Blowback: Trump's Sanctions on Yemen Are Already Backfiring
Experts warned of the humanitarian toll that designating the Houthis would
have and indeed the sanctions that followed are already harming civilians.
What they didn't foresee was how the move seems to have galvanized even more
support for the group.
by Ahmed Abdulkareem
Mint Press News
January 28th, 2021
By Ahmed Abdulkareem
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HAJJAH, YEMEN, NEAR THE SAUDI BORDER - "We thought that aid from the U.S.
would feed our children, not that American sanctions would see them dying
from hunger," a Yemeni father who wished only to be called J. A. from the
border city of Abs near Saudi Arabia told MintPress.
The only income J.A. has to feed the twenty family members under his care is
the money transfer that comes in at the end of every month. He receives 500
Saudi riyals from his expatriate son in Saudi Arabia who works in a
laundromat. That money, though, will no longer be able to make it to Yemen
as exchange companies are canceling foreign remittances to the country amid
sanctions imposed by the outgoing Trump administration. "Either we die by a
U.S. bomb or U.S. sanctions, it is the same, is this the America that
everyone dreams of?" J. A. asked.
The last-minute decision by the former Trump administration to designate
Ansar Allah as a "foreign terrorist organization" has sparked concern from
the thousands of Yemeni families that depend on remittances sent home from
relatives working abroad, which represent millions of dollars annually.
According to J.A, the repercussions of the designation have already started
to harm his family, who is powerless as money exchanges and banks in the
Saudi city where his son works have refused to transfer money to Yemen,
arguing that Abs is under the control of Houthis (Ansar Allah).
Sources in Sana'a, including Houthi officials, charities, banks, and
exchange shops, told MintPress that international banks, exchange shops, and
firms have already ceased participating in commercial or financial
transactions with Yemenis, including those exempted for humanitarian
transactions, due to the fear of triggering U.S. sanctions.
Popular resistance
Despite being a staunch opponent of Ansar Allah, J.A. took to the street on
the highway road linking Hodeida and Hajjah to protest against the
sanctions. There, thousands of residents, including Ansar Allah supporters,
sympathizers as well as those at odds with the group, carried banners
reading "America is the mother of terrorism!" Protesters shouted "Who is
killing the Yemeni people?" while others retorted, "America!"
Like the residents in the border city of Abs, hundreds of thousands of
Yemenis took the streets in 17 major cities including Sana'a, Hodeida,
Hajjah, and other cities to show support for Ansar Allah and reject the
designation of the movement as terrorists. They called on President Biden to
end support to the Saudi-led coalition and reverse the decision they say
punishes a nation reeling from war and a blockade imposed by Washington's
allies in the region.
The protests drew crowds from across all parties and workers, including
engineers, farmers, and civil defense. Doctors and aid workers wore their
uniforms and marched side by side with money changers, business owners,
civil society organizations, and local relief organizations. Most religious
groups in Yemen, including Shafa'is, Zaydis, and others, as well as most
major national parties, were also among the protests.
In Yemen's capital city of Sana'a, hundreds of thousands gathered at Bab
al-Yemen carrying Yemeni flags and holding banners. While others gathered in
front of the shuttered U.S. Embassy, raising their fists up as they chanted
slogans against former U.S. President Donald Trump. Some tore American flags
while others trampled on them with their feet.
Yemen Sanctions
A massive crowd of Houthi supporters rally against the United States in
Sanaa, January 26, 2021. Khaled Abdullah } Reuters
In Hodeida, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi was the keynote speaker at a rally where
he delivered a sermon to hundreds of thousands of protesters. "We are not
afraid of Americans, and our nation is standing firmly in the face of
threats and aggression," he said. Al-Houthi called on Biden to impose an
embargo on sending weapons, warplanes, and logistical support to Saudi
Arabia and its allies instead of designation a political movement fighting
against a foreign invasion as terrorists. The Biden administration for its
part recently suspended arms sales to both Saudi Arabia and the UAE and
rolled back some sanctions on the Houthis but did not remove the terrorist
designation imposed by the Trump administration.
Yemenis at home were not demonstrating alone. Dozens of rallies were held by
Yemeni expatriates and foreign activists in cities like Washington DC and
San Francisco, Hamilton in Canada, Britain, Austria, Italy, and other
countries. A virtual demonstration was also held by more than 250
organizations around the world. All called for an end to the war, a lifting
of the blockade, and the cancellation of U.S. sanctions. To many of the
protesters who spoke to MintPress, the designation exposes Washington as a
belligerent actor that has knowingly harmed them for the past six years
under the pretext of fighting Iranian influence and returning the ousted
president Hadi to power, arguments that have been repeated by the Houthis
since 2015, when the war began.
Yemen Sanctions
A soldier stands guard over a protest against the US decision to designate
the Houthis a terrorist organization in Sanaa, Jan. 25, 2021. Hani Mohammed
| AP
The massive demonstrations in Yemen coincided with the international day of
action, a day in which more than 230 anti-war and humanitarian organizations
from 17 countries across the world including the United States, Canada,
Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Denmark, Finland, India,
Netherlands, Chile, Sweden, Spain, South Korea, Switzerland, and Yemen came
together to call for an end to the war.
The organizations demanded in a statement that their governments immediately
"stop foreign aggression on Yemen; stop weapons and war support for Saudi
Arabia and the United Arab Emirates; lift the blockade on Yemen and open all
land and sea ports; and restore and expand humanitarian aid for the people
of Yemen."
Blowback
Major General Khaled Baras, the Head of the Southern Movement, one of the
many groups that participated in the National Dialogue held in 2014, said in
the wake of the massive demonstrations that the U.S. decision lacks logic
when tens of millions of defenders of their homeland are accused of
terrorism. "Ansar Allah are not terrorists. We as southerners reject this
decision. The former American administration accused millions of Yemenis of
terrorism and with them tens of millions of supporters and defenders of the
homeland. This is ridiculous," he said.
Experts warn that the U.S. designation could not only sabotage the peace in
the war-torn country but could seriously imperil the U.S.'s diplomatic
credibility and its prospects to play any mediating role in future
negotiation talks to end the war or the release of foreign captives,
including Americans held on charges of spying or participating in the war.
Any realistic settlement would also have to include the Houthis, no matter
how irritating that may be to Washington and its Gulf allies.
Regardless of the wide popularity of Ansar Allah among Yemenis, reflected in
part by the large demonstrations which took place on January 25 due to their
outsized role in the resistance against the Saudi war, almost 80% of Yemenis
live in areas under Houthi control, including the country's capital Sana'a
and the major port of al-Hodeida. And at least 80% of the population - 24.1
million people - require humanitarian assistance, more than half of them
facing starvation. Consequently, the U.S. sanctions will inevitably push
more Yemeni civilians closer to famine.
Officials in Sana'a who spoke to MintPress remain defiant and say the
sanctions will not affect them. They argue that they already have elements
operating in other capitals like Tehran and Muscat and that the designation
will only increase their popularity internally and acquaint them to other
countries facing U.S. aggression, such as "China and Russia."
