Frankly Speaking: Are Houthis doing more harm than good for Gaza?

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Updated 08 February 2024
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Frankly Speaking: Are Houthis doing more harm than good for Gaza?

  • Houthi disruption of Red Sea shipping hurts, not helps, Gaza Palestinians, US diplomat Tim Lenderking tells Arab News
  • Special envoy for Yemen says the militia’s actions are complicating the movement of vital supplies into the stricken enclave

DUBAI: Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden are no way to express solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza, according to Timothy Lenderking, the Biden administration’s special envoy for Yemen.

Lenderking, a career member of the US Senior Foreign Service, made the remark on “Frankly Speaking,” Arab News’ current affairs show.

Since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in October last year, the Iran-backed militia has been launching missiles and drones from Yemen not only at Israel, but also at commercial and military vessels in the region’s waterways.

The militia says that its actions are an expression of solidarity with Gaza — a claim Lenderking strongly disagrees with, citing the resultant “increasing freight and insurance costs” and higher prices in general.




Timothy Lenderking, the US special envoy for Yemen. (US State Department)

“It’s just unfortunate that the Houthis have chosen to convey their solidarity with the Palestinians, which many people feel, many Americans feel, many regional countries feel, by attacking regional shipping,” Lenderking told Ali Itani, the host of this episode of “Frankly Speaking.”

“It’s as though I have an issue with my neighbor, and I go and burn down the neighborhood grocery store. It makes no sense.”

He added: “This action by the Houthis is doing nothing to help the Palestinians, nothing to alleviate the suffering of Gazans at all. In fact, on the contrary, it’s complicating the movement of vital supplies into Gaza. So, this is also an adverse effect of what the Houthis are doing. It is simply the wrong reaction.”

The US State Department only recently announced the listing of “Ansarallah, commonly referred to as the Houthis, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group.”

Yet, between 2015 and 2022, Houthi missiles repeatedly struck civilian infrastructure and population centers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, some of which killed civilians.

The State Department had listed the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization in January 2021 in the last days of former president Donald Trump’s administration but revoked the designation less than one month later when President Joe Biden took office.




Timothy Lenderking, a career member of the US Senior Foreign Service, spoke to Ali Itani of Arab News on “Frankly Speaking,” on the repercussions of the crisis precipitated by ongoing Houthi attacks on regional shipping. (AN photo)

Lenderking said the recent relisting of the Houthis as a terrorist group was a response to their attacks on civilian and commercial ships “in a reckless, indiscriminate manner,” adding that more than 50 nations have been affected by the latest violence.

“This is becoming a global problem, raising prices, increasing freight costs and insurance costs — not for the wealthy, but for those moving wheat,” Lenderking said.

“This is hurting all sorts of consumers and ordinary people all over the world. And that’s why there’s been such a short, such a sharp reaction and why the reaction is growing against this Houthi behavior.”

Defending the US decision to revoke the Houthis’ terrorist designation in February 2021, Lenderking said that despite some “detestable aspects of (Houthi) ideology” and a litany of documented human rights violations carried out by the group, the US “felt that removing the designation would lessen the stress on humanitarian networks in Yemen,” something that was a priority for the Biden administration.




Frankly Speaking special host Ali Itani. (AN photo) 

“The reason that we removed that terrorist designation three years ago was because the US wanted to set a new course with Yemen, and with this conflict, and to put incredible priority on ending the war in Yemen, which had raged for almost eight years at that point,” he said.

“And it clearly was the right decision, as over the next period of time leading into April 2022, neither side was able to score a military victory over the other. And a key international point was fulfilled; that is that there is no military solution to the conflict. That is still the case.”

He added: “We’ve put serious money on the table to try to help ordinary Yemenis deal with the problems and challenges of the war, the damage to infrastructure. That remains a commitment,” he said.

“And we’re very eager to get back to a Yemen that is moving forward toward a peace deal, moving beyond the truce into a durable ceasefire, Yemeni-Yemeni political talks. This is still our goal.”

Now that the terror designation has been reinstated against the Houthis, there are concerns that humanitarian aid projects will face disruption.

“We are very cognizant of that and very concerned about it,” said Lenderking. “That’s why we felt that the specially designated global terrorist designation, or SDGT, was an appropriate tool at this particular time.

“It does provide carve-outs, licenses to ensure that humanitarian organization, basic commerce, movement of food, fuel, medicine to Yemenis will continue so that the vital work of NGOs and the UN can proceed in Yemen, and all those workers who are working in very, very difficult circumstances in Yemen to provide help to the Yemeni people.

“And so we’re fulfilling our commitment to the Yemeni people while at the same time, really shining the spotlight on the reckless behavior of the Houthis and trying to demonstrate how that’s hurting them and also hurting Yemen.”

Though the US has repeatedly affirmed its support for a peaceful, non-military solution to the decade-long Yemeni conflict — backing up its promises with more than $5 billion in humanitarian aid since the start of the conflict — the strikes against the Houthis have cast doubt on Washington’s commitment to peace.

“On the contrary, the US has been a huge backer under this administration of a strong peace effort, which has delivered results,” said Lenderking. “There’s been a truce for two years. It’s largely held, that truce, despite all of the other turmoil in the region.

“So, it’s hugely disappointing on our part to see that the Houthis have chosen to attack international commerce, the international economy, in a way that has nothing to do with the purported purpose of those attacks.”

Lenderking said that the Central Command’s retaliatory strikes were limited to military targets only. “The targets that have been selected are all missile sites and storage facilities, UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) capabilities that are specifically aimed at international shipping,” he said. “They are having a significant impact in degrading that capability.”

He underscored the importance of keeping the Houthis focused on the peace process in Yemen as opposed to the war in Gaza.

“I think we all recognize that we are not going to solve any of the problems in the region if we have to keep dealing with these attacks on shipping. So, let the Houthis de-escalate this effort, we de-escalate, and we can move the focus back to helping the Gazans in a genuine and effective way. And also working toward a genuine and durable peace in Yemen.”

Progress toward this genuine and durable peace is being undermined, however, by the continued smuggling of weapons to the Houthis by its primary backer, Iran.

“Here we see the very negative role that Iran is playing,” said Lenderking. “Those weapons that are being shipped to the Houthis, to be used in a variety of ways to antagonize the region, to attack global shipping, those weapons come from Iran.

“They’re not coming from other countries. They’re coming from Iran, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions not to fuel the conflict through providing weapons to the Houthis.

“This is exactly the kind of negative role that the Iranians are playing, even though they’re trying to portray the activity of Hamas and the Houthis as justified. This is not justified. And international conventions and law indicate that.”

He added: “We do need the Iranians to dial back their lethal support for the Houthis, encourage the Houthis, as they have done on some occasions, I must note, to return their focus to the peace effort in Yemen and stop fanning, fueling the conflict.”

Although the US and its coalition of allies responding to the Houthi threat to shipping have sought to portray the attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden as a separate issue to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Lenderking recognizes they are a symptom of the Middle East conflict.

“We’re all very keen to see immediate, measurable, demonstrable improvement in the lives of Palestinians in Gaza and to see that the maximum amount of humanitarian assistance can be brought to the Palestinian people there,” he said.

“That was very much the focus of Secretary Antony Blinken’s most recent travel to the Gulf region and to Israel. I accompanied him on part of that trip, in the Gulf, and the conversations that we had with Gulf leaders in Qatar and Saudi Arabia and the UAE, there was a great deal of convergence on the importance of increasing humanitarian supplies to Gaza. So, that is not just a US priority, it’s a regional priority and an international priority.

“Unfortunately, what the Houthis are doing is interfering with that priority, making that goal even more difficult. So, this isn’t an act of solidarity with the Palestinians in a concrete way that is helping them. As I say, it is hurting the Palestinians.”

One area where the Gulf states align with Washington is the need to secure the two-state solution as a means of resolving the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Although the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing back against the proposal, Lenderking says it remains the ultimate US goal in the region.

“Part of the root cause is that there is no state for the Palestinians,” he said.

“That’s why you see the US leadership so focused on the two-state solution, which is seen as ultimately the way to address the concerns that are being reflected in the Gaza conflict, and why the US is leading regional efforts to do that, and why this administration is so determined to see that positive result come through this.

“But this is all no excuse for any regional actor to create more stress on the regional economies, to create more stress on regional conflicts by firing indiscriminately into international shipping lanes.”

 


35,562 Palestinians killed in Gaza offensive since Oct. 7 — health ministry

Updated 5 sec ago
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35,562 Palestinians killed in Gaza offensive since Oct. 7 — health ministry

106 Palestinians were killed and 176 injured in the past 24 hours

DUBAI: More than 35,562 Palestinians have been killed and 79,652 injured in the Israeli military offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Monday.
One hundred and six Palestinians were killed and 176 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry added.

Source close to Hezbollah says 4 dead in Israeli strikes on Lebanon

Updated 9 min 6 sec ago
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Source close to Hezbollah says 4 dead in Israeli strikes on Lebanon

  • The source close to Hezbollah told AFP that “at least four Hezbollah fighters were killed in Israeli raids on two different sites in southern Lebanon“
  • The Israeli military said fighter jets struck “a Hezbollah terrorist cell”

BEIRUT: A source close to Hezbollah said four fighters were killed Monday in south Lebanon, with the Iran-backed group announcing two dead and a retaliatory attack, while Israel claimed strikes.
Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, has traded near daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces since the Palestinian group’s October 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.
The source close to Hezbollah told AFP that “at least four Hezbollah fighters were killed in Israeli raids on two different sites in southern Lebanon,” identifying the locations as Naqura on the coast and Mais Al-Jabal, a border village to the east.
The Shiite Muslim movement said two of its fighters, both from Naqura, had been killed, without providing further details.
The Israeli military said fighter jets struck “a Hezbollah terrorist cell” and a launch post in the Mais Al-Jabal area, while Israeli army “artillery fired to remove a threat” in the Naqura area.
Hezbollah said it launched a heavy rocket attack at an Israeli army barracks in the country’s north “in retaliation” for the Naqura strike, while also announcing other attacks on Israeli positions.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) reported Israeli strikes on Mais Al-Jabal and Naqura, where it said Israel fired near Hezbollah-affiliated rescue personnel and wounded a civilian.
The fighting has killed at least 423 people in Lebanon, mostly militants but also including 82 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
Israel says 14 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed on its side of the border.
The violence has raised fears of all-out conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, which went to war in 2006.


War monitor says Israeli strikes kill six pro-Iran fighters in Syria

Updated 20 May 2024
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War monitor says Israeli strikes kill six pro-Iran fighters in Syria

  • A Hezbollah source said that at least one fighter from the group was killed in Israeli strikes in the Qusayr area

Beirut: A war monitor said at least six pro-Iran fighters were killed Monday in Israeli strikes in Syria near the Lebanese border, in an area where Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah group holds sway.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said “Israeli strikes targeted two positions of pro-Iran groups in the Homs region,” including “a Hezbollah site in the Qusayr area” near the border where “six Iran-backed fighters were killed.”
The Observatory did not specify their nationalities.
A Hezbollah source told AFP that at least one fighter from the group was killed in Israeli strikes in the Qusayr area.
Israel rarely comments on individual strikes in Syria but has repeatedly said it will not allow its arch-enemy Iran to expand its presence there.
On Saturday, the Observatory said an Israeli drone strike near the Lebanese border targeted a vehicle carrying “a Hezbollah commander and his companion,” without reporting casualties.
Hezbollah did not announce any deaths among its ranks on Saturday.
On May 9, Israeli strikes on Syria targeted facilities belonging to Iraq’s Al-Nujaba armed movement, the Observatory and the pro-Iran group said, with Damascus saying an unidentified building was attacked.
The Israeli military has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria since the outbreak of the civil war in its northern neighbor in 2011, mainly targeting army positions and Iran-backed fighters including from Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.
But the strikes increased after Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip began on October 7, when the Iran-backed Palestinian militant group launched an unprecedented attack against Israel.
Syria’s war has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions more since it erupted in 2011 after Damascus cracked down on anti-government protests.


ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrant for Israeli and Hamas leaders, including Netanyahu

Updated 47 min 24 sec ago
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ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrant for Israeli and Hamas leaders, including Netanyahu

  • Karim Khan believes Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity

THE HAGUE, Netherlands: The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said Monday he is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in connection with their actions during the seven-month war between Israel and Hamas.

Karim Khan said that he believes Netanyahu, his defense minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders — Yehia Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh — are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel.

The prosecutor must request the warrants from a pre-trial panel of three judges, who take on average two months to consider the evidence and determine if the proceedings can move forward.

Israel is not a member of the court, and even if the arrest warrants are issued, Netanyahu and Gallant do not face any immediate risk of prosecution. But Khan’s announcement deepens Israel’s isolation as it presses ahead with its war, and the threat of arrest could make it difficult for the Israeli leaders to travel abroad.

Both Sinwar and Deif are believed to be hiding in Gaza as Israel tries to hunt them down. But Haniyeh, the supreme leader of the Islamic militant group, is based in Qatar and frequently travels across the region.

There was no immediate comment from either side.

Israel launched its war in response to an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas that killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 250 others hostage. The Israeli offensive has killed over 35,000 Palestinians, at least half of them women and children, according to the latest estimates by Gaza health officials. The Israeli offensive has also triggered a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, displacing roughly 80 percent of the population and leaving hundreds of thousands of people on the brink of starvation, according to UN officials.

Speaking of the Israeli actions, Khan said in a statement that “the effects of the use of starvation as a method of warfare, together with other attacks and collective punishment against the civilian population of Gaza are acute, visible and widely known. ... They include malnutrition, dehydration, profound suffering and an increasing number of deaths among the Palestinian population, including babies, other children, and women.”

The United Nations and other aid agencies have repeatedly accused Israel of hindering aid deliveries throughout the war. Israel denies this, saying there are no restrictions on aid entering Gaza and accusing the United Nations of failing to distribute aid. The UN says aid workers have repeatedly come under Israeli fire, and also says ongoing fighting and a security vacuum have impeded deliveries.

Of the Hamas actions on Oct. 7, Khan, who visited the region in December, said that he saw for himself “the devastating scenes of these attacks and the profound impact of the unconscionable crimes charged in the applications filed today. Speaking with survivors, I heard how the love within a family, the deepest bonds between a parent and a child, were contorted to inflict unfathomable pain through calculated cruelty and extreme callousness. These acts demand accountability.”

After a brief period of international support for its war, Israel has faced increasing criticism as the war has dragged on and the death toll has climbed.

Israel is also facing a South African case in the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide. Israel denies those charges.


Israel intends to broaden Rafah sweep, Defense Minister Gallant tells Washington

Updated 20 May 2024
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Israel intends to broaden Rafah sweep, Defense Minister Gallant tells Washington

  • After weeks of public disagreements with Washington over the Rafah planning, Israel on May 6 ordered Palestinian civilians to evacuate parts of the city and began troop and tank incursions.

JERUSALEM: Israel intends to broaden its military operation in Rafah, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday told a senior aide to US President Joe Biden, who has warned against major action in the southern Gazan city that may risk mass civilian casualties.
Israel describes Rafah, which abuts the Gaza Strip’s border with the Egyptian Sinai, as the last stronghold of Hamas Islamists whose governing and combat capabilities it has been trying to dismantle during the more than seven-month-old war.
After weeks of public disagreements with Washington over the Rafah planning, Israel on May 6 ordered Palestinian civilians to evacuate parts of the city and began troop and tank incursions.
“We are committed to broadening the ground operation in Rafah to the end of dismantling Hamas and recovering the hostages,” a statement from Gallant’s office quoted him as telling visiting US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
Israel believes dozens of hostages from the cross-border Hamas rampage on Oct. 7 are being held in Rafah.
Western powers and Egypt have voiced concern for the fate of hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians sheltering there, despite Israeli assurances about humanitarian safeguards.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA said on Monday that it estimated 810,000 people had fled Rafah since May 6 — potentially more than half of the city’s wartime population.
There was no immediate US comment on the Gallant talks.
The statement from Gallant’s office said he “presented to (National Security) Adviser Sullivan the provisions Israel implemented for evacuating the population from the Rafah area and for setting up the appropriate humanitarian response.”
Israel says its forces in Rafah have discovered dozens of tunnels from the Sinai, a potential embarrassment for Cairo. The Egyptian state information service has previously dismissed speculation about cross-border smuggling to Gaza as “lies.”