How will US President Joe Biden hold the Houthis accountable for their attack on the United Arab Emirates? Will he return “Ansar Allah” to the list of terrorist organizations? And what is the US administration’s priority: addressing Iran’s nuclear program or ending the terrorism of its militias?
The “Capital of Decision” program on Al-Hurra channel presented this topic to its guests: retired American Colonel David de Roche, a professor at the National Defense University in Washington. And Jonathan Schanzer, Senior Vice President of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington.Dirar Belhoul Al Falasi, member of the Federal National Council in the UAE, also participated in the dialogue from Dubai.
The Biden administration was quick to condemn the Houthis’ targeting of Abu Dhabi, describing it as a “terrorist attack.” Jake Sullivan, the US National Security Adviser, said that the United States “strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Abu Dhabi, for which the Houthis claimed responsibility. We will work with the UAE and international partners to hold the Houthis to account.” How will the Houthis be held accountable? What is the role of the United States in this?
“Understudied”… Obstacles to classifying the Houthis as a terrorist group
The American response to the Houthis will be in large part “diplomatic,” says Jonathan Schanzer, but “the diplomatic approach has so far failed to deter the Houthis and mitigate their attacks.” Therefore, Washington must “accept two main options: imposing sanctions on the Houthis, and supporting the Houthis.” The Saudi coalition in its battle against the Houthis in Yemen,” according to Schanzer.
While David de Roche considers that not imposing sanctions on the Houthis is not because the US government does not consider them a terrorist organization, but rather because of the “impact of sanctions on humanitarian aid to Yemenis” who suffer from starvation, while the Houthis control large areas of the country, and this is “the main problem.” faced by Washington in the matter of classifying the Houthis as a terrorist organization,” de Roche said.
Schanzer disagrees with “the Biden administration’s invocation of the humanitarian issue, while the Houthis are preventing international aid from reaching Yemenis.” He adds that there are “sanctions on the terrorist Hamas, which controls Gaza, and on Bashar al-Assad, and humanitarian aid continues to flow into Gaza and Syria.”
In the same context, Republican Representative Don Bacon says that “the intensity of Houthi attacks has doubled since President Biden removed this Iranian-backed organization from the list of terrorist organizations. We must put the Houthis back on the list again and prevent Iran from sending weapons to Yemen.”
In this context, the editorial of the “Wall Street Journal” noted that while “the Biden administration reiterates its adherence to diplomacy in its foreign policy, Washington’s opponents respond by advancing their interests by force, as is the case with the Houthis.” The editorial concludes that “the condolences offered by Foreign Minister Anthony Blinken to his Emirati counterpart are not enough, and that what is required is to reclassify the Houthis as a terrorist organization.”
From Dubai, Dirar Belhoul Al Falasi says that his country’s principle is that “it is not possible to negotiate with terrorists. Removing the Houthis from terrorist lists encouraged them to attack, not negotiate.”
Washington’s priorities and the accounts of its allies
“Ending the war in Yemen requires the participation of both parties to do so, and it will be very difficult,” the US president says. To this, Linda Thomas Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, adds, “The Houthi attack on Ma’rib is fueled by the illegal flow of weapons. The smuggling of weapons from Iran to the Houthis represents a flagrant violation of the UN arms embargo to Yemen, and this is a new example of how Iran’s activities contribute to destabilizing prolongation of the war in Yemen.
In contrast, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy calls on all parties to the Yemeni conflict to “avoid targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure. These incidents are likely to continue as long as the war continues. The international community must do everything in its power to end the fighting” in Yemen.
In addition, American writers Anil Shailene and Trita Parsi criticized “Biden’s silence about the Saudi war in Yemen, which he called at the beginning of his term to end. But nothing has changed after a year of Biden’s presence in the White House. American support encourages the Saudis, Emiratis and forces loyal to the president.” Hadi to continue the war,” Sheilaine and Parcy put it.
“The Houthi attack on the UAE opens a new front in the Yemen war,” notes Elena DeLoger, an expert at The Washington Institute. She wonders about “the best way to protect American interests in light of the parties to the Yemeni conflict sticking to a military solution, as well as protecting the Gulf allies from the Houthis, without supporting their offensive operations in Yemen.”
For his part, Dirar Belhoul Al Falasi says that “ending the Houthis’ control of the port of Hodeidah ends the smuggling of Iranian weapons, and ends the war in Yemen.”
Beyond condemnation
After the Abu Dhabi attack, there is an initiative in the corridors of the US Congress, where Republican leaders in the Senate are deliberating a draft bill to include the Houthis on the list of terrorism. 9 Republican members have signed the proposal so far, most notably: Senior Republican on the Intelligence Committee Marco Rubio, Senior Republican on the Armed Forces Committee Jim Inhofe, and Committee member Ted Cruz.
Jonathan Schanzer says that “the left wing of the Democratic Party is pressuring President Biden not to include the Houthis on the list of terrorist organizations, and the president must face this pressure that harms national security and American interests.” While David de Roche believes that Biden will not designate the Houthis a terrorist organization so as not to “complicate humanitarian aid to Yemen.”
For his part, Samuel Ramani, a writer in the “Washington Post”, notes that the talks with Iran and the negative repercussions on aid to Yemen may prevent Biden from designating the Houthis on the list of terrorist organizations.
The Houthi attack on Abu Dhabi International Airport renewed the internal American debate about the growing dangers of Iran’s militias to the security of the region, national security and American interests. And American researchers and experts are increasingly questioning the feasibility of continuing to negotiate with Iran over its nuclear program, while the Tehran-backed militias are intimidating Washington’s allies with high-accuracy drones to hit targets.