American Center: The Houthis are holding 20 million Yemenis as prisoners.. and this extremist racist movement must be brought down

The American Wilson Center said that the recent Israeli attacks on the Houthi seaports and power stations in Yemen opened a third front in the war against Iran's agents, warning that the Houthi war with Israel portends a great tragedy for the Yemeni people.

In a video interview - published by the center and followed and translated by "Yemeni Youth Net" - Harvard University lecturer Asher Orkabi shed light on the reasons behind Israel's targeting of the port of Hodeidah, what he described as Iran's approach to using its militias, and the ways in which the Houthis hold Yemeni residents as prisoners.

The Israeli strike on the port of Hodeidah was the second strike on the port in two months. Orkaby believed that the Israelis intended to weaken the Houthis’ ability to import Iranian weapons, most of which were imported through the port of Hodeidah.

“The target was specifically the oil refineries, which would allegedly ultimately degrade the Houthis’ ability to operate their own missiles and munitions, and ultimately send a signal to the Houthi movement that Israel is capable of striking Yemeni territory, even though it is hundreds and thousands of kilometers away from their territory,” he said.

He added that the goal is to send a clear message of deterrence to the Houthi movement, to stay away from the conflict rather than risk further escalation in the Red Sea region, noting that Iran's vision for the Middle East, which has been built over the past ten years, is to fund marginalized groups throughout the Middle East.

He explained that financing these armed organizations, supplying them with weapons, providing them with political support, and giving them the cover of Iranian military power in order to destabilize their internal countries, their internal political systems, and ultimately form a larger organization of Iranian allies throughout the Middle East.

The Houthis, Orkabi said, fall into the same camp as well. Over the past decade, Iranian weapons, funding, and political support for the Houthis have increased dramatically, destabilizing the southern Arabian Peninsula.

“Another common denominator among Iran-aligned militias across the Middle East is the fact that they have ‘besieged and captured entire populations of their countries or territories,’” he added.

“Something similar happened in Lebanese politics with Hezbollah’s dominance and control for many years. Something similar happened over the past ten years in Yemen, where the Houthis have dominated Yemeni politics and the fact that the civil war, which is a very costly humanitarian crisis, has erupted in Yemen at the expense of the Yemeni people,” he continued.

Orkabi also stated that the Houthis’ goal and their war with Israel now constitute a great tragedy for the Yemeni people themselves who are living in the midst of a very serious economic, health and humanitarian crisis. However, the Houthis are focusing on this self-destructive ideology, and they are focusing on an external enemy while their own Yemeni people are held captive by this Houthi movement - a racist movement, an extremist movement, and it is holding more than twenty million Yemenis in very difficult conditions.

He believed that the best thing that could happen to Yemen was the fall of the Houthi movement. There is an internationally recognized government, a republican government, supported by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Presumably, the best thing that could happen to the Yemeni people is a return to stability.