Rune Agerhus, a political economy analyst, researcher, and founder of Hamra Books, tells Splinter that out of the entire resistance axis, Yemen has emerged as the most compelling pro-Palestine auxiliary force. Not only has Ansar Allah proven itself to be a formidable resistance faction, but they have also become stronger despite ongoing Israeli attacks.“First and foremost, Yemen’s strategic placement on the world map makes it a daring and difficult task for adversarial forces to strike back when Yemen engages in military operations, be they at sea or with drones and missiles,” Agerhus said. “Furthermore, the general perception of Ansar Allah, both domestically but regionally as well, has undoubtedly skyrocketed since November 2023. They are perceived as the only Arab ‘state-actor’ to relentlessly and unreservedly do whatever it can to force an end to the genocide in Gaza, and in Yemen such perception is worth gold. The modern Yemeni national identity is fundamentally tied to Palestinian liberation, and in Yemen, whoever does most for Palestine – be it tangible or otherwise – will eventually come out the strongest with the most popular support.”
Despite what many have assumed is the end of Yemen’s naval blockade, due to the brokered ceasefire with the United States, Agerhus emphasizes that the Red Sea blockade is far from over, especially as Israel was not part of the brokered ceasefire agreement. “According to a recent New York Times article, Trump was offered a diplomatic off-ramp by Oman if he wanted to pull out of his disastrous Yemen campaign, and that’s the offer he eventually ended up taking,” he said. “Trump doesn’t care about sidestepping Israel, he wants to save face in a way that does not humiliate him, and the ceasefire proposal was the best way to do so. The naval blockade still holds, and all Israeli ships, or ships heading towards Israeli ports, will be denied entry or targeted if they refuse to heed the warnings of the Yemeni naval command. The naval blockade has recently been complemented with a comprehensive aerial blockade enforced by Yemen, which has so far been successful given the number of airlines that have cancelled flights to Tel Aviv since a Yemeni missile struck the vicinity of Ben Gurion Airport on May 4th.”
The Yemeni front is a substantial bulwark against Israel’s genocide, and their obstinate resistance has “borne great fruit and victories most wouldn’t even dare dream of,” according to Agerhus. Yemen has also benefited from a distinctive, unified popular position with their engagements against Israel, more so than what we have seen in Lebanon. Agerhus contrasted Ansar Allah’s widespread popular support to Lebanon in that “certain political parties and segments of society [push] back on Hezbollah’s military engagements, even questioning the viability of Hezbollah still maintaining arms in the future.”
As the war waged on the people of Gaza continues, Agerhus emphasizes a key point: that the Yemeni position on this genocide is not one of charity, or a solidarity marked by their identities as followers of Ansar Allah leader Abdel-Malik al-Houthi, but because they are Yemenis. “The contemporary Yemeni identity is fundamentally linked to Palestinian liberation, and there’s a strong leitmotif that connects Yemen’s current role with the actions undertaken by previous Yemeni nation-states such as the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen and the Yemen Arab Republic. From blockading the Red Sea in 1971, to facilitating attacks on Israeli commercial shipping, to organizing vast military training camps for Palestinian fedayeen, and granting Palestinian groups diplomatic status. To be Yemeni is to support Palestine unreservedly and unconditionally.”
The common Arabic refrain accentuating unity—that the people of the region “are like one hand”—lives through the people of Yemen, with every attack across the Red Sea, every protest, and every act of solidarity that has come from a resistant people who refuse to abandon the people of Gaza.
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