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Yemen's Foreign Minister Afrah ez-Zube said military operations against the Iran-backed Houthis will continue until their goals are achieved, arguing that a decade of negotiations has yielded no results. Zube made the comments in Istanbul during an official visit to Turkey, where the minister met with Turkish journalists.

Zube recalled that the Houthis seized the capital Sana and other areas in a 2014 coup and said the group has repeatedly blocked or refused to sign agreements, from the Stockholm Agreement track to the Saudi-led process launched in 2022. Talks that allow the group to rearm are off the table, Zube said.

Ten years of talks without an accord

Zube said Yemen began a four-stage negotiation track with the Houthis in 2016 under international mediation. After a first phase lasting 100 days, a political agreement was ready, but the Houthis refused to sign it.

Talks resumed during the 2018 operation to retake the Red Sea province of Hodeidah and ended with the signing of the Stockholm Agreement. Zube said Yemen entered a new Saudi-led process in 2022 aimed at securing lasting peace, but the Houthis again declined to sign, and similar initiatives in 2024 and 2025 were, in the minister's words, thwarted each time.

Accusations of cultural and economic harm

Zube argued that the Houthis are trying to alter the culture, beliefs and history of the Yemeni people. "The Houthis are trying to destroy our education system and our history," Zube said, adding that after taking Sana they shut the Turkology department at Sana University and opened a Persian department instead.

The minister said the group has damaged ties with neighboring countries and the economy, and is trying to subdue the population by pushing it deeper into poverty and hunger. Zube compared Houthi practices to Israeli policies toward the Palestinians, saying the group destroys Yemeni homes with explosives and detains residents in raids, and that it pursues the same identity-erasing aims in Yemen. The Houthis reject the republic, defend an imamate system and seek to build a regime that ranks them at the top and divides Yemenis into classes, Zube said.

Operations to continue until disarmament

Zube said the Houthis rule parts of the country by force and "do not represent the Yemeni people." Negotiations since 2016 have not halted the government's "Yemen's Dawn" operation, and military activity will be pursued firmly.

The campaign will continue until the Houthis are disarmed, Zube said, noting that the group entered Sana in 2014 without heavy infantry weapons but used negotiation periods as opportunities to keep building its arsenal. For that reason, the minister said, Yemen will not accept talks that create room for the Houthis to rearm.

Claims of drug and arms smuggling ties

Zube said the Houthis have forged relationships with armed groups in the Horn of Africa. "Many of the drug pill production facilities in Syria have been moved to Yemen, and the Horn of Africa has become one of the centers of arms and drug smuggling," Zube said.

The minister said the Houthis cooperate with Somalia's al-Shabab movement and provide military training to its members in Sana, which the group controls. Zube said a weakened Yemen threatens regional security, and that the weakening of Lebanon, Iraq and Syria serves Israel's interests.

Turkey's support for Yemen

Zube said Yemen appreciates Turkey's contributions in the humanitarian and political fields and described Turkey as a country carrying significant political weight in the region. "Turkey is an extremely important country and one of the cornerstones of regional security," Zube said, adding that its role in the regional security system through the Mecca Alliance and other political initiatives shows the backing it gives to efforts for genuine and sustainable peace and stability in Yemen.

Key takeaways

• Yemen's Foreign Minister Afrah ez-Zube said Houthi operations will continue until the group is disarmed.
• Zube said a decade of negotiations, including the Saudi-led track launched in 2022, ended without the Houthis signing.
• Zube accused the Houthis of closing Sana University's Turkology department and opening a Persian department.
• Yemen will not accept negotiations that allow the Houthis to rearm, the minister said.