Houthis Warn Against Joining Saudi     09/21 06:10

   

   CAIRO (AP) -- A senior official with the Iran-backed Houthi rebels is 
warning countries against joining Saudi Arabia in Yemen's revived civil war, 
telling The Associated Press on Sunday that his group has assured the Trump 
administration that it won't attack U.S. vessels in the Red Sea.

   Mohamed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthis' political bureau, said 
Washington reached out to the rebels after their rapid advance down Yemen's 
western coast to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait earlier this month.

   "We confirmed that we are not targeting the United States, or any other 
nation, in the strait, with the sole exception of the Saudi enemy," he told the 
AP in a Zoom interview from the rebel-held Yemeni capital, Sanaa. "That remains 
the case."

   U.S. President Donald Trump last weekend said his administration has "had 
discussions" with the Houthis, but did not say when. "The Houthis called us, 
and they don't want to fight with us," he said. "They would much prefer not 
having us involved, and they're letting most ships go through."

   The AP later reported that Oman hosted a meeting between U.S. and Houthi 
representatives last weekend, citing a Houthi official and another individual 
familiar with the talks. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were 
not authorized to brief the media.

   However, al-Bukhaiti only confirmed indirect contacts with U.S. officials 
through longtime mediator Oman, which brokered a 2025 ceasefire between the 
Houthis and the Trump administration. That ended a weekslong U.S. bombing 
campaign against the rebels in return for them ceasing attacks on U.S. vessels 
in the Red Sea.

   "The goal of our military operations is not to close the Bab el-Mandeb 
Strait, but rather to ensure freedom of navigation through it for everyone, 
including Yemen," he said.

   The Houthis claim they can fight a war on multiple fronts

   Al-Bukhaiti said the rebels have the capacity to fight a war on multiple 
fronts "should any nation become implicated in the aggression against Yemen 
alongside Saudi Arabia."

   "Today, Yemen is capable of waging battle -- not merely an internal 
conflict, but an international one as well," he said.

   He said the Houthi attacks against neighboring Saudi Arabia will persist 
until Riyadh ends its decade-long blockade on rebel-held areas in Yemen and 
allows vessels to reach Houthi-controlled ports on the Red Sea. Then they will 
be ready to negotiate, he said.

   Al-Bukhaiti blamed Saudi Arabia for the latest escalation of violence in 
Yemen, which he said erupted after an airstrike blamed on the Saudi-led 
coalition fighting the rebels hit the Sanaa international airport. The strike 
prevented an Iranian flight carrying a Houthi delegation to land. The flight 
was a Houthi attempt to challenge the coalition's air and naval blockade.

   The Houthis responded with missile and drone strikes on Saudi Arabia, 
including one that targeted Riyadh on Saturday before being intercepted. Saudi 
officials said debris from a Houthi drone also killed one civilian and injured 
others.

   The Houthis also declared a blockade on Saudi shipping in the Bab el-Mandeb 
Strait and the Red Sea, attacking Saudi-linked vessels and oil facilities 
inside the kingdom, the world's top oil exporter.

   The Saudis and their allies have long struggled to contain the Houthis, and 
may be tempted to seek a diplomatic solution to halt attacks. That might 
ultimately require U.S. concessions to Iran, the only country with leverage 
over the Houthis. But Washington's negotiations with Tehran over their own war 
fell apart weeks ago.

   "We have not closed the door to peace," Mahdi al-Mashat, president of the 
Houthis' Supreme Political Council, the top executive body, said in a speech 
Sunday marking the anniversary of their 2014 takeover of Sanaa.

   The U.S., which bombed the Houthis under the Biden and Trump 
administrations, has shown no interest in getting involved militarily this time 
around.

   The rebels believe power has shifted in their favor

   The rebels' advance inside Yemen seized the crucial port city of Mokha and 
key Red Sea islands that allow them to better monitor shipping traffic through 
the Bab el-Mandeb, through which some 12% of world trade normally passes.

   The Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces, long divided into factions, 
withdrew but have vowed to regroup.

   The escalation ended a 2022 ceasefire that largely ended fighting in Yemen's 
civil war, which started when the Houthis swept in from their mountainous 
heartland and seized much of northern and central Yemen, including Sanaa, 12 
years ago.

   The Saudi-led coalition entered the war the following year on behalf of the 
internationally recognized government. The civil war killed at least 150,000 
people, according to U.N. estimates, and pushed the country to the brink of 
famine.

   Now, with Houthis in control of Yemen's western coast overlooking the Red 
Sea shipping corridor, "the balance of power has shifted in favor of the Sanaa 
government," al-Bukhaiti said, referring to the rebels' de facto authorities 
there.

   "Ultimately, (Saudi Arabia) lost its most critical card: the west coast," he 
said.