Rights violations by Houthis should not go unpunished

An international diplomatic and military offensive should be undertaken to drive out the Houthi-Saleh combine from Yemen after a report detailed rampant human rights abuses in the country. The Houthis should pay for these violations, and global powers should back GCC efforts to oust the Houthi militia who are funded and backed by the Iranian regime.
The Houthis and former president Salah's supporters have plundered and laid waste to vast tracts of the country in their campaign of terror. Millions have been driven out of their homes and more that 3,000 have been died because of Houthi excesses after they took over the country last September.
Gulf intervention in March this year have halted their advance, but a robust global effort is important to stop the abuses which killed 3,074 people. The Yemeni Coaltion to Monitor Human Rights Violations, said 7,347 civilians were injured and 5,894 people were detained without reason.
Ordinary civilians have been subjected to torture, and women and children have not been spared by the brutal aggressors. The report said a fifth of the people killed by the terrorists are the young and women. What's shocking is that civilians have been used as shields by the Houthis to wage a futile war that serves only Iran's strategic ambitions.
Yemen is one the poorest countries in the Arab world and this occupation is driving people to despair. Hope is fading fast and many are fleeing the country to safe havens. The Gulf can do without a refugee crisis, but the extent of persecution inflicted on common folk by the Houthis and Saleh's men is the stuff of nightmares.
The good news is that the elected President of Yemen, Abd-Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, is back in the country after his self-imposed exile in Saudi Arabia. The government has begun work to put the country back on track from the port city of Aden which the UAE helped liberate from the Houthis and Saleh's goons.
Emirati, Saudi and other Gulf troops are moving towards the capital. Military gains are tangible and should go alongside a diplomatic offensive by Yemen's president who should take up the issue of human rights violations with the United Nations.
A UN fact-finding mission should see for themselves the damage the people have endured at the hands of the Houthis and their Iranian handlers. The Yemen war has already wiped about eight years of development in the country, and the Houthis should shoulder all the blame for this. GCC leaders are confident that a strong military response will help them negotiate from a position of strength.
UN chief Ban ki-Moon has called for an immediate ceasefire during a meeting with Saudi Arabia's foreign minister. Sitting across the table with the Houthis will not be possible because there is no leadership to speak of when Iran pulls the strings. Former president Salah's whereabouts are not known. And why should the GCC sit for talks with a war criminal who forged an unholy nexus with the rebels with links to Iran?
The Houthis have not abided by UN Security Council resolutions adopted earlier this year. One resolution said the Houthis should ''immediately'' give up control of government institutions which they had captured last September.
So why talk to an illegal terrorist group which does not play by the rules and causes wanton suffering on the Yemenis. Humanitarian corridors, as suggested by the UN should be considered, but it is important that the world body does not appear to be softening its stance on extremism.
Yemen's sovereignity is non-negotiable. The United Nations should back the UAE and other Gulf nations to free the country. It should also prevent and probe rights violations. The guilty should be brought to book. Nothing else will suffice.