Clash of the Yemen – Al Houthi vs Al Ahmar, Ansar Allah vs al Islah

Not a month has gone by since Yemen President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi announced triumphant that the National Dialogue Conference - NDC - had reached a successful conclusion, following months of protracted negotiations, that reports of clashes and bloodshed already broke out, clear signs that the impoverished nation has failed to address some its core issues.

 

If the remnants of the former regime have been keen to portray change as to hold on to their otherwise dwindling powers and financial privileges by playing the revolutionary game, all the while allowing Yemen’s deep state to endure; other factions, namely the Houthis – Shia faction organized under the leadership of Sheikh Abdel Malek Al Houthi- and Al Harak – Southern Secessionist Movement – have been determined to consolidate their political advances by forcing Yemen old guard to make way and accommodate some of their demands.

 

While back in 2011, when protesters descended onto the streets of Yemen, calling for the fall of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Houthis quickly sided with political activists, keen to promote democratic reforms after 30 years of nepotism and tyranny, the Shia faction made clear that if its leadership was in favour of peaceful change and national unity, it would not allow the regime to further infringe on its people’s right and civil liberties.

 

Source: arabia2day.com. Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the Shia Zaydi movement in Yemen

 

For decades, ever since former President Saleh made a strategic alliance with Saudi Arabia to crush 1994 southern rebellion, Saudi-backed Salafi militants have waged a sectarian covert war against Yemen’ northern Shia Zaidi community, thus acting a buffer against Iran’s influence in the Arabian Peninsula and securing Al Saud southern borders.

 

After such pronounced and prolonged political isolation and systematic propaganda against their philosophy, 2011 offered the Houthis an incredible window of opportunity. Sheikh Al Houthi, who saw a tremendous shift in political alliances and regional foreign policies, cleverly played Yemen shifting winds to grow his network and establish himself as Yemen kingmaker.

 

To better understand Yemen and its political landscape it is crucial to fully grasp the role tribes play in the impoverished nation. Although a republican state, Yemen’s de facto power is born within tribal ranks. No politician in Yemen has so far ever managed to generate real traction without tribal backing. It is this very reality which has prevented Yemen from truly moving forward since 2011, despite its people’s yearning for a modern civil state.

 

Very much the underdog of Yemen politics, the Houthis have since the Arab Spring managed to transform themselves into a potent political entity, with incredible regional traction. No longer the odd one out on Yemen political map, the Houthis have grown into a political movement, offering its followers a real political and institutional alternative.

 

Away from the patronage and over-bearing shadows of Saudi Arabia and the United States of America, Ansar Allah wants to see Yemen reclaim its standing in the region, a fresh change from ongoing policies as far as Yemenis are concerned. Tired of enduring foreign powers’ policies – Washington’s drone campaign, Saudi Arabia’s labour reforms – an increasing majority of Yemenis are rooting for a faction which will prioritize national interests over diplomatic ties, a narrative the Houthis are only too keen to exploit.

 

More importantly yet, the Houthis have become a useful tool for anti-Islahi factions. It has whispered that former President Saleh, ever the opportunist politician secured a strategic alliance with Abdel-Malek Al Houthi as to secure his own standing in Yemen and oversee the fall of his undoers.

 

From a purely religious point of view, the Houthis have positioned themselves as guardians against Sunni radicalism, a key selling point given the fact that Yemen has witnessed first-hand, what horrors would befall the nation should al Qaeda has its way.

Al Houthi versus Al Ahmar

Although the Houthis committed in 2012 to the NDC, having agreed that Yemenis stood to lose too much by waging never-ending wars against one another on account of politics, Sheikh Abdel Malek Al Houthi warned that this guarantee of truce would remain null and void should factions chose to raise a hand against Yemen Shia community. And indeed, after months of latent tensions and brewing hatred, Salafis militants in Dammaj – located in the northern province of Sa’ada – came to clash with the Houthis.

 

Alleging that the Salafis had been busy building an army of wannabe Jihadists behind the walls of their Dar Al Hadith religious centre, at the very heart of Houthi territory, ahead of a regional take-over, the Shia faction justified last October its onslaught, by saying it had no choice but to intervene.

 

Interestingly, President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi did very little to intervene; rather he waited out the conflict, keen to see if the Houthis would destroy Yemen Sunni radicals and thus enable him to chip away at Yemen Muslim Brotherhood powerful armour.

 

Al-Islah however, which is led by the powerful tribal clan, Al Ahmar – the leaders of the Hashid confederation of tribes - immediately pledged its tribesmen to the fight, determined to outdo and undo the Houthi threat once and for all.

 

If Al Ahmar and Al Islah have enjoyed respectively unmatched tribal and political power since 1994, when Riyadh came to throw its weight and petrodollars behind its leadership, the recent demise of the Muslim Brotherhood, its alleged links with Al Qaeda and other radical groups, have put both the clan and the party on unsettled ground.

 

Al Ahmar which have been using Al Islah as a platform to assert their own hegemonic ambitions and political power grabbing, have been most active over the past decades in their opposition and repression of the Houthis, acutely aware of the threat the group poses over their claim on Yemen highlands. Sensing Al Ahmar’s weakness, the Houthis came to exert their revenge.

 

To understand al Ahmar’s pull in Yemen, one needs to look back at the former regime. Under the leadership of former President Saleh, a line in the sand was drawn in between the General People’s Congress – Saleh’s political faction – and Al Ahmar, whereby they would share Yemen, divide its resources more or less equally and allow Saudi Arabia to exert control over its policies. 2011 Arab Spring came to disrupt that arrangement.

 

The recent fall from grace of the Muslim Brotherhood precipitated change in Yemen; to such an extent that President Hadi has sought to promote the rise of a counter-power to Al Islah. Since his own political faction is not in the position to directly challenge the Salafis, Hadi had to look elsewhere.

 

The Houthis’ October campaign in Dammaj, came at the most opportune time!

 

One has only to see how events unfolded since October 2013, to recognise how President Hadi played deaf ears to Al Islah’s calls for help as Houthi fighters carved their way through Yemen highlands.

 

It was only when the Houthis reached the province of Amran, which lies directly north of the capital, Sana’a,that President Hadi intervened. If Hadi was keen to see Al Islah diminish he had no intention in allowing armed militias to establish strongholds so close to his government; therefore a truce was enforced. Such truce actually came in favour of the Houthis, since Hadi ordered the immediate evacuation of all Salafis from Dammaj. Their ego thoroughly bruised, the Salafis had to admit defeat before the Houthis’ military superiority.

 

But the Houthis were not done just yet.

 

In the past days, reports came through of clashes in Arhab, an area which overlooks Sana’a International Airport, a zone which until now was under the control of Al Ahmar tribesmen.

 

With the Houthis on the move again, Al Islah could soon see its political empire over Yemen crumble to the ground as its tribal hegemony is challenged. Recent attempts to raise a general tribal army to oppose the Houthis are proof Al Ahmar no longer feels secure.

 

While it is safe to assume that the Houthis have no intention in deposing President Hadi, as Al Ahmar has so often alleged, the group most likely intends to send Sana’a central government a clear message – Yemen will have to make room and accommodate Ansar Allah, as Yemen Shia will no longer dwell in the shadows.