Alwaght- Struggling to force down the oil prices that rose following the Ukraine war start, the US government is eyeing privileges to Saudi Arabia as a major oil producer to raise its oil output.
Although before his regional tour the US President Joe Biden said he plans to lift the ban on the assault arms to Riyadh to allow more weapons flow to the Arab kingdom, he supported the Yemen war ceasefire, in place since late March, and this was his official position that he agreed on in the closing statement of Jeddah summit.
This position showed, experts suggest, that Saudi Arabia is the main party that more than any other side needs calm, and actually his support for the truce is not a humanitarian gesture but a privilege Biden is giving to Riyadh.
That the US is now defending the extension of the ceasefire in Yemen after 8 years is not because of compassion for the largely oppressed Yemeni people but because by continuing the ceasefire, it will stop Ansarullah Movement's retaliatory missile and drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities, as after the Ukraine war, Washington and the Europeans are in desperate need of energy and lower oil prices, and if Ansarullah's attacks resume, all Western policies to create balance and stability in the energy market will fail. The White House knows that it is difficult to end the war in Yemen in the current situation, and for this reason, it is trying to save the Saudi oil facilities from the attacks and advance its global plans by extending the ceasefire for a long time. If the ceasefire ends and the attacks on Saudi oil facilities and infrastructure continue, a big shock will be delivered to the energy market, and this will challenge the energy sanctions program against Russia and the American execcess in Iran nuclear talks.
Always standing tall with the Saudis in Yemen war and supporting the aggression countries diplomatically and militarily, the US is now is backing the ceasefire in favor of its allies. But only the Saudis have so far benefited and the Yemeni side hardly enjoyed any achievements as Riyadh violated its commitments more than thousand times. According to the ceasefire agreement, the Sana'a airport was supposed to be reopened and several flights abroad would be made every week so that the patients who are in serious condition could be transferred to Egypt for treatment, but until now, no effective action has been taken in this regard except for a few flights as Saudis have not given permission for flights. On the other hand, humanitarian aids were supposed to flow to Yemen with lifting the sea blockade, but again the Saudis obstruct docking in Yemeni ports of the ships carrying humanitarian cargoes. The fuel shortage that the Yemenis are currently facing due to the seizure of Yemeni oil tankers by the Saudi coalition has brought new crises. With the ceasefire, Saudi Arabia has survived the crushing attacks of Ansarullah and kept its oil reserves safe, but the Yemenis are still struggling with a food crisis and lack of medicine and fuel. A ceasefire that was supposed to benefit both sides could not do anything in practice. Therefore, Washington officials want to turn this agreement, which has not achieved anything for the Yemenis, into a channel to whitewash its black record and its allies' crimes in Yemen.
Additionally, the US is adopting double standards towards Yemen developments. On the one hand it advocates ceasefire and on the other hand talks of sending arms to Saudi Arabia that will be used for massacring the Yemenis, something prolonging the war and disrupting peace talks. If the US is genuinely determined to maintain long-term ceasefire, it should forces the Saudis to make concessions to the Yemenis whose main demands are full stop of airstrikes, lifting of blockade and allowing in fuel, and reopening Sana'a airport and allowing delivery of foreign humanitarian aids.
Ansarullah's reactions to Biden's remarks
Biden's statements about the extension of the ceasefire in Yemen and the firm support of Saudi interests against the Yemenis have resulted in a strong reaction from Ansarullah. Mohammad al-Houthi, a member of the Sana'a-based Supreme Political Council, in response to Joe Biden's statement about the ceasefire said that "Sana'a will not tolerate continuation of aggression of the American-British-Saudi-Emirati coalition. "The enemies that hold a meeting in Saudi Arabia should end their aggression, blockade, and terrorism against the Yemeni people. No matter what decisions the coalition countries make, we will make our own decisions and you know it."
Disregarding the Saudi and Emirati crimes, the US blames Ansarullah as the main obstacle ahead of peace negotiations and seeks to bring the resistant movement to a Saudi-favored negotiating table from a position of intimidation and threats. But the course of developments in the past years showed that drone and missile power advances gave Ansarullah a leg up on the battleground. Ansarullah is not the movement of eight years ago and capable of shaking the world energy markets with attacks on Saudi and Emirati oil facilities.
In the past few months, Sana'a warned over and over that if it does not benefit from the truce, it is pointless to extend it. Lifting of blockade, ceasing the attacks, and delivering humanitarian aids are the main demands of Ansarullah for extension of the ceasefire and it warns that if Saudi Arabia does not meet the demands, it will resume attacks on Saudi and Emirati soil. To secure energy supplies, Washington is sacrificing the Yemenis for its demands with ceasefire to have Saudis on board in a confrontation with Russia. But Ansarullah has proven it does not yield to the occupiers and will not adhere to a ceasefire not beneficial to the Yemenis.
