Anti-war movement must press for a just peace in Yemen

The West’s policies in Yemen are in tatters as the Ansarallah forces have taken strategic territory and humiliated Saudi-backed militias. This provides an opportunity to end Britain’s shameful policy in the region, argues STEPHEN BELL

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THE military victories of Ansarallah (the correct term for the “Houthis”) in liberating the west coast of Yemen has drawn the world’s attention.

Around 6,000 square kilometres were taken from forces armed and directed by Saudi Arabia. Ansarallah now completely controls the Bab-al-Mandab, through which 12 per cent of the world’s oil trade is conveyed.

The immediate source of the victory was the adoption of a strategy of “blockade for blockade” by Ansarallah in July.

Anxious to prevent a resumption of the revolutionary process begun in Yemen in 2011 and furthered by Ansarallah’s seizure of Sana’a in September 2014, the Saudi-led coalition launched a war on Yemen in March 2015. Part of that war was the imposition of a blockade by land, sea and air.

The coalition was primarily composed of the Saudis and the United Arab Emirates, supported and armed by the US, Britain and the EU. The war and blockade created a humanitarian catastrophe, which was described by the UN as the worst in the world, for the Yemeni people.

In 2022, having failed to defeat Ansarallah, an exhausted Saudi government agreed a truce. The UAE had withdrawn the main body of its military in 2019. The truce ended the bombing of Yemen and led to an uneasy ceasefire with coalition-backed forces inside Yemen.

Negotiations on a longer-term political process and permanent end to the war were conducted with UN assistance. However, the Saudis were reluctant to end their efforts to control Yemen. Consequently, they have continually blocked real progress toward the broader peace offered by a UN “road map” from 2023. 

There were some small steps forward on issues of prisoner exchange and a slight loosening of the siege on Hodeidah port and Sana’a International Airport, both controlled by Ansarallah. But the blockade remained largely intact — leading to a position today, 11 years after it was first imposed, 22 million Yemenis require humanitarian assistance, and 18 million suffer acute food insecurity.

Matters came to a head in July when the Saudis attempted to interfere with the return flight of a Yemeni delegation to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s funeral in Iran.

The Saudis bombed Sana’a airport and the flight had to be diverted. This was despite the memorandum of understanding between Iran and the US still being operative at the time. The insolence of the Saudi action is clear as they made the breathtaking claim to be defending Yemen’s sovereignty. It was a serious miscalculation which the Saudis are now paying for.

The “blockade for blockade” strategy was implemented to force the Saudis to lift their blockade by preventing them for being able to conduct trade through the Strait of Bab al-Mandab. Saudi tankers attempting to pass through have been hit with missiles and the majority have been forced to take their oil through the Suez Canal and around Africa to the Asian markets.

One tracked tanker took 45 days to reach its destination, compared to a seven days normally. The Saudis responded with some aerial strikes, but mostly by mobilising its aligned militias inside Yemen. This has meant the collapse of the 2022 truce.

Certainly, the success of Iran in resisting the US has encouraged Ansarallah to take the opportunity to break the Saudi/Emirati intervention in Yemen. However, it must be stressed, contrary to the Washington narrative that dominates the Global North media, that Ansarallah is not a proxy for Iran. It is a religiously inspired national liberation movement, deeply rooted in Yemeni society.

Ansarallah’s approach is to reassert Yemen’s sovereignty over the whole of Yemen, including restoring Yemeni control over its own natural resources, including oil, gas and minerals. Ansarallah’s approach to those Yemenis serving in Saudi-aligned militias demonstrates this perspective.

A general amnesty has been offered not just to those caught up in the coastal fighting, but across the entirety of Yemen. Equally, the lifting of the blockade is posed as a direct benefit for all Yemenis. They also stress the option of a future for Yemen, free from foreign intervention, where all genuinely Yemeni forces have a role to play in government.

The defeat for Saudi Arabia is also a defeat for the “Internationally Recognised Government” (IRG). Held together only by their opposition to Ansarallah, the various components of the presidential leadership council continue to be based in the Saudi capital Riyadh. This is appropriate since this is where the funding and political direction of this government originate.

On the ground in Yemen some of the components have substantial representation — certainly true of al-Islah, the Yemeni branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, and of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), a separatist organisation.

But the areas of Yemen nominally under IRG control are a patchwork of militia-based authorities, more locally based than tied to ministers living in luxury hotels abroad. The IRG has no mandate within Yemen. After 11 years of war, it hasn’t established a functioning government inside Yemen.

It is supported because imperialism fears the radicalism of Yemen — a society with a unique history of mass political involvement, including substantial revolutionary and anti-imperialist experiences.

Nothing like this exists within the stunted, absolutist monarchies of the Gulf Co-operation Council states, which share the Arabian Peninsula with Yemen. Nor is this confined to issues solely concerning Yemen.

The monitoring organisation Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (Acled) published a study in October 2025. It estimated that from October 2023 to the time of the current Gaza “ceasefire” there had been more than 49,000 demonstrations in support of Palestine across 137 countries. The country with most demonstrations was Yemen.

Unable to make inroads into Ansarallah territory, the Saudi government in 2026 has been involved in a series of violent initiatives in the rest of Yemen to restructure its power there.  

This began at the start of 2026 with a major conflict with Emirati forces, resulting in expulsions from Yemen. Saudi Arabia favours a united state structure inside Yemen, one that it dominates.

The UAE favours a break-up of the Yemeni state, allowing it to seize assets. This is expressed inside the IRG, where al-Islah favours Yemeni unity, while the STC wants an independent state of South Yemen. The conflict ended with Saudi air strikes on UAE-aligned forces, which registered the defeat.

In response to the defeat of their UAE partner, the STC mobilised its base and declared a southern state. The Saudis stamped on this, including detaining a delegation of STC leaders who were in Riyadh on a negotiations mission. The STC forces on the ground were removed from positions of authority in a few districts.

Subsequently and more recently, the Saudis have been purging governorates and urban administrations of al-Islah members, replacing them with Salafist forces. Despite undermining trends which have a social base in parts of Yemen, the Saudis have still tried to rally them for a proxy war against Ansarallah. The chances of that succeeding are remote.

Will the US intervene to save its Saudi ally? This looks unlikely in the immediate period. Donald Trump has on two occasions recently turned down requests by Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman for direct US military action.

Given the vicissitudes of current US policy in Lebanon, Palestine and Iran, it is not surprising Trump blanches at tackling Ansarallah forces. He was obliged to make a deal with them in 2025 after recognising their ability to absorb US air strikes.

Of course, the situation will be different after the US midterm elections. Whatever their outcome, Trump will be released from immediate electoral considerations that have limited his actions against Iran. Given the protracted nature of the US offensive in west Asia, it is entirely possible that the US will again directly confront Ansarallah, when it next escalates attacks against Iran.

In these circumstances, it is vital that the anti-war movement increases its agitation for a just peace for Yemen. The laughable failure of 11 years of British government policy towards Yemen must be highlighted.

First, Britain backed a “legitimate” government whose electoral term had ended and had been expelled from Yemen.

Britain supported ex-president Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, who ended up imprisoned in Saudi Arabia, charged with corruption. Then Britain supported another “legitimate” government of exiles, appointed by Saudi Arabia. Successive British governments have felt compelled to follow the twists of US policy, joining in the bombing of Yemen under both Joe Biden and Trump.

We must demand a complete end to British complicity in the oppression of Yemeni people. This means an end to British government support for the blockade of Yemen by the Saudi coalition. It means supporting an inclusive peace process for Yemen, recognising that Ansarallah will continue to play a major role in the governance of Yemen. It means an end to arms for the Saudi war on Yemen. A change in Andy Burnham’s government policy is necessary, as the existing one has been shredded on Yemen’s west coast.