US backs al-Qaeda in Yemen while dubbing its Houthi enemies ‘terrorists’
The US State Department designated Yemen’s Houthi movement — the most effective force in fighting al-Qaeda — as a “terrorist” organization. Meanwhile Washington and Saudi Arabia have supported al-Qaeda.
The United States government has designated the main enemy of al-Qaeda in Yemen, the Houthi movement, as a terrorist organization, after spending years backing al-Qaeda in the country.
Like the US-led wars on Syria, Libya, former Yugoslavia, and 1980s Afghanistan, Yemen represents an example of an armed conflict where Washington has supported al-Qaeda and similar Salafi-jihadist extremists in order to foment regime change and extend its hegemony.
Since March 2015, the United States has helped oversee a catastrophic war on Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East, aiding Saudi Arabia as it launched tens of thousands of air strikes on its southern neighbor, bombing the impoverished nation into rubble — and unleashing the largest humanitarian crisis on Earth.
Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis have died in this US-backed war. Tens of millions of civilians have been pushed to the brink of famine, as a result of intentional US-backed Saudi targeting of food production. Yemen’s health infrastructure was ravaged by the Western-sponsored bombing, precipitating the worst cholera outbreak in recorded history.
Throughout the war, al-Qaeda and other Salafi-jihadist groups have metastasized across the south of Yemen. The spread of these dangerous extremists is not a mere coincidence; it is the result of US government policy choices.
For years, forces in Yemen backed by the United States, Britain, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have fought in alliance with al-Qaeda. (And it is not the only ongoing conflict in the Middle East where the terror group has been allied with Washington. Former top Hillary Clinton advisor Jake Sullivan, now Joe Biden’s national security advisor, chirped in a 2012 email, “AQ is on our side in Syria.”)
There is overwhelming evidence exposing this de facto alliance between Washington and al-Qaeda. It has been documented even by mainstream corporate media outlets, from the Associated Press to the Wall Street Journal.
Western governments and Gulf monarchies are allied with al-Qaeda in Yemen because they share a common enemy: the Houthis, an indigenous, politically orientated Shia movement that emerged out of local struggles to resist Saudi Arabia’s extremist Wahhabi influence in the northern border area of Yemen.
The Houthis, who officially call themselves Ansar Allah, govern the northern regions of Yemen, where the majority of the population lives. They took control of the country after overthrowing an unelected and deeply corrupt US-backed authoritarian regime on September 21, 2014, in what they dubbed the September 21 Revolution.
Since March 2015, the United States and its allies Britain, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have proven unable to dislodge Ansar Allah from power. In desperation, the coalition has collectively punished the entire Yemeni civilian population, destroying much of the country around them in the process.
On January 10, 2021, the US State Department took its hybrid war on Yemeni civilians to the next level by officially designating the Houthi movement as a terrorist organization.
The terror label constituted a major blow to the international aid organizations working to prevent a famine and save civilian lives in Yemen. Because the Houthis run the government in most of Yemen, the designation effectively criminalized aid work in the majority of the country not under Washington’s de facto control.
The southern part of Yemen not governed by Ansar Allah is run by a US puppet government, ostensibly led by unelectedPresident Abed Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, who has spent nearly the entire war living in Saudi Arabia.
Yemen’s US- and Saudi-backed southern government is closely linked to al-Qaeda. And with the full knowledge of officials in Washington, it has used al-Qaeda as the tip of the spear in its war on the Houthis.
US- and Saudi-backed coalition forces in Yemen have actively recruited al-Qaeda extremists in their fight against Ansar Allah, and the US military halted drone strikes on the Salafi-jihadists.
Yemeni al-Qaeda extremists who are individually named on the US terrorism list have been supported and funded by US-backed Gulf monarchies, and have carved out top positions in Yemen’s southern puppet government.
The Salafi-jihadist militants in Yemen are part of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, one of the terror group’s most extreme and brutal international affiliates, which used an ISIS-style flag for years before the self-declared Islamic State emerged out of the US-backed wars on Iraq and Syria.
Militants from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which has been supported by the US and Saudi Arabia in YemenSecretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed the terrorist designation was part of Washington’s drive to weaken Iranian influence in the region, as part of the US-led propaganda drive to paint the group as a mere “Iranian proxy.”
But though the Houthis have received political and media support from Iran, they are an independent indigenous groupwhose resistance struggle is deeply ingrained in Yemen’s history.
Like the Lebanese nationalist group Hezbollah, which is often compared to Ansar Allah, the Houthis are allies of Iran, but they are independent. Both grew out of indigenous struggles against attempted foreign domination of their countries – the Israeli war on Lebanon in the case of the former, and Saudi aggression in the case of the latter.
Ansar Allah, which adopted the slogan “Death to America, Death to Israel,” has also demonstrated a consistent anti-imperialist ideology and support for global resistance movements.
The Houthi government refuses to recognize Israel and vociferously promotes the Palestinian liberation struggle. It has also backed the Syrian government and its allies against Western-sponsored Salafi-jihadist militants.
Consistent with their ideology, the Houthis publicly expressed solidarity with Venezuela against the US-led coup attempt to install Juan Guaidó in 2019. Back in 2015, a senior Ansar Allah leader told journalist Safa al-Ahmad, “We will help oppressed people all over the world… We support Chávez in Venezuela. Why this insistence that we receive support from Iran, other than wanting to turn the struggle in this country and the region into a sectarian one, based on the American and Zionist agenda?”
Yemenis from the Houthi movement and leftist parties hold a solidarity rally with Venezuela against a US coup attempt, in Sanaa in 2019The US terrorist designation is clearly meant to criminalize the Houthi movement, and the majority of Yemen as a whole, for its resistance to Washington’s geopolitical interests.
This labeling is ironic, because Yemenis have themselves held numerous protests under the banner, “No to American Terrorism on Yemen.”
During a protest marking the anniversary of the US-Saudi coalition bombing of a funeral hallthat killed more than 140 people and wounded 600 more, Yemenis erected a blood-stained, demonic Statue of Liberty holding American and Israeli bombs, alongside a sign reading, “USA Kills Yemeni People.”
In a viral photo, a Yemeni man dressed up as Donald Trump, posing with an American flag cape and hat reading “oil” in front of a cow covered by a Saudi flag, standing above an Israeli flag.
A Yemeni man at a “Stop U.S. Terrorism on Yemen” protest in Sanaa in 2017The US terrorist designation of Ansar Allah recalls similar labels applied to other national-liberation movements in the Global South.
South African anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela was on the US government’s terrorism list until 2008 (after the CIA helped the apartheid regime imprison him for 27 years).
Mandela’s African National Congress, or ANC, was designated a terrorist organization by Washington because of its support for armed struggle against South Africa’s US-backed apartheid regime. The ANC remained on the US terrorist list even after it became the elected government of the country’s post-apartheid democracy.
Further compounding the hypocrisy, Washington announced its terrorist designation against the Houthis just weeks after removing the Uighur extremist militia the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) from the US terrorist list. This Salafi-jihadist group, which is also known as the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), has launched hundreds of terror attacks against the Chinese government and civilians, and seeks to carve off the western Chinese region of Xinjiang and establish an Islamic state called East Turkestan.
TIP is closely linked to al-Qaeda and is active in the war in Syria, in the al-Qaeda-controlled Idlib province, where the US has greenlighted missiles shipments. TIP is still recognized by the United Nations, European Nation, and many other countries as a terrorist organization, despite Washington’s de-listing.
But the US government’s terrorist labeling of the Houthis is doubly hypocritical, considering Washington enjoys a very cozy relationship with al-Qaeda in Yemen.
Mainstream corporate media extensively documents US alliance with al-Qaeda in Yemen
The existence of a de facto alliance between the United States, Saudi Arabia, and al-Qaeda is not just speculation by anti-war journalists; it has been acknowledged by mainstream corporate media outlets.
The Western and Gulf monarchy alliance with the notorious Salafi-jihadist terrorist group has been known since the very beginning of the international war on Yemen in 2015.
In July 2015, the Wall Street Journal published a report acknowledging that “Local militias backed by Saudi Arabia, special forces from the United Arab Emirates and al Qaeda militants all fought on the same side this week to wrest back control over most of Yemen’s second city, Aden, from pro-Iranian Houthi rebels.”
The Journal continued: “Saudi-backed militias are spearheading efforts to roll back Houthi gains and reinstate the government that the rebels drove into exile in neighboring Saudi Arabia. But they have turned to Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, for help, according to local residents and a senior Western diplomat. This puts the U.S.-allied Gulf kingdom on the same side as one of the world’s most notorious extremist groups.”
<img src=”https://i0.wp.com/thegrayzone.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Wall-Street-Journal-al-Qaeda-Yemen-Saudi-UAE-US.png?resize=1170%2C614&ssl=1″ data-attachment-id=”61261″ data-permalink=”https://thegrayzone.com/2021/01/12/us-al-qaeda-yemen-houthis-terrorists/wall-street-journal-al-qaeda-yemen-saudi-uae-us/” data-orig-file=”https://i0.wp.com/thegrayzone.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Wall-Street-Journal-al-Qaeda-Yemen-Saudi-UAE-US.png?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1″ data-orig-size=”1200,630″ data-comments-opened=”0″ data-image-meta=”{“aperture”:”0″,”credit”:””,”camera”:””,”caption”:””,”created_timestamp”:”0″,”copyright”:””,”focal_length”:”0″,”iso”:”0″,”shutter_speed”:”0″,”title”:””,”orientation”:”0″}” data-image-title=”Wall Street Journal al Qaeda Yemen Saudi UAE US” data-image-description=”
Wall Street Journal al Qaeda Yemen Saudi UAE US
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After al-Qaeda helped US-backed Yemeni forces expel the Houthis from the major southern city of Aden, “AQAP militants celebrated the victory alongside the militias, parading cadavers of Houthis on a main commercial street in the city to a cheering crowd,” the Wall Street Journal wrote.
Aden residents told the newspaper that they saw al-Qaeda flags flying all across the city.
The US government was well aware of the fact that it was strengthening al-Qaeda in Yemen. However, it continued to place the responsibility on Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement. The Journal reported, “American officials acknowledge that AQAP is one of the war’s biggest benefactors, but say Houthi rebels are ultimately to blame.”
In February 2016, video evidence of the dark alliance emerged for the first time. Journalist Safa al-Ahmad filmed forces from the US-, Saudi-, and UAE-backed coalition fighting alongside al-Qaeda against the Houthis, battling for control of the major city of Taiz. She published the footage with the BBC.
<img src=”https://i1.wp.com/thegrayzone.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/BBC-Yemen-al-Qaeda-coalition-US-Saudi.png?resize=1014%2C834&ssl=1″ data-attachment-id=”61256″ data-permalink=”https://thegrayzone.com/2021/01/12/us-al-qaeda-yemen-houthis-terrorists/bbc-yemen-al-qaeda-coalition-us-saudi/” data-orig-file=”https://i1.wp.com/thegrayzone.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/BBC-Yemen-al-Qaeda-coalition-US-Saudi.png?fit=1014%2C834&ssl=1″ data-orig-size=”1014,834″ data-comments-opened=”0″ data-image-meta=”{“aperture”:”0″,”credit”:””,”camera”:””,”caption”:””,”created_timestamp”:”0″,”copyright”:””,”focal_length”:”0″,”iso”:”0″,”shutter_speed”:”0″,”title”:””,”orientation”:”0″}” data-image-title=”BBC Yemen al Qaeda coalition US Saudi” data-image-description=”
BBC Yemen al Qaeda coalition US Saudi
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In January 2017, a United Nations panel of experts published an annual report on the Yemen war. The document (PDF) acknowledged that al-Qaeda “members have also taken part in the fight in Ta’izz on the side of the ‘resistance’ against Houthi and Saleh forces” (referring to previous President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who had formed an uneasy alliance with the Houthis until he turned on them and was killed in 2017).
A few sentences before in the same report, the UN experts added, “The Panel also assesses that AQAP is actively working towards preparing terrorist attacks to be launched against the West using Yemen as a base.” The statement represented a clear warning about the same kind of potential “blowback” attacks that American and European civilians have endured thanks to their governments’ sponsorship of Salafi-jihadist fanatics.
Washington’s support for al-Qaeda in Yemen under President Barack Obama was quietly acknowledged, but mostly ignored. When President Donald Trump came into office, however, corporate media outlets that had long whitewashed and ignored the Yemen war began to report more critically.
The Associated Press published a detailed investigation in August 2018 further documenting how US- and Saudi-backed coalition forces in Yemen “cut secret deals with al-Qaida fighters, paying some to leave key cities and towns and letting others retreat with weapons, equipment and wads of looted cash… Hundreds more were recruited to join the coalition itself.”
“Coalition-backed militias actively recruit al-Qaida militants, or those who were recently members, because they’re considered exceptional fighters,” the AP wrote.
The news outlet noted that some Yemeni al-Qaeda extremists on the US terrorism list were simultaneously being funded by Gulf monarchies to lead troops in the US-backed coalition.
“Key participants in the pacts said the U.S. was aware of the arrangements and held off on any drone strikes,” the report added.
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AP Yemen al Qaeda US allies
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“The larger mission is to win the civil war against the Houthis, Iranian-backed Shiite rebels. And in that fight, al-Qaida militants are effectively on the same side as the Saudi-led coalition — and, by extension, the United States,” the AP report stated bluntly.
The news outlet quoted a fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, a Cold War-era neoconservative think tank close to the CIA, who admitted, “Elements of the U.S. military are clearly aware that much of what the U.S. is doing in Yemen is aiding AQAP and there is much angst about that… However, supporting the UAE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia against what the U.S. views as Iranian expansionism takes priority over battling AQAP and even stabilizing Yemen.”
The damning AP investigation was followed by a 2019 CNN report which acknowledged that weapons sold by the United States to Saudi Arabia and the UAE were then transferred to al-Qaeda in Yemen.
In branding the Houthi movement as terrorists, the United States has not only evinced a staggering level of hypocrisy; it has effectively given a gift to the same extremist organization it used to justify its so-called “war on terror.”
While the United States designated the Houthis in Yemen as a terrorist organization, the US and Saudi Arabia have supported al-Qaeda
— Read on thegrayzone.com/2021/01/12/us-al-qaeda-yemen-houthis-terrorists/
AS menyokong al-Qaeda di Yaman sambil men Juli kI ‘pengganas’ musuh Houthi
Ben Norton 12 Januari 2021
AQAP al Qaeda Yaman Saudi Saudi menyokong
Jabatan Negara AS menetapkan gerakan Houthi Yaman – kekuatan paling berkesan dalam memerangi al-Qaeda – sebagai organisasi “pengganas”. Sementara itu Washington dan Arab Saudi menyokong al-Qaeda.
Kerajaan Amerika Syarikat telah menetapkan musuh utama al-Qaeda di Yaman, gerakan Houthi, sebagai organisasi pengganas, setelah menghabiskan bertahun-tahun menyokong al-Qaeda di negara itu.
Seperti perang yang dipimpin AS ke Syria, Libya, bekas Yugoslavia, dan Afghanistan 1980-an, Yaman mewakili contoh konflik bersenjata di mana Washington telah menyokong al-Qaeda dan pelampau Salafi-jihad yang serupa untuk mendorong perubahan rejim dan memperluas hegemoni.
Sejak Mac 2015, Amerika Syarikat telah membantu mengawasi perang bencana terhadap Yaman, negara termiskin di Timur Tengah, membantu Arab Saudi ketika melancarkan puluhan ribu serangan udara ke negara jiran selatannya, mengebom negara miskin menjadi runtuhan – dan melepaskan krisis kemanusiaan terbesar di Bumi.
Ratusan ribu warga Yaman telah terkorban dalam perang yang disokong oleh AS ini. Puluhan juta orang awam telah dipaksa ke ambang kebuluran, sebagai akibat daripada penyasaran pengeluaran makanan Saudi yang disokong oleh AS. Infrastruktur kesihatan Yaman hancur akibat pengeboman yang ditaja oleh Barat, memicu wabak kolera terburuk dalam sejarah yang tercatat.
Sepanjang perang, al-Qaeda dan kumpulan-kumpulan jihad-Salafi lain telah melakukan metastasi di selatan Yaman. Penyebaran pelampau berbahaya ini bukan kebetulan; itu adalah hasil pilihan dasar kerajaan AS.
Selama bertahun-tahun, pasukan di Yaman yang disokong oleh Amerika Syarikat, Britain, Arab Saudi, dan Emiriah Arab Bersatu telah bertempur dalam pakatan dengan al-Qaeda. (Dan bukan satu-satunya konflik yang sedang berlangsung di Timur Tengah di mana kumpulan pengganas telah bersekutu dengan Washington. Mantan penasihat Hillary Clinton, Jake Sullivan, sekarang penasihat keselamatan negara Joe Biden, berkicau dalam e-mel 2012, “AQ ada di pihak kami di Syria. “)
Terdapat banyak bukti yang memperlihatkan perikatan de facto ini antara Washington dan al-Qaeda. Ini telah didokumentasikan walaupun oleh media media korporat arus perdana, dari Associated Press hingga Wall Street Journal.
Kerajaan Barat dan monarki Teluk bersekutu dengan al-Qaeda di Yaman kerana mereka mempunyai musuh bersama: Houthi, sebuah gerakan Syiah pribumi, berorientasi politik yang muncul dari perjuangan tempatan untuk menentang pengaruh Wahabi Arab Saudi di wilayah sempadan utara Yaman .
Kaum Houthi, yang secara rasmi menyebut diri mereka sebagai Ansar Allah, memerintah wilayah utara Yaman, di mana majoriti penduduk tinggal. Mereka menguasai negara itu setelah menjatuhkan rejim otoriter AS yang tidak terpilih dan sangat korup pada 21 September 2014, dalam apa yang mereka juluki Revolusi 21 September.
Sejak Mac 2015, Amerika Syarikat dan sekutunya Britain, Arab Saudi, dan Emiriah Arab Bersatu telah terbukti tidak dapat melepaskan Ansar Allah dari kekuasaan. Dalam keadaan putus asa, koalisi telah secara kolektif menghukum seluruh penduduk awam Yaman, menghancurkan sebahagian besar negara di sekitar mereka dalam proses itu.
Pada 10 Januari 2021, Departemen Luar Negeri AS melancarkan perang hibridnya terhadap orang awam Yaman ke tahap seterusnya dengan secara rasmi menetapkan gerakan Houthi sebagai organisasi pengganas.
Label keganasan menjadi tamparan hebat kepada organisasi bantuan antarabangsa yang berusaha mencegah kebuluran dan menyelamatkan nyawa orang awam di Yaman. Oleh kerana Houthi menjalankan pemerintahan di sebahagian besar Yaman, penunjukan itu secara efektif mengkriminalisasi bantuan di kebanyakan negara yang tidak berada di bawah kawalan de facto Washington.
Bahagian selatan Yaman yang tidak diperintah oleh Ansar Allah dikendalikan oleh pemerintah boneka AS, yang dipimpin oleh Presiden Abed Rabbuh Mansour Hadi yang tidak terpilih, yang telah menghabiskan hampir keseluruhan perang tinggal di Arab Saudi.
Pemerintah selatan Yaman dan AS yang disokong oleh Arab Saudi berkait rapat dengan al-Qaeda. Dan dengan pengetahuan penuh para pegawai di Washington, pihaknya telah menggunakan al-Qaeda sebagai ujung tombak dalam perang melawan Houthi.
Pasukan koalisi yang disokong AS dan Saudi di Yaman secara aktif merekrut pelampau al-Qaeda dalam perjuangan mereka melawan Ansar Allah, dan tentera AS menghentikan serangan drone ke atas para pejuang Salafi.
Ekstremis Yaman al-Qaeda yang secara individu disebut dalam senarai keganasan AS telah disokong dan dibiayai oleh monarki Teluk yang disokong AS, dan telah memperoleh posisi teratas dalam pemerintahan boneka selatan Yaman.
Militan Salafi-jihad di Yaman adalah sebahagian daripada al-Qaeda di Semenanjung Arab, atau AQAP, salah satu gabungan antarabangsa yang paling ekstrem dan brutal, yang menggunakan bendera gaya ISIS selama bertahun-tahun sebelum Negara Islam yang dinyatakan sendiri muncul keluar dari perang yang disokong AS di Iraq dan Syria.
Bendera AQAP al Qaeda Yemen
Militan dari Al-Qaeda di Semenanjung Arab (AQAP), yang telah disokong oleh AS dan Arab Saudi di Yaman
Setiausaha Negara Mike Pompeo mendakwa penunjuk perasaan pengganas itu adalah sebahagian daripada usaha Washington untuk melemahkan pengaruh Iran di rantau ini, sebagai sebahagian dari propaganda yang dipimpin AS untuk melukis kumpulan itu sebagai “proksi Iran”.
Tetapi walaupun Houthi telah mendapat sokongan politik dan media dari Iran, mereka adalah kumpulan pribumi bebas yang perjuangan penentangannya tertanam dalam sejarah Yaman.
Seperti kumpulan nasionalis Lubnan, Hizbullah, yang sering dibandingkan dengan Ansar Allah, Houthi adalah sekutu Iran, tetapi mereka bebas. Kedua-duanya tumbuh dari perjuangan pribumi melawan percubaan penguasaan asing di negara mereka – perang Israel ke atas Lebanon dalam kes yang sebelumnya, dan pencerobohan Saudi dalam kes yang terakhir.
Ansar Allah, yang mengadopsi slogan “Kematian ke Amerika, Kematian kepada Israel,” juga menunjukkan ideologi dan sokongan anti-imperialis yang konsisten terhadap gerakan perlawanan global.
Pemerintah Houthi enggan mengakui Israel dan dengan gigihnya mempromosikan perjuangan pembebasan Palestin. Ia juga telah menyokong pemerintah Syria dan sekutunya terhadap militan Salafi-jihad yang ditaja oleh Barat.
Selaras dengan ideologi mereka, Houthi secara terbuka menyatakan solidariti dengan Venezuela terhadap percubaan rampasan kuasa yang dipimpin AS untuk memasang Juan Guaidó pada tahun 2019. Kembali pada tahun 2015, seorang pemimpin kanan Ansar Allah memberitahu wartawan Safa al-Ahmad, “Kami akan menolong orang yang ditindas di seluruh dunia dunia … Kami menyokong Chavez di Venezuela. Mengapa desakan ini agar kita mendapat sokongan dari Iran, selain ingin mengubah perjuangan di negara ini dan wilayah menjadi sektarian, berdasarkan agenda Amerika dan Zionis? ”
yemen houthi membantah fidel venezuela
Warga Yaman dari gerakan Houthi dan parti kiri mengadakan demonstrasi solidariti dengan Venezuela terhadap cubaan rampasan kuasa AS, di Sanaa pada tahun 2019
Penetapan pengganas AS jelas bertujuan untuk mengkriminalkan gerakan Houthi, dan majoriti Yaman secara keseluruhan, kerana penentangannya terhadap kepentingan geopolitik Washington.
Pelabelan ini ironis, kerana orang Yaman sendiri telah melakukan banyak tunjuk perasaan di bawah panji, “Tidak terhadap Terorisme Amerika di Yaman.”
Semasa tunjuk perasaan memperingati ulang tahun pengeboman pakatan AS-Saudi di sebuah dewan pengebumian yang mengorbankan lebih dari 140 orang dan mencederakan 600 lagi, orang Yaman mendirikan Patung Liberty yang penuh darah, setan yang memegang bom Amerika dan Israel, di samping bacaan tanda, “AS Membunuh Orang Yaman.”
Dalam foto yang viral, seorang lelaki Yaman berpakaian seperti Donald Trump, berpose dengan jubah dan topi bendera Amerika yang berbunyi “minyak” di hadapan seekor lembu yang ditutupi bendera Saudi, berdiri di atas bendera Israel.
Yaman memprotes Trump AS lembu Arab Saudi
Seorang lelaki Yaman pada tunjuk perasaan “Hentikan Keganasan A.S. di Yaman” di Sanaa pada tahun 2017
Penunjuk perasaan pengganas AS bagi Ansar Allah mengingatkan label serupa yang digunakan untuk gerakan pembebasan nasional lain di Global South.
Pemimpin anti-apartheid Afrika Selatan Nelson Mandela berada dalam senarai keganasan pemerintah AS hingga 2008 (setelah CIA membantu rejim apartheid memenjarakannya selama 27 tahun).
Kongres Nasional Afrika Mandela, atau ANC, ditetapkan sebagai organisasi pengganas oleh Washington kerana sokongannya terhadap perjuangan bersenjata menentang rejim apartheid Afrika Selatan yang disokong AS. ANC kekal dalam senarai pengganas AS walaupun setelah menjadi pemerintah terpilih demokrasi pasca-apartheid negara itu.
Lebih jauh menunjukkan kemunafikan, Washington mengumumkan penunjuk perasaan pengganasnya terhadap Houthi hanya beberapa minggu setelah mengeluarkan militan pelampau Uighur, Gerakan Islam Turkistan Timur (ETIM) dari senarai pengganas AS. Kumpulan Salafi-jihadis ini, yang juga dikenal sebagai Parti Islam Turkistan (TIP), telah melancarkan ratusan serangan teror terhadap pemerintah China dan orang awam, dan berusaha untuk mengukir wilayah China barat Xinjiang dan mendirikan sebuah negara Islam yang disebut Timur Turkestan.
TIP berkait rapat dengan al-Qaeda dan aktif dalam perang di Syria, di provinsi Idlib yang dikuasai al-Qaeda, di mana AS telah menghantar penghantaran peluru berpandu. TIP masih diiktiraf oleh Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu, Bangsa Eropah, dan banyak negara lain sebagai organisasi pengganas, walaupun Washington menyingkirkannya.
Tetapi pelabelan pengganas Houthi oleh pemerintah AS dua kali hipokrit, memandangkan Washington menikmati hubungan yang sangat selesa dengan al-Qaeda di Yaman.
Media korporat arus perdana mendokumentasikan pakatan AS dengan al-Qaeda di Yaman
Kewujudan pakatan de facto antara Amerika Syarikat, Arab Saudi, dan al-Qaeda bukan hanya spekulasi oleh wartawan anti-perang; ia telah diakui oleh media korporat arus perdana.
Aliansi monarki Barat dan Teluk dengan kumpulan pengganas Salafi-jihadis terkenal sejak awal perang antarabangsa terhadap Yaman pada tahun 2015.
Pada bulan Julai 2015, Wall Street Journal menerbitkan laporan yang mengakui bahawa “Milisi tempatan yang disokong oleh Arab Saudi, pasukan khas dari Emiriah Arab Bersatu dan militan al Qaeda semuanya berjuang di pihak yang sama minggu ini untuk merebut kembali sebahagian besar kota kedua Yaman , Aden, dari pemberontak Houthi pro-Iran. ”
Jurnal itu melanjutkan: “Milisi yang disokong Arab Saudi memelopori usaha untuk mengembalikan keuntungan Houthi dan mengembalikan pemerintahan yang digerakkan oleh pemberontak di negara jiran Arab Saudi. Tetapi mereka telah beralih ke al Qaeda yang berpusat di Yaman di Semenanjung Arab, atau AQAP, untuk meminta bantuan, menurut penduduk tempatan dan seorang diplomat kanan Barat. Ini meletakkan kerajaan Teluk bersekutu A.S. di sisi yang sama dengan salah satu kumpulan pelampau yang terkenal di dunia. ”
Wall Street Journal al Qaeda Yemen Saudi UAE AS
Setelah al-Qaeda menolong pasukan Yaman yang disokong AS mengusir Houthi dari bandar utama Aden di selatan, “militan AQAP meraikan kemenangan itu bersama-sama milisi, mengarak mayat Houthi di jalan komersial utama di bandar ini kepada orang ramai yang bersorak,” Wall Street Journal menulis.
Penduduk Aden memberitahu surat khabar bahawa mereka melihat bendera al-Qaeda terbang di seluruh bandar.
Kerajaan AS menyedari hakikat bahawa pihaknya memperkuat al-Qaeda di Yaman. Namun, ia terus memikul tanggungjawab itu kepada gerakan Ansar Allah Yaman. The Journal melaporkan, “Pegawai Amerika mengakui bahawa AQAP adalah salah satu pemberi bantuan terbesar perang, tetapi mengatakan pemberontak Houthi akhirnya harus dipersalahkan.”
Pada Februari 2016, bukti video mengenai pakatan gelap muncul untuk pertama kalinya. Wartawan Safa al-Ahmad memfilmkan pasukan dari gabungan yang disokong AS, Saudi, dan UAE yang bertempur dengan al-Qaeda menentang Houthi, berjuang untuk menguasai bandar utama Taiz. Dia menerbitkan rakaman itu dengan BBC.
BBC Yemen al Qaeda gabungan AS Saudi
Pada Januari 2017, panel pakar PBB menerbitkan laporan tahunan mengenai perang Yaman. Dokumen tersebut (PDF) mengakui bahawa anggota-anggota al-Qaeda turut mengambil bahagian dalam pertempuran di Ta’izz di sisi ‘penentangan’ terhadap pasukan Houthi dan Saleh “(merujuk kepada Presiden sebelumnya Ali Abdullah Saleh, yang telah membentuk perikatan yang tidak selesa dengan Houthi sehingga dia mengaktifkan mereka dan terbunuh pada tahun 2017).
Beberapa kalimat sebelumnya dalam laporan yang sama, para ahli PBB menambahkan, “Panel juga menilai bahwa AQAP secara aktif berusaha untuk mempersiapkan serangan pengganas yang akan dilancarkan terhadap Barat menggunakan Yaman sebagai pangkalan.” Kenyataan itu mewakili peringatan yang jelas tentang serangan serupa yang mungkin ditanggung oleh orang awam Amerika dan Eropah berkat tajaan pemerintah mereka terhadap golongan Salafi-jihad.
Sokongan Washington terhadap al-Qaeda di Yaman di bawah Presiden Barack Obama diam-diam diakui, tetapi kebanyakannya tidak diendahkan. Namun, ketika Presiden Donald Trump masuk ke pejabat, media media korporat yang telah lama memutihkan dan mengabaikan perang Yaman mulai melaporkan dengan lebih kritikal.
The Associated Press menerbitkan penyelidikan terperinci pada bulan Ogos 2018 dengan lebih lanjut yang mendokumentasikan bagaimana pasukan gabungan yang disokong AS dan Arab Saudi di Yaman “memutuskan perjanjian rahsia dengan pejuang al-Qaida, membayar sejumlah untuk meninggalkan bandar dan kota utama dan membiarkan yang lain berundur dengan senjata, peralatan dan sejumlah wang tunai yang dijarah … Ratusan lagi direkrut untuk bergabung dalam gabungan itu sendiri. ”
“Milisi yang disokong oleh koalisi secara aktif merekrut militan al-Qaida, atau mereka yang baru-baru ini menjadi anggota, kerana mereka dianggap pejuang yang luar biasa,” tulis AP.
Saluran berita tersebut menyatakan bahawa beberapa ekstremis al-Qaeda Yaman dalam senarai keganasan AS secara bersamaan dibiayai oleh monarki Teluk untuk memimpin pasukan dalam gabungan yang disokong AS.
“Peserta utama dalam perjanjian itu mengatakan A.S. menyedari pengaturan dan menahan sebarang serangan drone,” tambah laporan itu.
AP Yemen al Qaeda sekutu AS
“Misi yang lebih besar adalah memenangi perang saudara melawan Houthi, pemberontak Syiah yang disokong oleh Iran. Dan dalam pertarungan itu, militan al-Qaida secara efektif berada di pihak yang sama dengan gabungan yang dipimpin Saudi – dan, secara meluas, Amerika Syarikat, “laporan AP menyatakan secara terang-terangan.
Saluran berita itu memetik rakan di Jamestown Foundation, sebuah kumpulan pemikir neokonservatif era Perang Dingin yang dekat dengan CIA, yang mengakui, “Unsur-unsur tentera AS jelas mengetahui bahawa banyak yang dilakukan AS di Yaman adalah membantu AQAP dan ada banyak kemarahan mengenai hal itu… Namun, menyokong UAE dan Kerajaan Arab Saudi terhadap apa yang dilihat oleh AS kerana ekspansiisme Iran mengutamakan memerangi AQAP dan bahkan menstabilkan Yaman. ”
Penyiasatan AP yang memalukan diikuti oleh laporan CNN 2019 yang mengakui bahawa senjata yang dijual oleh Amerika Syarikat ke Arab Saudi dan UAE kemudiannya dipindahkan ke al-Qaeda di Yaman.
Dalam menjenamakan gerakan Houthi sebagai pengganas, Amerika Syarikat tidak hanya membuktikan tahap kemunafikan yang mengejutkan; secara efektif telah memberikan hadiah kepada organisasi ekstremis yang sama yang digunakannya untuk membenarkan apa yang disebut sebagai “perang melawan keganasan.”
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