Yemen’s Rebel Group Disbands Government and Takes Power

[Purveyor]

Source: Time

The Shi’ite rebel group that controls the Yemeni capital dissolved parliament on Wednesday, bringing to an abrupt and potentially explosive end the political deadlock among rival factions.
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The Houthi movement, which overran Sana’a in September, had been overseeing talks to form a new government since the group’s aggression prompted President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to resign last month. But with the lapse of a Wednesday deadline, the Houthis moved to act on their own terms.

In a televised statement, the rebels said they would form a five-member presidential council to lead the country during a transitional period of up to two years, proclaiming the developments marked “a new era that will take Yemen to safe shores,” according to the Associated Press.

But the move threatens to plunge the fractured nation deeper into sectarian turmoil. While the Houthis, members of a minority group of Shi‘ite Muslims from the north, have seen a recent surge in support, their power grab risks further alienating Sunni tribesman and empowering al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the powerful affiliate of al-Qaeda that controls swathes of the country’s south.

Read more: http://time.com/3698986/yemen-houthi-coup-shiite/

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. Man, the whole Middle East is going crazy!

And Obama wanted to pivot to Asia. Shit gets in the way.

[JonLP24]

2. The government was a very corrupt kleptocracy

I hope whatever changes, they learn from the mistakes of others & their predecessors and be sure to allow freedom & participation as well as help the citizens the government.

What the 4th paragraph describes is very tricky, don't want to be like Al-Maliki. `

[Maedhros]

3. Interesting.

According to the OP,

(The Houthis') power grab risks further alienating Sunni tribesman and empowering al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the powerful affiliate of al-Qaeda that controls swathes of the country’s south.

That statement is at odds with another article I found regarding the Houthis in Yemen:

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/01/22/yemens-de-facto-coup-detat/

The streets in Yemen’s capital are now a maze of checkpoints, a few still manned by government forces wearing military uniforms, but most these days are controlled by Houthis. Unlike government forces, the Houthis are typically dressed in tribal garb–a shawl wrapped around their face and a skirt known as a ma’awaz.

Armed with AK-47s, the Houthis are primarily looking for members of AQAP.

The Houthis, however, are quickly proving that the old adage, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” is not always true. While they are bitter enemies of AQAP, the Houthis manning the checkpoints often adorn their AK-47s with stickers bearing the group’s motto: “Death to America, death to Israel, curse on the Jews, victory to Islam.”

For the West, this labyrinth of Yemeni politics underscores the complexity of trying to find a reliable ally to fight Al Qaeda’s Yemen affiliate, which claimed credit for the deadly attack earlier this month against the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris. While the U.S. government had continued to back Hadi as a close partner in the war on terror, it’s the Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, who have been battling AQAP on the streets of Sanaa.

From this article by Casey L. Coombs and Jeremy Scahill, it would appear that the ascension of the Houthis threatens, rather than empowers, AQAP. Scahill's credentials with respect to Yemeni reporting are impeccable. As Scahill has reported elsewhere, the Sunni tribesmen in the south were focused entirely on the removal of the corrupt Saleh regime - until U.S. air and drone strikes began killing large numbers of civilians - including women and children. Their focus shifted toward anti-Americanism afterward.

http://www.thenation.com/article/166265/washingtons-war-yemen-backfires#

There is no question that AQAP took advantage of the moment, shrewdly recognizing that its message of a Sharia-based system of law and order would be welcomed by many in Abyan who viewed the Saleh regime as a US puppet. The US missile strikes, the civilian casualties, an almost total lack of government services and a deepening poverty all contributed. “As these groups of militants took over the city, then AQAP came in and also tribes from areas that have been attacked in the past by the Yemeni government and by the US government,” says Iryani, the political analyst. “They came because they have a feud against the regime and against the US. There is a nucleus of AQAP, but the vast majority are people who are aggrieved by attacks on their homes that forced them to go out and fight.” According to statistics published by the US Agency for International Development, “insecurity displaced more than 40,000 Zinjibaris in 2011.”
. . .

President Obama’s first known authorization of a missile strike on Yemen, on December 17, 2009, killed more than forty Bedouins, many of them women and children, in the remote village of al Majala in Abyan. Another US strike, in May 2010, killed an important tribal leader and the deputy governor of Marib province, Jabir Shabwani, sparking mass anger at the United States and Saleh’s government.
. . .

The strikes “have recruited thousands.” Yemeni tribesmen, he says, share one common goal with Al Qaeda, “which is revenge against the Americans, because those who were killed are the sons of the tribesmen, and the tribesmen never, ever give up on revenge.” Even senior officials of the Saleh regime recognize the damage the strikes have caused. “People certainly resent these [US] interventions,” Qirbi, the foreign minister and a close Saleh ally, concedes.
. . .

US policy has enraged tribal leaders who could potentially keep AQAP in check and has, over the past three years of regular bombings, taken away the motivation for many leaders to do so. Several southern leaders angrily told me stories of US and Yemeni attacks in their areas that killed civilians and livestock and destroyed or damaged scores of homes. If anything, the US airstrikes and support for Saleh-family-run counterterrorism units has increased tribal sympathy for Al Qaeda.
. . .

Zabara is quick to clarify that he believes AQAP is a terrorist group bent on attacking the United States, but that is hardly his central concern. “The US sees Al Qaeda as terrorism, and we consider the drones terrorism,” he says.

[cosmicone]

4. This could not have been done without Iranian support

and thus, we are better off with Iran as a friend than an enemy.

Of the dozens of tinpot countries, Iran is a land of ancient culture, civilization and high levels of education including that of women.

If we chilled out a bit vis à vis Iran, we may help it to moderate and relax the hold of mullahs on the otherwise democracy-loving populace.

In my experience, Iranian people are far more West-friendly and moderate than the Wahhabi Sunnis who want Islam to dominate the world. Of note is the fact that in the entire Al Q'aeda-ISIS-Taliban crazyness, not one Iranian has ever been caught with terrorist hands.

[BobbyBoring]

5. It's hard to have peace....

When you make new enemies on a daily basis.