AL MONITOR: The intense clashes between Salafists and Houthis in the northern Yemen province of Saada, near the Saudi border, indicate a possible sectarian war. It seems that this scenario reached a point of no return when Yemen’s northern tribes, which are loyal to Riyadh, joined the Salafist militants as part of a "Coalition for Sunni Victory." Today, this coalition is spearheading the ongoing sectarian conflict in northern Yemen, where the majority of the population embraces the Zaidi sect, a branch of Shia Islam.
he seeds of a Sunni-Shiite conflict are being sown in the region in the absence of the Yemeni government. In fact, the government is instead concerned with the war against Al-Qaeda and the obstacles faced by the struggling Gulf Cooperation Council settlement agreement that led to the ouster of Ali Abdallah Saleh. The government also accuses Riyadh of managing the conflict through the use of loyal tribes — who are now in a coalition with the Salafists — against Houthi militants. The Houthis and their military wing Ansar Allah have themselves been accused of receiving support from Tehran and of implementing Tehran’s plans in the region. » | Abu Bakr Abdullah | Thursday, June 07, 2012
