Yemen fights, Yemen has fought when all others would have surrendered … Why you may ask? Why fight an impossible war? Why stand alone against the multitude? Because doing otherwise would go against Yemen’s very nature.
Worth we ought to learn cannot be measured one’s riches …
Should you still entertain the idea that Yemen Resistance Movement, those warriors Western press labelled rebels to manipulate you into denigrating them, ask yourself what you would do to defend your land, your people, and your national identity?
Finally ask yourself why again your willing media have drowned you in sectarian adjectives, playing maestro to the orchestra of your prejudices. Your governments quite simply did not want you to associate with the Houthis – the carriers of Yemen’s independence.
They did not want you to recognise in Yemen’s Resistance the expression of your own nationalism … because you would then have clamoured for Saudi Arabia to withdraw.
Surely then, you would have called Saudi Arabia’s massacres against unarmed civilians the Terror they truly are, demanding that your governments end all dealings with such grand war criminals.
Sadly the veil of deceit remains as thick as our Western capitals’ greed.
But think not Yemen beaten! In fact, as Professor Mohammad Marandi from Tehran University noted in an interview he conducted with me for the Shafaqna Institute of Middle Eastern Studies: “Saudi Arabia, however difficult it is to say, did Yemen a favour 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. And while for now nations have still shun away from the battlefield, 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?
Catherine Shakdam is the Director of Programs of the Shafaqna Institute for Middle Eastern Studies and a political analyst specializing in radical movements, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
