The National Interest warns against "turning the scales" in Yemen in favor of the Houthis
English - Sunday 21 February 2021 الساعة 08:49 pm
Aden, NewsYemen:
Researcher Ari Hestin described the US desire to end its support for the conflict in Yemen as a "noble sentiment," but warned against tipping the scales in favor of the Houthis, who are allied with Iran.
"Tipping the scales in favor of the Houthis could have dire repercussions not only for regional security, but also for the people of Yemen condemned to live under the cruel Houthi dictatorship," he said in an article in the National Interest.
"The tragic nature of the conflict in which so many innocent people have been killed is indisputable," he said.
In early 2015, he said, the United States faced a list of "unwanted" options after being informed of an imminent Saudi-led campaign in Yemen to restore the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
Hestin commented on an article for Foreign Affairs, written by Robert Malley and Stephen Bomber, in which they said, "Saudi Arabia would almost certainly have intervened in Yemen even if the administration of former President Barack Obama refused its call for help, with less regard for the laws of war in the absence of flawed oversight." To the United States. "
According to Hestin, as of March 2021, estimates of the number of civilians killed during the six years of aerial bombardment ranged from 4,800 to 9,000.
By way of comparison, he referred to a report issued by the UK government in August 2020 on the Syrian civil war, in which it was stated that Russian forces alone were responsible for nearly 7,000 civilian deaths over the course of the conflict, while Syrian regime forces killed nearly 200,000 civilians.
He also referred to a report issued by the US State Department in March 2020, and stated that in April 2019 alone, the air and ground forces loyal to the Syrian regime killed thousands of civilians in northwestern Syria.
He explained, "This comparison is not intended in any way to reduce the tragedy of the innocents who were killed in Yemen, but rather to shed light on the fact that without guidance from the United States, which insists on adhering to the rules of war, the repercussions of the civil war in Yemen may have been worse."
