The negotiations between the warring parties have been ongoing for one year, and according to Reuters, a comprehensive peace agreement would be announced before Islam’s Eid holiday starting April 20. As aforementioned, the peace talks have been pursued since early last year without a satisfactory outcome. The Houthis are requesting for the land, air, and sea embargo to be fully lifted, which had been annected by a United Nations mandate [UNSCR2216 YEMEN] putting the country under a devastating siege. They also demand that government officials receive their salaries, which had been suspended since 2016 when the interim president Hadi changed the seat of Yemen’s central bank from Sana’a to Aden, altering the legal center of a country without Yemeni people’s consent. The suspension of salary payments has affected more than 170.000 teachers since October 2016. It is no secret that Saudi Arabia is depositing the proceeds from Yemeni fossil fuels in the Central Bank of Saudi Arabia; Google-search for Saudileaks for more scandals. Before the suspension of the salaries, teachers were receiving their earnings from the sales of fossil fuels, which was the main income source in Yemen. However, with the invasion of Yemen, the fossil fuel fields fell in the hands of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and their Western backers, giving rise to Neocolonism. This means Yemeni are deprived of their rightful property and natural resources.

Saudi Arabia had been for a long time requesting for the Houthis to surrender their weapons and to leave Yemen for good. However, the Saudi Arabian absolute monarchy, meanwhile, recognises that contrary to their ambitions, their invasion created a staunge movement that is not going to clear the field in any possible or impossible scenario. Meanwhile, their requests have turned more humble and down to earth, such as a Houthi promise not to attack oil rafineries in Saudi Arabia. In 2019, the Houthis attacked Saudi Arabia’s Aramco oil rafinery, reducing production worldwide by 20 per cent.

On 26 March 2022 – shortly before the six-month-truce declaration – the Houthis had hit again oil rafinaries close to the Formula 1 race location, prompting many athletes to express concerns and calls to cancel the race.

Most certainly, the Houthis are not going to back down on their demands even one inch, regardless of the China-brokered Iran-Saudi Arabia rapproachment. Time and again, the Houthi movement is an independent one. They may have received support in some form or other, and they may share the same ideology, but this does not imply that the Houthis are dependent on Iran or that the Houthis are Iran’s subordinates.

I, for once, strongly believe that Yemen would have never been beatified with a six-month truce, let alone a comprehensive and long-lasting peace agreement if it was not for the military intervention or war in Ukraine. The events following Russia’s intervention, the methodic and unsuccessful isolation of Russia, the rise of China, and a new power alignment in the East paved the way for a fundamental change in the Middle East. However, this is a topic for scholars to wrack their brains with now or in the near future.