Strategies of Penetration and Weakening: Reading the U.S. Approach Toward Yemen After the September 21 Revolution and the Fall of Guardianship

The victory of the September 21 Revolution marked a strategic turning point in Yemen’s modern history, reshaping the national balance of power and asserting the will of the people over political and security decision-making after decades of direct and indirect American influence. This victory was not merely a domestic development, but a step that freed Yemen from the constraints of external domination and shattered a long-standing pattern of guardianship that Washington sought to impose on the state and its institutions.

From the first moments of the revolution, the United States emerged as a central actor in the systematic targeting of the September 21 path, deploying multi-dimensional tools ranging from political pressure and mobilizing local proxies under its direction, to economic sanctions and financial blackmail—aiming to destabilize the national state structure and drain the revolution’s gains. These indicators, widely observed by Yemenis supportive of the revolution, affirm that U.S. hegemony poses a direct threat to the independence of national decision-making, and that understanding these tools and tactics is essential to unpacking the report’s themes and analyzing the key aspects of U.S. targeting.

Al-Qaeda and Mercenaries: U.S. Tools Against the Revolution

Following the revolution’s victory, the United States relied heavily on the security and military sphere to hinder revolutionary progress and safeguard its strategic interests in the region. Washington activated extremist takfiri groups as an operational arm to carry out terrorist attacks targeting the Yemeni society that had risen up—exploiting the security vacuum it had sought to create in previous years. These attacks included coordinated bombings in places of worship such as Al-Hashoosh and Badr mosques in Sana’a, as well as Al-Hadi Mosque in Saada, which claimed hundreds of lives, alongside assassinations of key figures including martyr Abdul Karim Al-Khiwani.

At the regional level, the United States oversaw the Saudi-UAE military campaign launched in March 2015, targeting infrastructure and the civilian population and resulting in thousands of deaths, injuries, and widespread destruction. It also mobilized local mercenaries as a façade for implementing its agenda—aimed at countering the September 21 Revolution, obstructing its liberation path, and undermining the national achievements made by the Yemeni people in their pursuit of freedom and independence.

These events reveal that U.S. targeting was neither random nor single-layered, but a multi-dimensional strategy combining internal terrorism, assassinations, regional aggression, and the direct activation of local proxies. Yet despite all these campaigns, the Yemeni people have remained steadfast in defending their revolution, affirming that any attempt to undermine the national will inevitably collides with the resilience of September 21 and Yemen’s determination to complete its path toward independence and liberation.

Blockade and Sanctions: Washington’s Weapon to Subdue the September 21 Revolution

The United States did not limit its targeting to military and security measures following the revolution’s victory; it escalated to a concentrated economic war aimed at exhausting society and destabilizing the state from within without engaging in direct confrontation. This shift came within a calculated strategy based on blockade, sanctions, and control over trade flow—and on restricting national resources—to pressure Sana’a and force Yemenis back under the external guardianship toppled by the revolution.

From the early days of the aggression, Washington imposed a suffocating blockade on Yemeni ports—most notably Hodeidah—by closing or severely restricting maritime access and preventing ships from entering. This created a severe economic and humanitarian crisis. The blockade was not merely a military act, but a strategic tool to sever Yemenis’ lifeline and turn the economy into an arena of attrition meant to pressure society and undermine its resilience, with harsh inspection measures even on food, medicine, and fuel.

A broad set of economic sanctions was also activated—targeting companies, banks, financial institutions, and economic figures—to paralyze financial activity and destabilize the local market. This was accompanied by the transfer of Central Bank functions to Aden, which disrupted the financial system, followed by pushing local proxies to print counterfeit currency that triggered the collapse of the Yemeni rial, weakened purchasing power, and sparked inflation that directly impacted daily life.

The targeting extended to restricting financial transfers and domestic and foreign trade, resulting in partial economic paralysis and reduced private sector capacity to import and distribute goods. Des