Houthis: Presence of U.S. Marines in Yemen Blocks Path to Peace
A photo Circulated on Social Media Platforms and Yemeni News Websites
The military movements of the United States in Yemen’s eastern and southern provinces will prolong the war and block the path to peace in the country, the Shura Council of the Ansar Allah (Houthi) group said on Saturday.
In a statement issued by the Houthi-run Saba News Agency, the Council warned against the consequences of ignoring the Houthi leadership’s call for “a just and honorable peace.”
In 2014, the Houthi group took over Sanaa and ousted the UN-recognized government in 2015 as they expanded their military in several Yemeni provinces. Their forceful takeover of power spawned a civil war and a foreign military intervention in Yemen. Today, they act as the official authority in the country, though they have not been recognized internationally.
The Houthi Shura Council said, “The presence and public appearance of American soldiers in some educational facilities in Hadramout province is a blatant violation of Yemeni sovereignty and is completely rejected…”
According to the Council’s statement, the American soldiers are invading and occupying forces and are a legitimate target for the Houthi armed forces and “free people” in Yemen.
On Tuesday, August 29, several soldiers from the Marine Corps appeared in the districts of Wadi Hadhramaut in South Yemen. Yemeni activists circulated pictures of US Marines who were accompanied by Saudi officers in Al-Ghurfa area. There was no official statement regarding the purpose of the U.S. Marines' public presence in Hadramout.
