Alwaght- Though pretending that it is seeking to end Yemen war, the US is increasing its military role in it, and this is something showing that the White House officials have plans for Yemen future.
The Ansarullah Movement recently pointed at the entry to Hadhrahmaut province of a number of American and British forces, warning about escalating new round of tensions in the country. Ali al-Ghahoum, an Ansarullah member, said that the Americans have a massive presence in the eastern province of Hadhrahmaut and try to establish a military base there. In Al-Mahra province, there is a base hosting large number of British forces, said al-Ghahoum.
“There, they are planning to control the important resources and geography of the region and the American plan is to keep Yemen in a situation between peace and war. We can observe the British and American movements on Yemen islands, too, with the aim of dominating the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait. The Americans are setting up a military base in Hadhrahmaut,” he maintained.
Plundering Yemen resources
Hadhramout is the largest province of Yemen and rich in oil and gas resources, and for this purpose, the US has developed a new scheme for the country. Washington thought that Saudi Arabia and the UAE could occupy Yemen and install a government loyal to them and easily implement their plans, but such a goal was not achieved and now Ansarullah is in a superior military position, making the situation hard for the aggression coalition.
The US is worried that Ansarullah, due to its military power, can control the southern regions of Yemen and declare itself the winner of the war. This scenario, in addition to tarnishing the image of Saudi Arabia and its main supporter the US in the world, would bring Yemen's oil and gas resources under the control of Ansarullah. Therefore, they are rushing to block liberation of Yemen by deploying their military forces in the oil and gas-rich Hadhrahmaut.
The provinces of Hadhrahmaut and Shabwa have huge hydrocarbons resources that can help solve part of Yemen problems. One of the ceasefire conditions was that the Aden-based government pays the salaries of the state employees from revenues earned by oil and gas sales from provinces under control of the Saudi-aligned administration. However, the Yemeni Presidential Council insisted on providing the budget from the fees paid for the entry of fuel ships into the port of Hudaydeh in the west of the country. Therefore, the US, which failed to realize its plans in Yemen through Saudi coalition, wants to implement in Yemen the same plan it implemented in northern Syria and take control of the country's energy resources.
The US force deployment followed an Ansarullah drone attack on a Saudi oil tanker seeking to steal Yemen oil in Al-Dhaba port. The operation was called by Ansarullah a small warning to the aggressors, telling them that in case of continuation of occupation, the operations would broaden.
Another issue influencing Washington's decision to deploy forces to Yemen is the possibility of southern tribes cooperating with Ansarullah. These tribes have cooperated with the Saudi-led coalition since the beginning of the war and were fighting against Ansarullah over the past years, but reports suggest that they recently gave signals to Ansarullah telling it that they want to stop the conflict and form an independent government for the south. Although Ansarullah and the Yemeni army are strongly opposed to independence of the south, the cessation of hostilities at this time will take the burden off Ansarallah's shoulders and enables its further focus on the areas occupied by Saudi and Emirati mercenaries, and this issue is costly for Washington and its allies. Actually, it is for this reason that Ansarullah is seeking to retake the oil-rich regions.
Countering possible Ansarullah operations against the aggression coalition
From another perspective, by presence in Yemen, the US plans to step up its military support to its allies along with pushing for a ceasefire with Ansarullah. Given the increasing tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia in recent weeks and claims that Iran is planning attacks on Saudi Arabia, the failure to extend the truce is worrying the American officials.
Ansarullah has warned that if the occupation continues, it will resume its missile and drone attacks on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and it has even warned foreign companies to leave the two countries as soon as possible. In other words, Ansarullah is determined to punish the aggressors and this is a threat to Washington, as the West has been facing an energy crisis after the start of the war in Ukraine, and any attack on the oil facilities of these Arab countries can aggravate the crisis.
Although the White House officials are angry at Riyadh because of the new decision of the Saudis to reduce their oil production within the framework of OPEC+, they do not want to see disruption in Saudi oil exports to the world markets in the current situation. Also, the opposition of Saudi Arabia and the UAE to the American request for increasing oil production after the Ukraine crisis has made Washington think that instead of relying on the Persian Gulf monarchies for oil, it should officially plunder Yemen's oil and gas resources to cut dependence on the Arab sheikhdoms and also to sell energy to energy-strapped European countries for high prices.
The US and Saudi Arabia are trying to incite some Yemeni tribes against Ansarullah to block its advances and at the same time distract its attention from oil-rich regions. That is why there have been clashes in recent weeks in Al-Jawf province and close to Sa'ada province as the bastion of Ansarullah. The US struggles to open a new front in Al-Jawf to transfer the conflict from the south to the north and comfortably plunder energy resources.
Having given Saudi Arabia the green light to invade Yemen eight years ago, the US had plans for such days, and the more the time goes by, the more the American hidden goals become explicit. In addition to making the American arms companies richer, Yemen war can fill the American coffers by allowing for plunder of Yemeni resources. These resources are the property of Yemenis and can alleviate economic plights of millions, but the occupiers do not allow them to.
