[ April 19, 2024 ]
The report of the “Conference of Eminent Experts on Yemen” just presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council criticizes both sides to the conflict — the Shi’a Houthis, backed by Iran, and the government forces, backed by the coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates:
The detailed report said both sides had conscripted child soldiers and carried out acts of torture as well as other human rights violations.
The report found that at least 6,475 civilians have been killed since the Saudi intervention began in March 2015 but said the “real figure is likely to be significantly higher”.
Story continues below advertisementMost of the civilian casualties were caused by airstrikes carried out by the Saudi-led military coalition, the panel of experts said.
Their report was also scathing about Iran and the Houthis it supports:
The UN call for the international community to stop providing arms for use in Yemen was likely also aimed at Iran, which has allegedly supplied the Houthis with ballistic missiles which they have fired into Saudi Arabia.
The report accused the Houthi rebels of possible war crimes of their own including “cruel treatment and torture, outrages upon personal dignity and conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 15 or using them to participate actively in hostilities.”
While both sides are thus criticized, the Saudi-led coalition gets more blame. This only reflects the fact that the missiles fired by the Houthis indiscriminately at Saudi forces — and the Yemeni civilians mixed among them — have so far been successfully intercepted. Saudi ballistic missiles have, on the other hand, mostly landed on Houthi targets, civilian and military.
Should the Americans be chastened by this report, and threaten to end military support for the Saudis in Yemen? That is unlikely to change their behavior, but may make it harder for the Saudis to accomplish their goal of defeating Iran’s Yemeni proxy, the Houthis. That delay, in turn, will cause the conflict to go on much longer, and the civilian casualties on both sides in the end to be much greater, than they would otherwise be with a swifter conclusion. For unlike Iran, the Saudis cannot possibly pull out of supporting their side in the war on Yemen.
Furthermore, any distancing by the American government from the Saudis over their behavior in Yemen will disappoint those in the Saudi government who have so far been willing to refrain from criticizing the Trump Administration’s tough policy vis-a-vis the “Palestinians” — that is, the large cuts in American contributions to UNRWA and to the Palestine Authority. As of the August 31st, the American government has announced it will end its entire contribution to UNRWA. So far no howls of protest among the “Palestinians’” Arab allies. There are even signs that the Saudi pressure on a recalcitrant Mahmoud Abbas to accept a deal will remain in place.
We might as well recognize that Muslim rules of warfare are nothing like those of the Western world, that both the Saudis and the Iranians have waged their proxy war in a deplorable fashion, that both are at fault, the only difference being in the number and not the kind of casualties, and if the Iranian rockets had not so frequently been intercepted, they would have caused the same amount of damage to civilians as Saudi bombs have done. Iran has not shown itself any more solicitous of civilians in its intended targets.
Neither side in Yemen is morally superior to the other. One side has simply managed to land more blows than the other. The Houthi rockets have been shot down or landed harmlessly, though the intent of those firing them was the same as that of the Saudis, whose bombs have repeatedly hit — most carelessly — Yemeni civilians. Saudi Arabia is no threat to us, while Iran is a serious military worry, given its threats to interrupt oil traffic through the Straits of Hormuz, to destroy our ally Israel, and to hit America itself.
Given that larger context, our policy should be clear. We should choose to remain supporters of the Saudis who, despite their conduct of the war in Yemen, are for now no threat to American national interests. And right now, Iran is. Sentimentality in such matters is out of place. Who helps us the most? Who can cause us the most damage? That’s all you need to ask. End of story.
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17 Comments
5 years ago
Left/Libs have been bringing jihad right into America.
somali jihadis attack American citizens while police make excuses https://tinyurl.com/ycymp8wv
Its happening in Demonrat run counties/states .
5 years ago
Or just stick to our own side. We have little use for either the Saudi or Iranian governments, and no one is truly innocent in the Middle East, they all have tons of blood on their hands.
5 years ago
Reply to
R. Arandas
What troubles me and they ALL do it, is siding up as friends one day and the next we are enemies.
You just can’t make friends with the devil or trust the devil. If somehow ISLAM can be exposed for what it is, then this could have a better outcome but I doubt that will happen… so I guess we are stuck with being frenemies.
5 years ago
Saudi Arabia is no threat? Aren’t they one of the top 5 (or is it top two?) sponsors of worldwide islamic terrorism?
5 years ago
Reply to
IzlamDownpressesHumanity
Saudi Arabia knows their oil days are over. Through fracking and other technology we are not as dependent on them under Trump. They are also afraid of Iran with nukes. So they ignore their Jew hatred and talk with Israel and notice they were silent when Trump acknowledged Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Saudi Arabia is trying to get into the entertainment industry and tourism as oil profits decline. They are also in debt. After executing a female activist we know Sharia Law reigns supreme there. It’s a mess…
5 years ago
Reply to
felix1999
Wrong. OPEC still has a strangle hold on worldwide oil prices. Soddy Barbaria et. al. have used OPEC to deliberately prevent oil shale from ever being a viable commodity (i.e. through conversion of the USA’s vast oil shale deposits to oil). OPEC has manipulated worldwide oil prices for decades and was directly responsible for engineering the energy crisis in the USA following its support for Israel in the ’73’ Yom Kippur War.
5 years ago
Hopefully they can annihilate each other & Iran, that would be the best outcome.
5 years ago
This like Vietnam instead of Ho Chi Minh trail from Laos to Cambodia.
Oman is making a killing on arms sales and Iranian insurgency.
5 years ago
NEVER
NEVER
NEVER EVER TRUST MUSLIMS !!!
5 years ago
Nope, let them both fight it out until one side wins. Then go in while the winner is weak from the fight and wipe THEM out…
5 years ago
I read the situation differently and reach different conclusions re Saudi, Iran and their proxy war for good reason.
Are not the Saudis feeding mosques and Islamic organisations all over the west with hate speech, Imams, money, diplomatic support and organisational expertise ? Does the unelected regime still behead it’s people, falsely accuse them, deny minority rights and subjugate its females ? Are they taking muslim refugees in some of those 3 million tents yet or allowing churches to be built over there ?
Why are we not “levering” these activities and attitudes which undermine our western societies and feed Wahhabi jihad in our own countries by restricting our military support for them, after all, their Shia population sits right over their oil and gas fields looking to Iran. If we restrict their religious and commercial activities in our countries, won’t they listen to us ?
The Iranian tactical surface to surface rockets now in Iraq could just as easily be programmed to land not in Israel but Saudi but they’re bound to be struck soon and if the IDF do it, that’s another favour the Saudis owe the Jewish state..
Every one of those gulf states ruling Sunni families is sitting on a time bomb shaped like a religious war and they know it, their populations are Shia by and large and getting restless. The west needent worry itself about the Palestinians either until their Arab “brothers” do and there’s little sign of that.
We need to remind ourselves that those bombs and missiles shielding the house of Saud are western and some of the best we have, if we choose to “squeeze” the regime where it hurts, to steal a quote, “their hearts and minds will follow”.
Time and again the military powerful but morally compromised western leaders have sucked up to the wrong people for stupid reasons and has this resulted in fewer jihadists or reduced numbers of terrorist atrocities – no, the threat continues to grow while our “leaders” refuse to see and do what’s needed for us to survive.
This is an opportunity we cannot afford to pass up because we’re at war with Islamic expansion now.
5 years ago
They the saudies are not our friends and the truth about 9/11 still has not come out.
5 years ago
US never should have overthrown Yemeni government in “Arab Spring.” Big mistake to destabilize countries as seen in Libya. Hard to put egg back together again once broken. Need peace deal with restoration of status quo ante and neutral Yemen, as buffer state, IMHO. Then they can build a bridge to Djibouti instead of fighting each other…call it a “peace bridge.” Neither Saudis nor Iranians can win this one, I bet.
5 years ago
You must broaden your outlook. Yes Saudi Arabia isn’t threatening us militarily. It is however financing Islamism whose sole persons is the take over of the United States by utilizing America’s own laws to destroy the country and create a califate under shariah law ! They have paid for and built hundreds of mosques thruout the states for this very purpose. Don’t be blind, you are at war with Islam as they have pronounced war on you on many occasions.
5 years ago
Hugh Fitzgerald is wrong. More dangerous than Yemen is the silent, stealth Jihad of those who undermine our educational system and indoctrinate our children in the “glories” of islam. Christianity is taboo in our schools, but islam is getting special treatment to teach our children in their formative years before they have any sense or knowledge of the dangers to our society which islam represent. Saudi Arabia and the muslim brotherhood,under the subterfuge of promoting a multicultural educational environment, have quietly spent millions to replace time-honored educational materials of American ideals and historical perspectives with anti-American, anti-Israel, anti-Judeo-Christian, and pro-Islamic rhetoric. The enemy with weapons is pretty obvious. The silent enemy undermining our society is far more dangerous.
5 years ago
The trouble w/our well paid and taxpayer fed ‘leaders’, is that they long ago subscribed to the lie that there is no right or wrong. So, what could possibly be wrong w/having an evil ally ?
