نشریه مطالعات سیاست خارجی تهران
پیاپی 16 (بهار 1399)

On 25 March 2015, Saudi Arabia launched an attack on Yemen under the name "Operation Decisive Storm" with the aim, or more exactly, the excuse of restoring the rule of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi and eliminating the Houthi movement. Saudi Arabia led a coalition of nine countries from West Asia and North Africa that had joined Saudi Arabia and had each a part in invading Yemen. At first, the majority of the military attacks of this coalition consisted of shelling some areas by the helicopters from Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates with the technical and operational support of the West (specially the United States of America and Britain). These military operations were accompanied with wide media and political pressures; however, what attracted more and more attention as it went on was the fact that Yemenis' resistance grew more conspicuous which had come about only as a result of an efficient defensive method and the forces' perseverance. In the first stage, the Yemeni forces strengthened their fronts and became more integrated and united. In the second stage, they took the initiative and increased pressure on the most of the Saudi coalition headquarters both inside Yemen and also along the northern frontiers. Lastly, we can see the achievements of the military units, public committees and Ansar Allah such as ballistic missiles, drones and all kinds of unmanned aerial vehicles. On the one hand, these achievements have had a major role in Yemeni forces' power to defend, stabilize and take the initiative in dealing with the Saudi coalition forces and their regional and international supporters. On the other hand, they have given the Yemeni forces an opportunity to stop all the field and military plans of the coalition forces by putting forth the deterrence equation and the strategy of maintaining the balance of terror.

When we discuss the failure of Saudi coalition forces in Yemen war (whether the forces directly involved in the war –such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates- or the international forces supporting them –such as the US, Israel, Britain and France) we mean their failure in realizing the goals for which they started the war against Yemen in the first place. The House of Saud coalition's most important goal was to first bring the Yemeni national and revolutionary forces to their knees and deprive them of strategic ammunitions, and then assert dominance over the coasts ofthe Red Sea and Arabian Sea. However, none of the plans went as they had been devised by the House of Saud. Therefore, we can safely claim that the invading forces of the coalition failed against Yemen. Of course, it doesn't mean to ignore the Saudi coalition's partial victories such as, - Occupying a part of south Yemen - Occupying a few ports - Forming some military and political forces that can endanger Yemen's future - Deploying the ISIS forces in Yemen and destroying the infrastructures of this country. Thus, though the Saudi coalition was successful in realizing the above goals, they categorically failed in accomplishing their macro goals, which, in our opinion, will afford the Yemenis an opportunity to make the enemy's partial achievements face with failure. It is worth mentioning that the failure to achieve the aforementioned goals has placed the Saudi coalition in a dialectic position. The series of failure have got the coalition into complicated crises which, in the end, will ruin the point of the arrow that consists of the Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates because these two countries are now finding themselves in a dead-end they can't easily escape. On the other hand, the Yemeni nation and the national forces are finally seeing brighter futures in the horizon and that's because their power of action, initiative and deterrence forces have gradually grown and is still growing.

It has now been four years that Yemen has been distraught by a brutal civil war between the central government and the Islamic movement of Ansar Allah or Houthi Movement and there is still no sign of peace. Thousands of civilians have lost their lives during these conflicts, millions of them were forced to abandon their homes and many are still struggling with famine. A coalition of countries led by Saudi Arabia was formed to vastly support the resigned president, Mansour Hadi, which resulted in ongoing military missions against the Houthis. During these military conflicts, the Saudi Arabia-led coalition was accused of breaching the international human rights by killing hundreds of the civilians with aerial raids and also through the siege of Yemen. Though not a part of the Saudi coalition, the US has vastly supported this coalition by selling arms, aerial refueling of the coalition's aircrafts, logistic support and providing necessary trainings. This kind of support can raise serious questions regarding the probable legal responsibility of the United States of America under both the internal and international laws. The present article both examines and analyzes the role of the US in Yemen and its responsibility, especially regarding the selling of the arms to the coalition. The article is divided into two parts. The first part is generally answering this question that whether the US can be held internationally responsible for its actions and cooperation with the Saudi-led coalition or not. The second part is specifically examining the US responsibility for selling arms.

Yemen war is entering its sixth year while the Saudi-led coalition is facing total failure and the world is struggling with the coronavirus covid-19 pandemic and political and economic crises. Notwithstanding all these problems, the Yemeni army is gaining more victories each day and increasing its deterrence force through ballistic missiles and new drones. We can even safely assume that we would be hearing from Saudi Arabia and its allies' utter defeat very soon. If we compare Yemen of the 26 March 2015 (when the war start ed) with today (in the middle of 2020), we will soon realize how delusional were those in favor of invading this country and how confused and terrified they are now that they have failed in their nasty media war and tasted their own bitter medicine. Now, the ugly truth has appeared from under the covers and all the aims and greedy plans of the House of Saud have been divulged to the world. Today, no one believes that flimsy excuse of the legitimacy of the government which was once the basis for the war against Yemen. This articles aims at investigating the actions of those media which supported the invasion of Yemen and tried to –through collusion with those Western media falsely known as the free media- distort the war daily news and hide the crimes of the House of Saud from the public eyes in the world. In the end, the article will examine the role of the national media in Yemen in response to the media attacks of the invading forces and in defending Yemen and its oppressed nation.

Yemen has always been strategically important in West Asia. Helping and protecting the oppressed nations has always been a priority for Iran since the Islamic Revolution, and Yemen has now been under Saudi-US coalition's invasions for years. Yemen crisis goes to show the fact that the Islamic Republic of Iran must finds its strategic role in the region in order to support the resistance front in Yemen; Iran must try to both understand the current status in order not to be surprised and take initiatives to build the future. The present article aims at answering this question: what is the Islamic Republic of Iran's role in helping and supporting Yemenis? This research is a descriptive-analytical study using library means, interviews and expert panels. First, the documents were reviewed and experts were interviewed and a list of the roles of the Islamic Republic of Iran in supporting Yemenis was made. Next, an expert panel was held with eight of the important scholars. Then, the role of the Islamic Republic of Iran in supporting the Yemenis was put in the following categories: political, humanitarian, media, scientific- cultural, legal, cultural-religious and economic. In the end, the challenges and proposals are put forward.

Six years after the first invasion of Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition, now we can hear the cries asking to put an end to this brutal war and siege against the Yemenis more than before. This illegitimate and inhumane invasion has led to killing of hundreds of Yemeni civilians who were mostly women and children –all the women and kids who are daily sacrificed for the Emirati and Saudi invaders' ambitions in the houses, bazaars or streets. In addition to the abovementioned catastrophes, hundreds of Yemenis have died as a result of illness, malnutrition, the dysfunctional medical services and prohibition of transferring the sick to other countries; the ominous Saudi-Emirati coalition is responsible for all these problems.