Yet another insurgency in the Middle East has now become a regional crisis pulling the neighbors inside the war. A series of conflicts between the forces loyal to the beleaguered Yemen President, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, and those allied with the Zaidi Shia rebels a.k.a the Houthis, who a month before forced Hadi to flee the capital Sana'a. Since then the insurgency is pushing the nation towards a civil war wrecking the political stability of Middle East. Even Yemen's security forces have chosen sides with some with Hadi and others with Houthis and the politically influential Ali Abdullah Saleh, the predecessor of Hadi. Also Hadi draws support from the south Yemen of Sunni population who is organized into Popular Resistance Committees and local tribesmen. Adding fuel to the fire the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which has staged numerous deadly attacks from its strongholds in the south and south-east. And the interesting fact is the AQAP opposes the both Houthis and Hadi coalition. So the insurgency has now become a tripartite struggle.
As mentioned earlier the outsiders have too joined allies with these forces, with Houthis, it is widely believed that Iran is backing them supporting to this, earlier the march, Houthis inked an agreement with Iran that will help them source oil and other goods from Iran. In the same month, the first commercial flight from Tehran landed in Sana’a, beckoning closer communication and travel links between the two countries on the opposite ends of the Arabian Peninsula. Which created a little tension as a foreshadowing to this conflict.
Meanwhile Saudi Arabia, a border sharing neighbor has responded to the request of Hadi to join him, and for the past few days Saudi Arabia and its coalition comprising five Gulf Arab states and Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan and Sudan is making airstrikes on the Houthis dominated areas.
So what is in Yemen politics for Saudi, reminisces of the "Great Game" played in Afghanistan between Great Britain and Russia more than a hundred years ago, As Saudi Arabia and Iran are busy in their own decades-long strategic rivalry for power and influence in the Middle East, stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the Gulf and Arabian Sea. Which is built mostly along sectarian and ideological lines - Saudi Arabia as the spearhead of the Sunni Muslim world, and Iran as the frontrunner of the Shia Muslim world. But still it is not right to say that the Houthis insurgency is just another Shia-Sunni conflict.
Is Yemen really that significant to Saudi Arabia and Iran? Population wise Yemen is roughly 60 percent Sunnis and 40 percent Shiite Zaidis, both Saudi and Iran is equipped to draw their proverbial line in the Yemen soil. For Saudi Arabia partaking such a wide border down south is a matter of grave national security, particularly now when the future of Yemen is in question. They cannot stomach a matter of shakiness there to give Iran a solid base on the peninsula or AQAP free movement northwards.
Iraq and Syria. Both these countries serve as buffer between Iran and the Sunni majority Middle East, so having stable and trust worthy Shia-led government in each serves as a strategic objective that is zero-negotiable for Iran. Which brings up the Yemen card here, a tactical bargaining chip that Iran may now be holding vis-a-vis the sudden rise of the Houthis and anticipated internal chaos that is sure to plague the country for the near future?
Why air strikes? As Houthis are good in strategic ground forces and being its own terrain, so it is obvious for the Saudi coalition to take the sky route. As the media depicts the Saudi is leading a GCC sanctioned air strike, one member of this GCC, the Oman sultanate stands idle to a greater extent. Which is no surprise that Oman, another land sharing nation with both Saudi and Yemen is neutral without choosing sides, this has always been Oman's strategy of diplomatic relations. i.e., Non-intervention. But sources from Oman says that they are concentrating on the humanitarian side, not the offensive as they are ready to provide medical assistance to Yemenis injured in the ongoing civil conflict.
The US looks little bit confused, Fighting ISIS brought US a strange relation as the US is now in support of Iran- whom George Bush called the "Axis of Evil"- with airstrikes in an effort to keep ISIS from gaining in Iraq. Just to baffle things even more, the USA is also supporting the Saudis in their efforts to keep Iran-backed Houthis from taking over Yemen. As Saudi Arabia has been an ally to the U.S. since the establishment of the Kingdom in 1932.
And finally India’s stake in Yemen, India and Yemen relations had a start since 1967 when India recognized Yemen an independent nation from United Kingdom. Regarding this controversy India has taken a neutral stand. Even though there are no direct economic ties for India. But for the Indian citizens especially the nurses from Kerala are stranded amid the conflict as MEA sources say that there are about 3,500 Indian nationals still in Yemen. For which India has initiated a full-fledged game plan to evacuate them with the help of Djibouti and Oman.
As mentioned earlier the outsiders have too joined allies with these forces, with Houthis, it is widely believed that Iran is backing them supporting to this, earlier the march, Houthis inked an agreement with Iran that will help them source oil and other goods from Iran. In the same month, the first commercial flight from Tehran landed in Sana’a, beckoning closer communication and travel links between the two countries on the opposite ends of the Arabian Peninsula. Which created a little tension as a foreshadowing to this conflict.
Meanwhile Saudi Arabia, a border sharing neighbor has responded to the request of Hadi to join him, and for the past few days Saudi Arabia and its coalition comprising five Gulf Arab states and Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan and Sudan is making airstrikes on the Houthis dominated areas.
So what is in Yemen politics for Saudi, reminisces of the "Great Game" played in Afghanistan between Great Britain and Russia more than a hundred years ago, As Saudi Arabia and Iran are busy in their own decades-long strategic rivalry for power and influence in the Middle East, stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the Gulf and Arabian Sea. Which is built mostly along sectarian and ideological lines - Saudi Arabia as the spearhead of the Sunni Muslim world, and Iran as the frontrunner of the Shia Muslim world. But still it is not right to say that the Houthis insurgency is just another Shia-Sunni conflict.
Is Yemen really that significant to Saudi Arabia and Iran? Population wise Yemen is roughly 60 percent Sunnis and 40 percent Shiite Zaidis, both Saudi and Iran is equipped to draw their proverbial line in the Yemen soil. For Saudi Arabia partaking such a wide border down south is a matter of grave national security, particularly now when the future of Yemen is in question. They cannot stomach a matter of shakiness there to give Iran a solid base on the peninsula or AQAP free movement northwards.
Iraq and Syria. Both these countries serve as buffer between Iran and the Sunni majority Middle East, so having stable and trust worthy Shia-led government in each serves as a strategic objective that is zero-negotiable for Iran. Which brings up the Yemen card here, a tactical bargaining chip that Iran may now be holding vis-a-vis the sudden rise of the Houthis and anticipated internal chaos that is sure to plague the country for the near future?
Why air strikes? As Houthis are good in strategic ground forces and being its own terrain, so it is obvious for the Saudi coalition to take the sky route. As the media depicts the Saudi is leading a GCC sanctioned air strike, one member of this GCC, the Oman sultanate stands idle to a greater extent. Which is no surprise that Oman, another land sharing nation with both Saudi and Yemen is neutral without choosing sides, this has always been Oman's strategy of diplomatic relations. i.e., Non-intervention. But sources from Oman says that they are concentrating on the humanitarian side, not the offensive as they are ready to provide medical assistance to Yemenis injured in the ongoing civil conflict.
The US looks little bit confused, Fighting ISIS brought US a strange relation as the US is now in support of Iran- whom George Bush called the "Axis of Evil"- with airstrikes in an effort to keep ISIS from gaining in Iraq. Just to baffle things even more, the USA is also supporting the Saudis in their efforts to keep Iran-backed Houthis from taking over Yemen. As Saudi Arabia has been an ally to the U.S. since the establishment of the Kingdom in 1932.
And finally India’s stake in Yemen, India and Yemen relations had a start since 1967 when India recognized Yemen an independent nation from United Kingdom. Regarding this controversy India has taken a neutral stand. Even though there are no direct economic ties for India. But for the Indian citizens especially the nurses from Kerala are stranded amid the conflict as MEA sources say that there are about 3,500 Indian nationals still in Yemen. For which India has initiated a full-fledged game plan to evacuate them with the help of Djibouti and Oman.