In Yemen’s War, the Rebels, Not the Saudis, Hold All the Cards
The Houthis see Riyadh’s peace offering as a sign of weakness to exploit.
Not standing down yet.
Photographer: Mohammed Huwais/AFP
Hours after Saudi Arabia proposed a cease-fire to end Yemen’s six-year war, jets from the Saudi-led coalition bombed military positions in the capital of Sana’a belonging to the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. We shouldn’t be surprised. It is not unusual in long-running wars for a truce to be followed by a spasm of fighting, as the belligerents try to gain some advantage they can use at the negotiating table.
But if that is what the coalition was seeking, it is certain to be disappointed. The rebels, having dismissed the Saudi offer as “not serious and [containing] nothing new,” are working toward a more ambitious goal: the capture of Marib in the eponymous hydrocarbon-rich governorate east of Sana’a.