‘When the war stops, so will we’, say the Houthis

YemenExtra

Khalil Dewan interview

Khalil interviewed Muhammed Al-Bukhaithi, Deputy Head of the Department of External Relations of Ansar Allah (otherwise known as the Houthis) and member of the Political Bureau. The Houthis are currently allied with former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and have been in control of the capital Sana’a since 2014.

As the battle lines settle on a stalemate after the inception of the Saudi-led coalition’s unforgiving bombing campaign, it’s about time all parties to the conflict think about a peace process, which must include the Houthi armed group. “We are ready to reach a peace agreement with the Saudi-led coalition”, Deputy Head of External Relations, Muhammed Al-Bukhaithi confirms to me.

It’s of mutual interest for all parties in the conflict to put an end to war, but the Houthis claim that Saudi Arabia is not acting with “morality” or “logic of interest” in Yemen. Any form of peace talks requires direct dialogue, but Al-Bukhaithi claims the Saudi-led coalition “refuses this”.

The Houthi group’s main goal is to “establish justice and achieve a state of peace in Yemen,” Al-Bukhaithi emphasises. The group wish to do this with “ethical values” and without domination or imperialist ventures to supersede these goals, as seen in the global order today.

When Operation Decisive Storm began in March 2015, the Saudi-led coalition executed a coordinated aerial campaign against the Houthi group. But the Houthi armed group did not retaliate immediately. “We did not respond with a single shot for 40 days,” Al-Bukhaithi tells me. The Houthi group wanted to give the Saudi-led coalition the “opportunity to reconsider” their concerted attack campaign against them. Al-Bukhaiti says the Houthi group refrained because they wanted to show the world and the coalition that they have “no hostile intentions towards them”.

The Houthis have displayed sophisticated weaponry capability throughout the conflict, firing ballistic missiles more than 800 kilometres inside Saudi Arabia which have reached oil company Aramco in Yanbu province. Al-Bukhaiti reveals to me that the group believe the execution of rockets to be a “successful tactic”. The execution of rockets provides the group the ability to engage the coalition with “minimal loses”. The Houthi group do not envisage rescinding rocket fire into Saudi Arabia.