Jamal Khashoggi, UN Security Council, Yemen War, US Senators, President Trump, Stockholm Peace Accord, UK Resolution, Saudi Arabia

Penned by the UK, The UN Security Council on Friday endorsed an agreement reached between the Government of Yemen and the opposition Houthi movement, at the recent UN-backed talks in Sweden. The resolution authorized the deployment of an advance team to facilitate the monitoring and implementation of the Stockholm Agreement.

The ceasefire took effect in Hodeida after brawls continued for several hours following the start of the UN-brokered truce at midnight (Tuesday, 18 December), but UN envoy Martin Griffiths said the scheme appears to be effective.

Reinforced by international pressure, Stockholm accord called for ceasefire and withdrawal of troops from Hodeida port city; A prisoner swap for 15,000 people; opening corridors to the besieged city of Taiz, and re-opening of Airports to ease humanitarian crises. The accord was identified as the most “crucial first step” towards ending the war.

In fact, pressure from the Congress had pushed Saudis to make concessions to bless Yemeni-Yemeni peace concord. The Senate passed on 13 December a scarce bipartisan motion directing the White House to annul US support for Yemen war. The resolution utilizes an authoritative but rarely triggered proviso in a 1973 – the War Powers Act – that entitles the Congress to overrule the president.

Furthermore, a twin resolution, unanimously, censured Saudi crown prince responsible of the premeditated killing of Khashoggi, a Saudi columnist for Washington Post. The motion labels a thorny reprimand on the prince and questions Trump’s canopy embrace of the prince, despite the facts.

Both resolutions come on the same day that the UN-brokered truce between Yemeni warring sides wrapped up in Stockholm. The essence of the slain Jamal Khashoggi was a core of deliberations in both Washington and Stockholm to facilitate the pact.

Editor-in-chief of the Time magazine exposed Khashoggi, as a “person whose influence grows so immensely in death”. It is the first time, the Time attributes someone posthumously, after recognizing Khashoggi, as the “2018 Person of the Year”.

Dissect murder of Khashoggi, by a royal hit squadron, inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, has put the US-Saudi relationship under scrutiny. The CIA concluded that the Saudi crown prince ordered the elimination. Disclosure of the CIA report had augmented the ranks of the Congress to revolutionize US policy on the Middle East. Eventually, all the efforts by Trump to soothe aggravations by tolling an alarming bell for the U. S-Saudi strategic partnership has chopped down flat.

According to a recent YouGov poll, 89% of liberal Americans and 54% of conservatives oppose continued arms sales to the Saudi-UAE alliance.

The Saudi-led coalition instigated an intrusion in 2015 to reinstall the recognized government. Thus, it has launched over 18,000 air raids on Yemen and forced a blockade. Further, the allies initiated propel of penal economic measures targeting the Houthis supported by Iran.

The U.N. vilifies Yemen’s crises as the “worst humanitarian catastrophe” in hundred years. It caused the death of tens of thousands. Save the Children’s ballpark shows another 85,000 children died of hunger and preventable diseases; About 10,000 persons contract cholera every week, with a total of 1.2 million cases, and millions are on the brink of starvation, according to the WHO/UNHCR.

Amid this vista, Yemen’s people expose the US, UK, Saudi-led allies and Iran, as manipulation to the death, famine, and infections in their home.

Since the death of Khashoggi, the world has become conscious of the calamity befalling in Yemen. Several European countries have pulled their support from the Saudi-led alliance. The European Parliament has called for an EU-wide arms embargo on Saudi Arabia.

Trump views the conflict as a proxy war that must be won for reversing Iran’s professed dominance in the region. Nevertheless, international pressure, and recently passed resolutions, remain a colossal triumph for the miserable people of Yemen. A companion bill in the House of Representatives is strongly expected to pass on January when a new, Democratic-led House convenes.

From commons.wikimedia.org: Jamal Khashoggi in March 2018 {MID-337656}

Unfortunately, Jamal Khashoggi didn’t succeed to alter his country through the ink of his pen. However, his bloodshed is perpetually changing the region. By now, his bloodbath has galvanized the mockery about the war. And as a result, international media and public opinion turned the tide.

If the world succeeds to save Yemen from the savage US-made shells falling on it, we have kept out a vast majority of vulnerable people to fall down or vanish in the worst famine of our lifetimes. Thus, let’s cheer the Security Council in averting the famine and supporting the peace process.

We hope a further dream of Khashoggi will pursue to end the Gulf blockade against Qatar. And getting resolutions for the Saudi injudicious disputes with Lebanon and Canada will follow, as well.

Categorically, we have to ascribe another glory to the spirit of Khashoggi.

Hassan Horri

hassanhorri@gmail.com