US OFFERED ‘INCENTIVES’ FOR HOUTHIS TO END SHIP ATTACKS
▶ Inducements included ‘accelerating’ Yemen peace process if Red Sea strikes halted, say sources
The US offered Yemen’s Houthis “incentives” through mediators in return for the Iranbacked rebels halting attacks in the Red Sea, Yemeni political sources have told The National.
“In response to the Yemeni group’s attempts to target Israeli ships, the US has not only resorted to military action but also sought to convey proposals that would incentivise the militants to stop their attacks,” one source said.
The source said messages had been sent “in recent weeks” through envoys and mediators, including western officials, and that Oman had played a “significant role.”
Another source suggested the incentives offered were “measures to show Washington’s good intentions”. These included “accelerating the Yemeni peace process, ending the war, and fully lifting the blockade” on Sanaa International Airport and the Houthi-controlled port of Hodeidah.
Neither source said whether the Houthis had responded to the messages.
US assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs Barbara Leaf said yesterday that Washington “encouraged the sort of indirect and then direct discussions that led to a two-plus-year of cessation of hostilities”.
The US Department of State designated the Houthis as a terrorist group in January, citing the group’s attacks on shipping since November.
The Houthis say these are in solidarity with Palestinians under Israeli attack in Gaza.
Waves of air strikes carried out by the US and UK against Houthi positions in Yemen had not deterred the group from continuing to attack ships.
However, the last recorded Houthi attack was on April 10.
The reduction comes as indirect talks between Iran and the US attempt to build on an “unannounced truce” in Iraq to expand it across the Middle East. The truce saw a cessation of attacks by militias on US forces.
Mediators conveyed messages from the US to the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, offering “incentives” such as lifting the blockade of Sanaa and Hodeidah and accelerating peace talks.
In return for these incentives, the US asked the group to halt its attacks in the Red Sea, Yemeni political sources told The National.
Since the outbreak of Israel’s war in Gaza in October, the Yemeni rebels, who control Sanaa and territories in the north and west, have launched dozens of attacks on international shipping in the strategic waters off Yemen. The group claimed the attacks were being carried out in solidarity with Palestinians and their ally Hamas in the coastal enclave, demanding an end to Israel’s devastating war, which has killed more than 34,200 people.
But the most recent rebel attack was two weeks ago.
“In response to the Yemeni group’s attempts to target Israeli ships, the US has not only resorted to military action but also sought to convey proposals that would incentivise the militants to stop their attacks,” a Yemeni political source said.
“Messages containing incentives were sent from the Americans to Sanaa in recent weeks. These messages were delivered through envoys and mediators, including western officials, with the Omani capital, Muscat, also playing a significant role.”
Along with Hezbollah in Lebanon and other armed groups in Syria and Iraq, the Houthis are part of the “Axis of Resistance”, an anti-western political and military coalition led by Tehran.
The heavily armed militia has enhanced its fighting capabilities since the civil war began in 2014, posing a serious threat to its neighbours.
Until the end of 2018, the Houthis frequently used ballistic missiles they captured from army depots.
However, over the past five years, they have shifted to small, long-range, explosive unmanned aircraft that can evade radar detection.
Their attacks in the Red Sea have disrupted global shipping, leading companies to reroute vessels on longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa. The emergence of the Houthis as an off-script threat to Israel and a strategic shipping route prompted retaliatory strikes by the US and Britain since February.
Washington also designated the militia, which seized control of Yemen’s capital in late 2014, as a “terrorist group”.
A second Yemeni political source indicated that the US incentives offered to the Houthis “include measures to show Washington’s good intentions, such as accelerating the Yemeni peace process, ending the war, and fully lifting the blockade” on Sanaa airport and the Houthi-controlled port of Hodeidah.
“Logically, these steps would require Washington to reconsider its designation of the Houthis as a terrorist organisation and probably recognise its authority in some areas of Yemen.”
The two sources declined to comment on how the Houthis have responded to the incentives.
Their attacks in the Red Sea have disrupted global shipping, leading companies to reroute vessels on longer journeys
The reduction in the frequency of Houthis attacks comes as indirect talks between Iran and the US aim to build on an unannounced truce in Iraq, expanding it across conflict-hit areas of the Middle East.
This truce led to a cessation of attacks by Iraqi militias on US forces.
The Yemeni political sources reported that during “secret indirect talks” held with the Iranians in Oman about three months ago, there was an American effort to persuade Tehran to help de-escalate the situation on the “Yemeni front”.
“But the Iranian delegation informed them that the decision was up to Houthis, and that the Americans must speak to them,” said one of the sources.
Tim Lenderking, the US special envoy to Yemen, told National that “at the end of the day, the United States wants to return, move away from attacks in the Red Sea to de-escalation, and keep the focus on peace”.