Yemen's Brotherhood party backs 'Decisive Storm' and holds Houthis responsible

Yemen’s Islah Party, which is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, has declared its support for “Operation Decisive Storm” initiated by Saudi Arabia and its coalition parties in order to restore security and stability in the country. In a public statement, the party secretariat said that it holds the Houthis and their allies responsible for the crisis of their own making.

“The Islah Party has been following recent events and developments in our country,” said the secretariat. “They are the outcome of the stubbornness of the Houthis, their coup against dialogue and their use of force to impose their vision on the Yemeni people and its political forces.” It was, claimed the party, the Houthis’ “arrogance” which led them to rebel against legitimacy, impose house arrest on the legitimate, elected president, the prime minister and the cabinet members of the technocrat government that was agreed upon, and obstruct the work of official institutions. “They have invaded various regions and imposed their hegemony on them, and continue to attack the provinces of Lahj, Ta’izz, Al-Dali’, Abyan and Shabwah, killing the innocent and destroying public and private properties in the Province of Aden.”

This, said Islah, has left the president just two options: either submit to what the Houthis want, and drag the country into the same tragic conditions with which the Syrians and Iraqis are faced; or confront the Houthis and seek military support to restore balance and stability around the country. “The president had no option but to invoke his constitutional powers and act in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter and in accordance with the Joint Defence Agreement of the Arab League and the Ta’if agreement that was renewed in Jeddah in 2000, and thus request support from the Gulf Cooperation Council and other Arab states as well as the UN Security Council.” Hence, the launch of “Decisive Storm”.

“We, together with all forces seeking what is good, express our thanks, appreciation and support to our brothers in the coalition states, foremost among them the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which responded to the request of the country’s legitimate president who is responsible for protecting, securing and saving the country, its citizens and its resources,” stressed the Islah secretariat. “We hope that this operation will restore matters to normality and put the country back on track, delivering it from the predicament caused by the Houthis and their allies.”

The Islamist movement expressed its hope that the military intervention will restore the political process in Yemen leading to serious dialogue and the implementation of the measures agreed upon by all the political forces as part of the national discussions in which they all participated. “There is nothing left but to implement what remains of the Gulf Initiative,” added Islah, “for this is the only safe way for the country to get out of the crisis it is going through.”

The party condemned in the strongest terms the retaliatory, destructive conduct of the hostile forces represented by ousted President Ali Saleh and the Houthis who stood against the peaceful process of change undertaken by the Yemeni people. They are, it insisted, acting as a tool for the violent project to impose Iranian hegemony on Yemen against the wishes of the people. “Islah Party holds them fully responsible for the situation that our beloved homeland has been forced into,” the statement concluded.