Yemen is 65% Sunni, yet there’s a Shiite coup?
That be some powerful Shiite!
Q: What does this mean for al-Qaida in Yemen? Where does it leave the U.S.?
A: Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which Washington considers to be the group’s most dangerous branch, has been thriving from the fallout of the Houthis’ expansionist aspirations in central Yemen, where Sunni tribesmen predominate. The turmoil has taken a sharply sectarian tone, pitting Sunnis against Shiites, to the benefit of Sunni al-Qaida. The militant group claims to be present in 16 out of Yemen’s 21 provinces.
With the gradual ascendance of Houthis to power and the waning of Hadi’s clout, the U.S. risks losing a faithful partner and ally in its yearslong campaign against AQAP, likely harming that effort.
Q: Who are the Houthis?
A: The Houthi movement started as a small religious group called “The Believing Youth,” who sought to revive Zaydism, a Shiite sect to which some 30 percent of Yemenis, mainly in the north, belong. After the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq stoked anti-American sentiment in the region, Hussein al-Houthi capitalized on popular anger to launch an armed revolt against the U.S.-allied president at the time, Ali Abdullah Saleh. Government troops killed Houthi in 2004, but his followers continued the bloody northern insurgency he started against Saleh, a longtime autocrat, until a 2010 cease-fire. Known now for the name of the movement’s founder, the Houthis also enjoyed wide support among disenchanted tribesmen who had suffered from Saleh’s military campaigns.
Q: How much territory do they control? What is their ultimate goal?
A: After Saleh’s 2012 ouster following Arab Spring protests, the Houthis’ power grew. Battling their way from their northern heartland in Saada toward the south, they struck blows against the government as well as another old enemy, the Hashid tribal federation. That group, also Zaydis, was allied to the Islamist Islah party — the Muslim Brotherhood’s branch in Yemen — as well as some top military generals. In September 2014, the Houthis seized the capital after besieging it for weeks under the pretext that they wanted a new government and the reinstatement of fuel subsidies. Since then, the Houthis have overrun at least eight provinces including Hodeida, which has the country’s second largest port. For weeks, its fighters have been deployed to the eastern province of Marib, which is rich in oil and natural gas. However, the presence of strong local tribes in Marib will likely prevent a full takeover.
Anybody ever wonder who hussein was droning in Yemen?