|
Houthis: fuel wars unknown causes and consequences
November 10, 2009
 The dimensions of the Houthis's war in Yemen today and the reasons for entering into a confrontation with Saudi Arabia are very ambiguous, many questions turned around them if they had been turned into fuel in regional wars that will only gain from them the destruction of their country which suffers from the danger of once again division between north and south, and only increase the economic crisis that is ravaging Yemen largely and dangerously.
It is known that the Houthis were followers of Zaidi sect, which dates back to Zaid bin Ali Zine El Abidine Ben Al-Hussein Ben Ali (80-122 AH / 698-740 AD), who has led a Shia revolt in Iraq against the Umayyad in the days of Hisham bin Abdul Malik after being pushed by the people of Kufa to this war and they abandoned him so he was forced to face the Umayyad army with only 500 knights, where he was shot with an arrow in his forehead which led to his death in 122 AH.
The Zaidist spread on the coast of the Caspian countries and the country of Daylam Tabaristan and Gilan at the east and extended to the Hijaz and Egypt in the west and was centered in the land of Yemen.
The Zaidist was able in Yemen to recover the power from the Turks when the Imam Yahya bin Mansour bin Hamid al-Din led a revolt against the Turks in 1322 and founded the state of Zaidi which continued until September 1962 where the Yemeni revolution rose and thus ending the rule of the Zaidist but Yemen still their main center and country.
Most of the Zaidi sect followers are currently in Yemen, representing about 50% of the population of North Yemen and 30% of the united Yemen. Most of them belong to Hamedan and Khawlan tribes and some tribes of Mzhaj in the North. They say that the Zaidist expression is on the basis of a group of human and not a doctrine in Yemen, and most of them live in the highlands of Yemen, and at an altitude of one thousand six hundred to two thousand and eight hundred meters above sea level ..
The Huthis emerged at the end of nineties, led by "Hussein Badr Eddin al-Huthi," which established the Believing Youth in 1997 after his expulsion from the “right party” , which was from the leading figure in it, "Huthi," was a former member of the parliament after his victory in elections in 1993, although that his father was a prominent Shiite authorities to the Zaidi sect in Yemen - which is the closest Shia doctrines to the Sunni - the movement represents a departure from the Zaidi sect, which followed about 30% of the population. This movement has been for many years a cultural and intellectual movement away from policy advocacy, but it received support from the General People's Congress Party in its quest to meet the religious influence of the Reform Islamic opposition party but starting in 2002 the movement began moving into politics, and take the line opposition against the government under the pretext of being accused of collaboration with the United States in the international campaign against terrorism that began after the events of September 11.
Thus began the first stages of a conflict between the Houthis and the government in 2004, during the past three months period from June until August of that year, there was heavy fighting between the Yemeni army forces and the forces of "Huthi", the analysis indicated that the scene of the standoff was characterized by is extremely difficult because of mountainous terrain, and the suffering of a large government forces; because they were facing the gunmen in a nearby mountain, in addition to their knowledge of the full enjoyment of their land and support the local population, The death toll was approximately 1000 death, including "Hussein Badr Eddin al-Huthi" itself
Barely a year after, a second phase of confrontation between the two parties has been broke in 2005, and then in 2007, and then in 2008 after an explosion that targeted Shiites at a mosque in Saada, killing 15 and wounding 55, to start the confrontation between the two parties on the 12 of the same month, and continued until the 17 of June of the same year when the Yemeni president declared a cessation of military operations.
The clashes broke out in June 2009, and the situation exploded with a new round of conflict on 10 of August of the same year (2009), and continues to this day. With the exception of the new round, which is still continuing, the observers look at the escalation of confrontation between the Houthis and the government that it aims to achieve the following goals:
1 – Overthrowing the regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh because he came by a military coup which is far from the beliefs of Huthis calling for a system of Imamate according to the Principles of Zaidi.
2 - Preventing the Americans after the events of September 11, 2001 to control the Yemen and exploit its energies and oil.
3 - finding solutions to the growing economic crisis in a country where many of the reports revealed that about 35% of the population of Yemen's 23 million people live in conditions of poverty and degradation, and the situation was worsened with the global economic crisis, which was one of the most prominent consequences of rising food prices by 60% in 2007-2008, not to mention the high rates of unemployment among young people for up to 16, 6% in 2008.
4 – Finding a kind of development in the areas of Houthis who accuse the state of being neglected and published poverty and need in their regions.
But after the outbreak of the recent wars from June of this year, it appeared that the conflict between the Houthis and the government has other dimensions with regional backgrounds, where the accusations went to Iran, and about her role in arming and training of Huthi and provide them with money and materiel, and wonder what is the purpose of the occupation of the Huthi of some regions near Saudi Arabia.. Observers believe that the purpose from that is to put Saudi Arabia between two jaws one from the side of Iraq and the other from the side of Yemen with the Huthis and surround Saudi Arabia from the seaside, and all this so that Riyadh recognizes the regional role of Iran in the Gulf security and involve it in the management of all the regional files.
If these intentions were revealed in the near future, the Houthis would have paid the price for Iranian hegemony in the region without realizing for themselves any political or economic gain because they are fighting by proxy and not by authenticity.. If there were some kind of settlement, the Iranian will negotiate behind the scenes, and he would estimate the size of the gains and how to end this crisis.
|
