The new American administration has done well by explicitly declaring its commitment to cooperate with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to defend its sovereignty and counter the threats against it.
The importance of the statement in this regard by US President Joe Biden lies in its timing as this statement was preceded by signs that were marked by negative repercussions towards regional issues, chiefly that the Biden administration remained vacillating about its intention to return to the nuclear agreement with the Iranian regime. This vacillation spread a state of anxious speculation and fear of return to pursuing the policies of former President Barack Obama, which led to creating a state of unrest in the region.
However, this commitment shown by the Biden administration towards the Kingdom’s security and sovereignty, and its willingness to help it, cannot be absorbed in a way that does not bear the seeds of anxiety and a sense of contradiction. At the same time when the US administration declared this commitment, it lifted the “terrorist designation” of the Houthi militia, in addition to stating its intention to return to the Iranian nuclear agreement, as both actions are directly related to the security of the region in general, and security of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in particular.
So there is no way to talk about defending the sovereignty of the Kingdom except by dealing with these two areas of contention. Lifting the terrorist designation of the Houthi militia and returning to the nuclear agreement in its old form does not bode well for the Kingdom.
On the contrary, it works quite the opposite, for such statements have given a morale boost to the aggressive Houthi militia to commit more misdeeds and crimes, and the manifestation of this is reflected in a rising tide in its ballistic missile attacks targeting the Kingdom. The source of these missiles is well known, and those who support them are not unknown to the Biden administration.
This is a war led by the terrorist Houthi militia acting on behalf of the Safavid regime in Iran, with the aim of undermining the security and stability of the region to impose its ideological agenda by using weapons and under the smoke of fire. Perhaps the recent Houthi attacks against Abha airport and the city of Khamis Mushayt with Iranian Ababil drones while targeting civilians are, in fact, a challenge to the entire world.
This move by the Biden administration to remove the Houthi outfit from the list of terrorism by giving it a humanitarian dimension cannot be accepted, and perhaps this is what Republican Senator Tom Cotton expressed, saying: “President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken may foolishly believe that a gesture of goodwill toward the Houthis will lead to peace, but the rebels have ignored the peace process for years while refusing to honor ceasefires.”
Cotton has hit the eye of truth at this point, and we add to it that this dimension invoked by the Biden administration has been present in the agenda of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia since it took over the leadership of the Arab Coalition for Restoring Legitimacy in Yemen. The military component was accompanied by a humanitarian element undertaken by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRelief) and the Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen. Both paths continued to provide aid and support to the Yemeni people, owing to its duty, religion, and humanity, without favor or prejudice.
The reality of the situation is that the Kingdom maintains its firm position in support of a comprehensive political solution to the Yemeni crisis, and welcomes the diplomatic efforts of the United States to resolve the Yemeni crisis. It is sufficient that the Coalition that it leads has announced more than once a unilateral ceasefire in response to the invitation of the United Nations secretary general without receiving any response from the terrorist Houthi militia and the Iranian regime that supports and aided it to continue these misdeeds unabatedly.
Similarly, the Kingdom is looking to the Biden administration to appreciate the situation in the region in the best possible way, while foreseeing with the Kingdom the far horizon that it seeks through taking Yemen towards stability and development. There is no way for that, except through coordinated efforts, and harmony in making decisions away from wrong estimates, and experimenting with what is tried with well-known results. The condemnation, denunciation and issuance of statements have no longer proved sufficient to deter the threats posed by Iran and its ally the Houthis.
