Michael Rubin
The Port of Hudaydah [Hodeida] has long been a lifeline for Yemen’s Houthi rebels. While the Houthis also receive Iranian weaponry via smuggling routes through Oman, the most sophisticated Iranian weaponry enters through Hudaydah.
Houthis know the port is their lifeline, and work proactively to ensure it remains in their hands. As the Saudis and Emiratis ramped up their campaign in support of the Internationally Recognized Government against the Houthis, Houthi propaganda went into overdrive, amplified by Qatari outlets like Al Jazeera that, at the time, prioritized Qatar’s anti-Saudi, anti-Emirati animus over the truth. Progressives in both the Democratic Party, European leftists, and most within the humanitarian community accepted at face value their line that the cost of extricating the Houthis from Hudaydah would be too great to bear, especially if it paused port operations and delivery of humanitarian aid.
Enter the United Nations which sought to engage the various parties to the conflict in dialogue to alleviate humanitarian suffering. This process culminated in December 2018 in the so-called Stockholm Agreement that, among other provisions, required the Houthis to allow a neutral third party to manage the port, and then use revenues from the port to pay public sector salaries. The Houthis failed from the beginning to adhere to the agreement. They demanded the port maintain their own personnel, effectively creating a situation in which the UN pays Houthi salaries.
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