Houthi Demands for Yemeni Peace Process Contingent on Financial Concessions and Permanent Gaza Ceasefire.
In a detailed statement to the Russian newspaper Izvestia, Huzam al-Asad, a senior member of the Houthi politburo, framed the Gaza truce as a critical juncture for implementing the UN-sponsored roadmap for Yemen. Al-Asad posited that the parties now have a tangible opportunity to reopen vital humanitarian corridors, including ports and airports, execute a comprehensive prisoner exchange, and initiate the monumental task of national reconstruction. However, this proposition is explicitly conditional. The Houthi official directly linked tangible progress in Yemen to a sustained calm in Gaza, a strategic coupling that has become a defining feature of the group’s recent foreign policy and a significant tactical shift in their approach to negotiations.
Primary demand: removing financial restrictions
The most immediate and specific precondition set by the Houthis is the rescission of Saudi Arabian sanctions targeting individuals and organizations within its sphere of influence. Reports indicate that since March, 2022, Riyadh has blacklisted over forty such entities, freezing their assets within the kingdom. This sanction regime constitutes a direct challenge to the Houthi administration’s operational capacity and its claim to legitimate governance.
The demand for asset unfreezing is, in effect, a demand for the financial resources necessary to sustain basic governance in northern Yemen, a region encompassing 70-80% of the country’s population. The core of this financial crisis stems from a pivotal event in 2016: the relocation of the central bank of Yemen from the Houthi-held capital of Sana’a to the southern city of Aden, a stronghold of the internationally recognized government. This move was a strategic masterstroke for the Saudi-led coalition, as it deprived the Houthi authorities of access to state revenue, particularly from oil exports. In response, the parallel financial system established in Sana’a has proven insufficient and unstable, leading to significant and persistent arrears in public sector salary payments—a key point of social contention and a stipulated element of the UN roadmap.
The resumption of these salary payments, potentially financed through a negotiated share of oil exports, is thus a critical bargaining chip for the Houthis in current negotiations. It is a battle for control of financial resources needed to pay salaries, fund minimal services, and maintain the patronage networks that underpin their political and military power. Without this economic lifeline, the Houthi administration faces an existential threat to its long-term stability, making it a non-negotiable point for any serious peace talks.
Strategic evolution of Houthi objectives
The group, formally known as Ansar Allah, originated as a Zaydi Shi’a revivalist movement in northern Yemen, primarily protesting political marginalization and state corruption. Their initial aims during the 2014 seizure of Sana’a were domestically focused, centering on political reform, a greater share of power, and rectifying economic policies like fuel subsidy cuts that harmed their base.
The Saudi-led military intervention in 2015 fundamentally altered the conflict’s nature, transforming it from an internal power struggle into an internationally contested proxy war. Consequently, Houthi demands expanded and hardened. They grew to include the complete cessation of the coalition’s air and sea blockade, the withdrawal of all foreign forces, and substantial war reparations for the devastation inflicted upon Yemeni infrastructure and society. Their sustained military resilience—successfully defending Sana’a and most of the populous north against a coalition backed by the world’s most advanced military technology for nearly a decade—has subsequently bolstered their negotiating position to an unprecedented degree. This resilience has enabled them to bypass the internationally recognized Yemeni government, which they view as illegitimate, and engage in direct, bilateral talks with Riyadh, their primary adversary. This shift signifies a de facto recognition of the Houthis as the governing power in northern Yemen.
Strategic link with Gaza
The Houthi decision to link Yemen’s peace process to the Israel-Hamas war represents the most recent and significant evolution in their strategy. The group’s campaign of missile and drone attacks against international maritime traffic in the Red Sea, conducted in stated solidarity with Gaza, served a dual purpose. It projected their influence onto a global stage, framing themselves as key players in the “Axis of Resistance,” and it provoked a direct military response from US and UK forces, further elevating their status as a force capable of challenging Western powers.
Huzam al-Asad’s statement to Izvestia expertly leverages the subsequent Gaza ceasefire as a means to pressure Riyadh. He contended that “the cessation of aggression against the Gaza Strip removed the pretext that Saudi Arabia has used over the past two years to delay the implementation of the peace roadmap…under the pretext of the need to stop the escalation in the Red Sea.” This argument positions the group as a party capable of facilitating regional de-escalation, but only contingent upon the fulfillment of its financial and political terms.
However, the viability of this strategy is inherently precarious. The resumption of hostilities in Gaza in late October, just after the initial truce, shows the extreme volatility of the external context upon which this diplomatic opening depends. Analysts warn that a collapse of the peace process would almost certainly trigger a renewal of Houthi offensive operations. Sergey Serebrov, a senior researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Oriental Studies, suggests that in such a scenario, a repetition of Houthi cross-border attacks on Saudi critical infrastructure, including oil facilities, is highly probable. “The unacceptability of freezing the conflict is obvious due to the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe,” Serebrov noted, implying that the Houthis would feel compelled to resume hostilities to maintain pressure.
A narrowing window for peace
The current diplomatic environment, facilitated by Omani mediation and explored confidence-building measures like the resumption of flights between Sana’a and Oman, presents a narrow aperture for progress. On the international stage, other actors like Russia are also engaging with various Yemeni factions, including the secessionist Southern Transitional Council, emphasizing the need for a comprehensive UN-led national dialogue. This flurry of diplomatic activity underscores the rare confluence of factors that could potentially lead to a breakthrough.
Yet, the path forward remains fraught with challenges that extend far beyond the immediate demand for unfrozen assets. The Houthis’ conditions are part of a broader vision for a comprehensive political settlement that would secure their long-term authority over the territories they control. This includes the full lifting of the Saudi-led blockade, compensation for war damages, and a fundamental reordering of Yemen’s political structure that institutionalizes their power.
Furthermore, the interests of other determined regional and international actors remain a complicating factor. As Sergey Serebrov astutely observed, “In the region, there are many interested actors who may try to torpedo the agreement,” pointing to the strategic interests of the US, UK, and Israel in countering Houthi influence and their Iranian-backed network. For Saudi Arabia, the calculation is complex: it must weigh the desire to extricate itself from a costly and damaging war against the long-term security threat of a militant, Iran-aligned group entrenched on its southern border.
An implicit ultimatum
Immediate economic concessions, primarily the unfreezing of assets to fund their administration, and a permanent truce in Gaza are presented as non-negotiable prerequisites for peace. Underpinning these demands is the implicit and ever-present threat of resumed and potentially intensified conflict, one that could feature more sophisticated attacks on international shipping and Saudi critical infrastructure.
The onus is now on Saudi Arabia and the international community to determine whether to accommodate these demands within the fleeting opportunity provided by the Gaza ceasefire. The alternative is to accept the high probability of further escalation in a country already enduring the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The people of Yemen, who have borne the cost of this war through famine, disease, and displacement, are waiting, their fate once again tied to the diplomacy of distant capitals and the unstable truce in another conflict-ridden land. The window for peace is open, but it is fragile and threatens to slam shut at any moment.
Vanessa Sevidova, post-graduate student at MGIMO University and researcher on the Middle East and Africa
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