Regional powers fight bloody chess game in Yemen
- 9 years ago
Yemen is a regional proxy battleground between Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shia Muslim Iran.
The destruction caused by Saudi-led coalition airstrikes in the capital Sanaa is the tip of the iceberg of far-reaching regional stakes.
Iran supports the Houthi, the northern Yemen Shia minority rebels, whose goal is to seize power. In September, the Houthis overran the capital, thrusting south and eastwards. Now they control much of the country.
In February, President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, in power since 2012, fled from Sanaa to Aden in the south.
For Iran, Yemen holds potential as an Achilles Heel for action in the Saudi peninsula. The rise of the Houthi rebels in Yemen played in favour of Iran.
North-south tribal disputes have also made Yemen fertile ground for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Crossing a line
The Saudi-led airstrikes began when the radical Islamic State movement, even more extreme than Al Qaeda, first attacked Shia mosques with suicide bombers in Sanaa, i
The destruction caused by Saudi-led coalition airstrikes in the capital Sanaa is the tip of the iceberg of far-reaching regional stakes.
Iran supports the Houthi, the northern Yemen Shia minority rebels, whose goal is to seize power. In September, the Houthis overran the capital, thrusting south and eastwards. Now they control much of the country.
In February, President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, in power since 2012, fled from Sanaa to Aden in the south.
For Iran, Yemen holds potential as an Achilles Heel for action in the Saudi peninsula. The rise of the Houthi rebels in Yemen played in favour of Iran.
North-south tribal disputes have also made Yemen fertile ground for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Crossing a line
The Saudi-led airstrikes began when the radical Islamic State movement, even more extreme than Al Qaeda, first attacked Shia mosques with suicide bombers in Sanaa, i