The following is a post on X, written by Yemeni analyst Mohamad Al Shami. I recommend everyone to follow him for insights that you will not find elsewhere.

My take on what’s unfolding between the U.S. and the region.

BACKGROUND

• The Zionist enemy received unprecedented blows from the Axis of Jihad and Resistance, turning its war into an existential battle, by its own admission.

• The United States intervened directly, deploying its full capabilities with the aim of securing a total and sweeping victory over all states and components of the Axis, advancing steps toward the “Greater Israel” project.

• The enemy succeeded in militarily neutralizing Iraq, Lebanon, and Iran.

• It succeeded in toppling and fragmenting Syria, and the U.S. enabled the Israeli occupation to advance deep into vast areas of Quneitra, reaching the outskirts of Damascus and strategic areas along the Lebanese border.

• The Americans and Israelis failed, utterly, to deter the mujahideen in Palestine and Yemen.

• For a brief moment, the enemy thought victory was within reach, imagining it had isolated Gaza and shattered Axis unity. But Yemen took them by surprise, rising with greater strength. The Yemenis stood alone against the Zionist-American barbarity, relying solely on Allah, and declared to Gaza with full confidence and resolve: You are not alone.

• The U.S. then shifted its full force toward Yemen in a bid to complete what it believed was an imminent Israeli victory. Trump declared it openly: “We will wipe out the Houthis.” But he failed, suffering unprecedented defeats and losses. His F-35s, B-2 bombers, and even aircraft carriers came under real threat of being downed or sunk.

• The mujahideen in Gaza stood firm in a legendary, unprecedented scene, not only withstanding the enemy’s savagery, but also advancing their battlefield tactics, inflicting devastating losses over recent weeks.

• The U.S. now fears Hezbollah and Iran re-entering the frontlines, and is deeply concerned by Yemen’s growing capabilities, which has drained the US and posed a genuine threat to the existence of the Zionist entity itself.

• China also has stood its ground in the face of American arrogance. Washington has finally yielded to the growing economic might of the Chinese dragon — and now fears the deepening ties between Yemen and China.

• Trump, fearing a visit to the region while his administration continues its aggression on Yemen, worried about being personally targeted, or that his aircraft might be, during such a visit. This led him to seek Omani mediation to halt the American aggression, which in turn led to Yemen pausing its retaliatory strikes on U.S. aircraft and ships.

• At that point, the U.S. had no choice but to save itself and the temporary Zionist entity, and was thus forced to halt its military operations in Yemen (a surrender in effect). It began bypassing Netanyahu with a direct green light from Zionist circles in the U.S., an acknowledgement that the “Greater Israel” project could not proceed now, and thus shifting toward scaling down the Zionist-American aggression on Gaza and the region.

CHANGE IN U.S. STRATEGY

In response, the U.S. pivoted to an “exit strategy” from this dangerous situation before a full-blown catastrophe could unfold, and has recently taken the following steps:

• A media campaign to distort the truth and cover up its humiliating failure in Yemen, by falsely claiming that “the Houthis requested surrender.” A blatant lie known to anyone who followed the events of the past two months, as proven by Yemen’s continued operations against the Zionist entity during Trump’s regional visit.

• Exiting with the greatest possible benefits, which includes: – Cementing the new Israeli occupation in Syria, cutting a deal with al-Jawlani (Ahmad al-Shar’a), lifting sanctions on Syria, and opening the door for the U.S., Israel, and their allies in Saudi Arabia and Qatar to deal directly with the Syrian government, in ways that serve Zionist-American interests both inside and outside Syria.

This includes, for example, the high possibility of deploying takfiri groups against Yemen in the next phase.

Rehabilitating America’s shattered image through the false claim that “the Houthis surrendered,” marketing it to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf as a U.S. achievement in protection of Gulf — aimed at extortion, looting their wealth, and further subjugating them to the Zionist-American agenda.

Offsetting American and Israeli losses by extracting $2.2 trillion from Arab resources, killing two birds with one stone: weakening the region and violently looting its wealth, while at the same time injecting life into the collapsing U.S. economy for years to come, presenting it all as “business deals” in exchange for American projects in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Pushing Saudi Arabia toward the Abraham Accords — i.e., open normalization with the Zionist entity — and tightening Zionist-American control over subservient regimes in the so-called “Middle East.”

Ensuring a steady flow of Gulf Arab wealth to the U.S. to prop up its crumbling economy, especially in light of China’s meteoric economic rising power.

Buying time to study the sources of strength within the Axis of Jihad and Resistance, especially Yemen and the Palestinian resistance, and to craft future plans to dismantle them, while continuing the systematic destruction of Lebanon and Iran, tightening internal control over Syria, and neutralizing and weakening the resistance in Iraq.

WHAT’S NEXT?

In return, Saudi Arabia and Qatar received the following:

• An extension of their ruling regimes’ grip on power.

• The illusion of having “neutralized the Houthi threat.”

• The opportunity to polish Saudi Arabia’s image by suggesting it played a role in lifting the blockade on Syria, paving the way for both Saudi and Qatari regimes to play a larger role in the upcoming Zionist-American agenda.

• So-called “joint defense agreements” to delude them into thinking they are protected from future threats.

• Enabling the Zionist-American enemy to exert full control over the Saudi and Qatari regimes via so-called “joint projects” spanning all domains, economic, military, social, technological, intelligence, AI, and more, and turning these regimes into tools for targeting components of the Axis of Resistance, thus making America’s next phase of aggression more efficient and effective.

For this reason, all forces, components, and countries within the Axis of Jihad and Resistance, along with every free soul who stands with them around the world, must prepare for the inevitable next confrontation, even if the enemy announces a halt to its genocidal war on Gaza in the coming days. That pause would only be part of a new, undeclared strategy of aggression.

[My note – I would like to add the role of Turkey and Russia working in collaboration with Israel, particularly in Syria to consolidate their presence in the region. The recent visit from Jonathan Bass to Damascus prior to Trump lifting sanctions also secured assurances from Jolani that Syria would cooperate with the US against Iran as well as normalising relations with the Zionist entity]

We are facing a dangerous escalation rather than any kind of “peace”.

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