Reading a Reuters report on the restart of fighting in Hodeida, I came across an interesting lie.

It was not immediately clear whether the renewed fighting in Hodeidah would derail efforts by U.N. special envoy Martin Griffiths to salvage peace talks that collapsed in September when the Houthi delegation failed to show up.

The message here is clear, the peace talks in Septemeber failed because of the Houthi. However, this is far from the truth.

Leading up the peace talks the Houthi demanded to be allowed safe passage to and from the talks. It is a reasonable ask to be able to travel to and from peace talks safely.

Nina Larson wrote on September 8th,

“Huthis, powerful armed tribes locked in a war with Yemen’s Saudi-backed government, refused to take off from the rebel-held capital of Sanaa unless the UN met a list of conditions, which included securing a safe return from Geneva for their delegation.”

The Houthi did not fail to show up at Geneva; they were kept out. The Houthi believed they would be kidnapped in Djibouti if they attempted to attend the peace talks.

The Houthi had good reason to fear this plot as Larson explains,

 “They hinted they feared a repeat of 2016, when 108 days of talks in Kuwait broke down and a rebel delegation was stranded in Oman for three months due to an air blockade.”

The Houthi had ample reason to fear being imprisoned by the Saudi and Emeriti coalition. The coalition is also accused of committing countless war crimes against the Yemeni people, including torturing prisoners.

The little lies about the Yemen War help to distort the extremely limited view of the war by most Americans. Believing the Houthi are backed by Iran, launching missiles at civilians in Saudi Arabia unprovoked, and avoiding peace talks leads the underinformed to misunderstand the reality of the war.