DEHAI NEWS MAILING LIST ARCHIVE: [dehai-news] Aljazeera.net: 1. Yemen's complex reality 2. Yemen says Iran funding rebels

[dehai-news] Aljazeera.net: 1. Yemen's complex reality 2. Yemen says Iran funding rebels

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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Mon Nov 16 2009 - 15:28:11 EST

Yemen's <http://blogs.aljazeera.net/2009/11/16/yemens-complex-reality>
complex reality

By Hashem Ahelbarra <http://blogs.aljazeera.net/profile/hashem-ahelbarra>

November 16th, 2009

The war in Saada is perhaps the most misunderstood conflict in the world.
And the reason is the very complex tribal, religious and political make up
of Yemen.

The war
<http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2009/11/14/yemen-civilians-bear-brun
t> in Saada is perhaps the most misunderstood conflict in the world. And the
reason is the very complex tribal, religious and political make up of Yemen.

For centuries, Yemen had been shattered into a mosaic of kingdoms or
sultanates - a Shia Zaidi Imamate in the north and Sunni Sultanates in the
south. That order was upset in 1962, in a coup that put an end to the rule
of Hamid Eddine, a Hashemite family that had ruled Northern Yemen since
1918.

In 1967, a radical Marxist movement created a Soviet-inspired state in the
south. In 1990, the north and south united under Ali Abdallah Salih, a Shia
Zaidi who has been ruling Yemen since 1978.

The Houthi rebellion started in 2004 when a member of a Hashemite family -
the Houthis - took up arms against the government seeking more religious and
cultural freedoms.

The army launched an offensive in which the rebels' leader, Hussein al
Houthi, was killed and his movement nearly crushed.

But months later, his brother Abdel Malik, ma .aljazeera.netnaged to repair
the damage, and consolidate his base in their stronghold - the province of
Saada.

The government accuses the Houthis of plotting to restore the Imamate, with
the help of Iran and Shia sympathizers in the Gulf.

Relations between
<http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/11/2009111675649700628.ht
ml> Sana'a and Tehran have deteriorated, especially after Saudi's
involvement in the conflict and Iran's warning to Riyadh and Sana'a to stop
" shedding the blood of Muslims".

The Houthis have constantly insisted their movement is a protest against
corruption and discrimination and not beholden to Iran.

Being labeled as an Iranian-backed rebellion is something the Houthis fear
will taint their reputation in the predominantly Sunni Yemen.

In the capital Sana'a the opposition, while very critical of Iran, doesn't
buy into the government's view, rejecting claims that the Saada war is a
conspiracy against the state. Many politicians have called on the president
to reform the political system and share power.

A leading opposition figure Hamid Al Hamar whose family leads Hashid, one
the biggest tribes in the country, told Al Jazeera that the conflict in
Saada is fanned by a bitter struggle between the president Ali Abdallah
Salih and his half brother Ali Mohsin al Ahmar, over succession.

According to Hamid Al Ahmar, Salih is dragging Mohsin to a long war in Saada
to weaken him, paving the way for his son General Ahmed Ali Salih, commander
of the elite republican guard to become the next unchallenged president of
Yemen.

The country is rife with rumours about the old political guard, pulling the
strings in the north to preserve its privileges when Ahmed Salih chooses a
new generation of leaders to take over.

But for the time being, fears that the country might disintegrate with a
secessionist movement are on the rise in the south, while a rebellion which
many are will to die for in order to achieve greater autonomy, rages in the
north.

Yemen says Iran funding rebels

November 16, 2009
13:45 Mecca time, 10:45 GMT

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EKR36ubonY
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EKR36ubonY&feature=player_embedded>
&feature=player_embedded

Yemen has repeated its accusation that Iran is funding Houthi rebel fighters
in their war against government forces in the north of the country.

General Yahya Salih, Yemen's counter-terrorism chief, told Al Jazeera on
Sunday that it would be impossible for the group to be able to wage its
campaign without foreign support.

"The Houthis cannot fund and fight this war with pomegranates and grapes or
drugs," he said.

"No doubt there is Iranian support, especially when you consider that the
Yemeni state is spending billions of riyals."

Yemen launched a military offensive against the Houthis in the northern
Saada region in August after the group's fighters stepped up its campaign
against the government.

Neighbouring Saudi Arabia has become embroiled in the conflict in recent
weeks, launching air raids and artillery strikes on suspected Houthi targets
after the group crossed the border and reportedly seized a small area of
Saudi territory.

Foreign intervention

Manouchehr Mottaki, the Iranian foreign minister, last week warned against
perceived foreign intervention in the conflict.

In depth

"Countries of the region must seriously hold back from intervening in
Yemen's internal affairs," he told a news conference in Tehran.

Mottaki also said that Yemen needed to "rehabilitate relations" with its
public, including the Shia minority from which the Houthi fightyers come,
adding that Iran had already announced its willingness to mediate between
them.

But Salih told Al Jazeera that Tehran had no right to question Yemen's
treatment of ethnic or religious minorities.

"Who has given Mr Mottaki the right to talk about minorities?

"Minorities are persecuted in Iran, just recently they executed Kurd
activists. He who lives in a glass house shouldn't throw stones."

The Houthis, who are from the Shia Muslim Zaidi sect, first took up arms
against the government of Ali Abdullah Saleh, the president, in 2004, citing
political, economic and religious marginalisation by the Saudi and
Western-backed administration.

'Expansionist agenda'

Yemen's religious leaders have also denied any discrimination against Shia
Muslims.

Hamoud al Hitar, Yemen's minister of religious affairs, told Al Jazeera:
"The Houthis are an armed movement using force to achieve their goals.

"They have an expansionist agenda and this was evident when they started
fighting Saudi Arabia, it shows that the want to create a state in northern
Yemen and southern Saudi Arabia."

Saudi forces continued to bombard Houthi positions in the 2,000m Jebel
al-Dukhan mountain area over the weekend and Riyadh has said the attacks
will continue until the rebels withdraw more than 10km from the Saudi-Yemeni
border.

Ali Larijani, the speaker of Iran's parliament, on Sunday condemned the
Saudi involvement as the two nations stepped up the rhetoric over what many
analysts say is a proxy war between the two Middle East powers.

"The deplorable events in the Islamic nation of Yemen which have intensified
over the past two weeks and the Saudi interference in Yemen through repeated
bombings by warplanes is astonishing," he said.

"Reports indicated that the government of the United States is co-operating
in the oppressive measures."

The Houthi rebels say that Riyadh is providing bases inside Saudi Arabia for
Yemeni forces to conduct attacks on their positions, while Yemen says that
Iran is shipping weapons to the group.

Nine Saudis - five soldiers and four civilians - have been killed in
fighting with Houthi fighters on the border since November 3.

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