Yemenis do not hide their desire to end the futile war imposed on them for more than six years and to rid themselves of its burdens. However, they want to understand the effectiveness of launching a unilateral initiative without ceasing military operations and without addressing the dire conditions Yemenis face under war, hunger, and blockade. The coalition fighting on the ground with Yemenis, who are pitted against each other, or with mercenaries brought in from abroad, loses only weapons, using others' hands to execute its plans, such as systematic destruction from the air by foreign experts targeting Yemen’s economic, social, and historical capacities, killing thousands of young Yemenis, and hiding them in secret prisons by the hands of its armed local militias. They incite factions against each other in endless confrontations to keep them distracted from thwarting the coalition’s ambitions and ensuring further vendettas in Yemen.
This method has destroyed an entire generation in a war expanding internally day by day, enabling the coalition to control the most strategic and safe geographical areas, illegally siphoning off oil and gas resources, closing off mineral wealth areas under the pretext of restricted military zones to extract resources and ship them by sea to neighboring countries without interference. They have also shut down coastal fishing areas, plundering marine resources and displacing fishermen to the coasts and prisons of neighboring Horn of Africa countries. Even the underwater fiber optic cables were not spared, forcing Yemenis to pay exorbitantly for reestablishing communication via neighboring countries, thus facilitating control over all means of communication between Yemen and the outside world.
After six lean years of war, destruction, and killing, some have come to stage a theatrical end to this military adventure by claiming that what happened was a transient matter.
Despite suffering from the war's horrors and the organized looting of their resources and the ongoing killing of their sons, Yemenis long for peace to preserve what remains of their lives, dignity, wealth, and humanity. They look forward to new paths ensuring justice-based peace that does not lead to another war. They are studying attempts to achieve peace unilaterally without the approval of other parties, searching for who will support them in establishing just peace for their country and the region. They remain under siege, supported only by a few sympathizers who lack the power to stand against the many benefiting from the war's continuation, those who have no interest in establishing a lasting and fair peace in Yemen or stopping the war!
Despite all the controversy surrounding the Saudi initiative to cease fire in Yemen, examining its terms and timing reveals it lacks a comprehensive vision for addressing the ongoing war's consequences and lacks future guarantees for achieving lasting stability. It does not grant Yemenis the opportunity to participate in formulating it or defending their case. It fails to ensure the removal of foreign dominance from neighboring countries controlling the land and people. With the war's prolongation and the resulting human and social tragedies of systematic starvation and impoverishment of Yemenis, the neglected priorities of Yemenis in the initiative include addressing the war's catastrophic effects on their society, allowing all parties to participate in devising a mechanism ensuring a safe exit from the war for all, stopping the formation and arming of militias, and controlling the spread of heavy weapons in villages and cities among opponents and supporters alike in a frightening manner.
However, if any ceasefire initiative is imposed without regulations, there may be a renunciation of war crimes, leading to a superficial peace that leaves citizens at the mercy of rampant weapons. Thus, the basic principles of justice and fairness for the victims cannot be achieved. There would be no importance in declaring unrealistic peace initiatives unless the true goal is achieving lasting and just peace with international guarantees to end the problem at its roots, according to the laws of war and peace.
The Saudi initiative to cease fire in Yemen lacks a comprehensive vision for addressing the ongoing war's consequences.
Regrettably, after six lean years of war, destruction, and killing, someone adopts a theatrical production to end this military adventure by accepting that what happened was a transient matter. In their view, it suffices that those who ignited the war have expressed a desire to end it, believing that desire alone is enough to be a subject of negotiation and appeasement. However, the world's experiences in facing such disasters confirm that any peace initiative that does not address the destruction it caused, backed by pressing global and regional opinions, is doomed to fail. Initially, the war decision-maker ignited the war, then involved the Security Council in approving it without considering its cost or consequences. The decision was passed with enormous capabilities within the corridors of the United Nations, without mentioning the true purpose of the war. Today, it becomes clear to the world that the sudden desire to extinguish it so hastily is merely an attempt to portray the disaster as a transient problem caused by the Yemenis themselves, to overlook the massive destruction and escape its obligations.
The shared interests have made everyone appear as war advocates in the eyes of the world and international humanitarian law. A war forced Yemenis to pay dearly with their lives, money, and properties. Thus, no one can defend its perpetrators or overlook those who caused it, including key players like countries providing logistical support and weapons, gaining a perpetual license to revive their economies at Yemen’s tragedy's expense by selling weapons that kill Yemenis and falsifying facts to the world to safeguard their financial gains. The United Nations joined the coalition’s interests network and, through its weak positions, betrayed Yemenis, ignoring the widespread human rights violations from starvation and blockade. Similarly, the Arab League pretended to be asleep, neither seeing nor hearing.
Observers fear that such an initiative might be exploited in favor of one party or used as an excuse to create a new reality benefiting a party that gained from the war in a moment of time, leaving the world only to bless it amid extensive media deception of facts. This could push Yemenis towards more concessions, especially with the presence of a weak, corrupt, and constrained legitimacy, or push them towards more extremism to fight further wars that will deplete what remains of the Yemeni people's capabilities and resources. It might encourage some warring parties to exploit the Yemeni people's desire for peace, manipulating it for their interests, not for Yemen's benefit, especially with the presence of envoys friendly to the coalition who only care about what they will gain from completing this deal.
The conflicting internal forces should prepare to stop the war and move towards reconciliation without external backing or imposing wills on each other.
If everyone admits that continuing this war in Yemen is futile and holds no benefit, then it is also futile to stop it with an unjust and non-consensual initiative from any party. This should not prevent the international community from launching a genuine peace initiative accepted by all parties and contributing to a comprehensive war cessation and addressing its humanitarian impacts, based on international law principles and legal and moral responsibilities that compel all warring parties to respect Yemenis' right to a dignified life.
Thus, stopping the Yemen war has become necessary through an international decision based on a UN request issued by the Security Council, which granted legitimacy to launch this war. This could be the genuine solution the international community proposes for Yemen, inviting the coalition to it, giving Yemenis a chance to draft and agree on the proposal. This should be accompanied by calls for national reconciliation and achieving transitional justice among Yemenis, with sufficient international guarantees to prevent future bloodshed. Any initiative should adhere to international humanitarian law to hold those involved in crimes against humanity accountable, whether they are Yemenis or others, and to compensate the victims for the suffering caused by this war.
It has also become essential to capture all initiatives from civil society organizations, thinkers, and Yemeni political parties to establish peace in Yemen without exception and consider them as foundational elements for any forthcoming peace. A comprehensive, realistic initiative should be extracted that meets everyone's aspirations to support any agreed-upon international initiative for national reconciliation. This is the most crucial point in any upcoming national or international initiative for Yemen. It is difficult to accept an initiative not agreed upon by all parties, not representing the Yemeni people's aspirations, and ignoring some conflict parties. No initiative can gain consensus unless it provides radical solutions for lasting peace among all Yemeni society components and removes the disparities between neighboring countries and Yemen. This war has widened these disparities.
If everyone acknowledges that continuing the war is futile, then stopping it with an unjust and non-consensual initiative from any party is also futile.
Any initiative not carrying a clear path to peace starting with stopping the war, lifting the blockade, removing Yemen's name from the Security Council's Chapter VII decision, withdrawing all foreign military forces from all Yemeni territories, and demanding Saudi Arabia pay compensations for the destruction caused by its war on Yemen in all aspects of life will not be acceptable to any Yemeni party, even those on whose behalf the coalition entered Yemen.
All conflicting internal forces should prepare to stop the war and move towards reconciliation without external backing or imposing wills on each other after all this destruction. This would be a recognition of the falsehood on which this war was based and an acknowledgment that this people deserve peace. They should put the nation above themselves, as no one is more deserving of ruling than those chosen by the people's will. No "system of governance" can exist without consensus based on national principles ensuring social justice, abolishing regionalism, racism, and sectarianism, and preserving national unity or what remains of it. Most importantly, everyone must agree on the state's form without anyone's guardianship. Yemen is a consensual country, and this has been its nature since before the emergence of political pluralism and democracies. Yemenis must quickly meet to stop the imposed external dictates and withdraw their delegation to others intervening in their affairs. They should listen to the Yemeni street well, for it has grown weary of everyone. If there were genuine forces aiming to serve Yemen, no one would have dared to commit a war crime for six years, destroying the country and its people. Nor would anyone have taken treason lightly, standing against their country, unity, security, and territorial integrity under any pretext.