Thread by @YemeniFatima

1. While many foreign observers praised @Rob_Malley's op-ed in @nytimes, anyone who KNOWS Yemen will find it one-sided. The op-ed does a gross disservice to #Yemen despite good intentions.

At times I thought the op-ed was either naive or deliberately misleading. Here's why:

https://twitter.com/Rob_Malley/status/1158405273981259782

2. @Rob_Malley gives a narrow view of #Yemen's conflict and re-hashes #Houthis' narrative when he limits the conflict as "#KSA vs. Houthi". He is not inaccurate per se but deliberately selective, ignoring Houthis' overthrow of UN-backed government as a root cause of conflict.

3. For a Conflict group to overlook the root cause of the conflict is to ignore the ABC of policy analysis. #Houthis wanted a monopoly of power in #Yemen and chose violence to do it, committing war crimes during the five past years. Mr.Malley doesn't show opposition against them.

4. While @Rob_Malley's assessment of millions deprived of nutrition & vulnerable to death is accurate, there's no mention of Houthis' role in exacerbating the humanitarian conflict, especially in food theft & aid corruption.

5. @Rob_Malley highlights #Sana's isolation, but he doesn't mention that #Houthis' deliberately isolated the city. Houthis' rise to power was ensured through violence & territorial control, which required they implement draconian laws & strict security measures isolating it;

6 Within the context of Sana's isolation, @Rob_Malley brought forth the discussion about the closure of Sanaa airport. AGAIN, no mention that #Houthis REFUSED to use Sanaa as a domestic airport during the UN-brokered #Stockholm agreement, heightening Sana's isolation;

7. @Rob_Malley thinks he captured the pulse of the street: 'Talks w/ #Yemenis revealed anger towards #KSA' but nothing else! He likely arrived at that conclusion after dinner w/ top PR #Houthi man Bukhaiti.

P.S. Happy to meet Mr. Malley in DC, or arrange meeting w/ opposition.

8. Most misleading is @Rob_Malley's attempt to present #Sana residents as a monolithic entity, all of which follow #Houthis. Did you meet with #GPC members or #Islah members? Likely not. Leaderships from GPC escaped already & those of Islah locked in jail in horrid conditions;

9. Tragic that @Rob_Malley wasted the opportunity to talk about the 30 journalists & activists sentenced to DEATH last month by #Houthi militia, which is recent enough for him to remember. It is a moral responsibility to advocate for their release.

10. Same residents in #Sana that @Rob_Malley appears to give insights about talked about the rape of women in #Houthi private villas & prisons. The horrific tales were told by brave women affiliated w/ GPC (Saleh's party) who were abducted then released.

https://twitter.com/YemeniFatima/status/1150831747694768131

11. Sadly #Yemenis are impacted by #Houthi brutality, but it goes unmentioned. For example, the arms depot explosion, which Houthis planted near a school, was reported by Houthi press as an airstrike on girls' school. But brave residents exposed Houthis despite risks to them.

12. As @Rob_Malley walks in #Sana, #Yemen's former capital, he must have seen children no more than 10 years old manning checkpoints. But it doesn't quite fit his narrative, so he ignores it to present an image of a victimized Sana'a by #KSA & not Houthis;

13. @Rob_Malley tells us how "puzzled" #Houthi supporters are that their attacks on #KSA are attributed to #Iran.

They are not puzzled. They are giving #Iran the plausible deniability it needs. Just because they tell you they are innocent, it doesn't prove that they are.

14. But next time #Houthis tell you that they are not an #IRGC proxy, can you kindly ask them why they claimed the pipeline attack on #Saudi, when in fact it originated from #Iraq and not #Yemen?

Bizarre @Rob_Malley didn't think to illuminate us on this point.

15. Then Mr. Malley writes the following paragraph...Read it! let it sink in.

Then think of the foreign & US captives who were imprisoned by #Houthis and used as a bargaining chip. @Rob_Malley & his staff were immune due to their high profile. Any other American is not welcome.

16. This entire paragraph is unfortunate. In reality, #Houthis are at their weakest point at the moment w/ no domestic allies, but are exploiting anti-Saudi sentiments and misinformed reporting on the war on #Yemen to their advantage. Houthis won the PR war globally;

17. Kindly understand that "mercenary" applies to everyone who is not #Houthi aligned. Interesting enough, Mr. Malley himself will not be considered a mercenary because he is not contradicting Houthis' views, however, all other Americans & Yemenis standing in #Houthis' way are.

18. Then @Rob_Malley presents #Houthis' vision for peace:
-Houthis will put down weapons later, not now.
-Houthis will talk to opponents later, not now.
-Houthis want elections later, not now.

One thing Malley is right about: Houthi will NOT give up the power they accumulated.

19. Unfortunately, no mention of the brutal #Houthi terrorist attack on #Aden that killed over fifty people. No mention of the scores of ballistic missiles they send to #Yemeni cities. They are punishing #Yemenis & not just #Saudis or Americans.

20. @Rob_Malley made a choice not to describe any events that would put the #Houthi militia in a negative light. That's his prerogative, but it is misleading.

It is horrific that Mr. Malley is influential enough to draw policies on #Yemen & advise the UN Envoy.

21. As an #Yemeni-American who wants peace, I think we have no choice but to talk w/ #Houthis. What we cannot do is naively accept their narrative & unlearn the hard lessons #Yemen went through because of the sectarian greed of this group & their subservience to #Iran.

22. If we cannot acknowledge the hurdles facing peace in #Yemen, including #Houthis' intransigence; bad faith negotiations, imprisonment of opposition & Bahais, attacks on #Yemeni cities, there will be nothing but conflict & a theocratic #Iranian state in Yemen's future.