Sana'a Could Be The Houthis' Graveyard: With Their Imported Iranian Rhetoric
12 October 2014
By Abdulrahman Al-Rashed
In 1948, some Yemeni tribes besieged the capital
Sana'a and threatened to seize it following battles
between the rebels and ruler Imam Yahya's forces.
Abdullah Al-Wazeer, the rebel leader, traveled to
Jeddah seeking the help of Saudi ruler King Abdulaziz.
The Saudi King reprimanded Wazeer, telling him that
bloodshed only leads to bloodshed, and that Wazeer was
with the Muslim Brotherhood, which betrayed Imam Yahya
and killed him. He also asked Wazeer how he could
declare himself Yemen's ruler. The King refused to
support the rebels, despite the fact that he did not
agree with the imam. Sana'a was thus taken by Yahya's
son Imam Ahmad, and a new round of intra-communal wars
began in Yemen.
Sana'a has witnessed and suffered from many
conspiracies and betrayals during the past seven
decades. Imam Ahmad was assassinated in 1961 and his
son, Al-Badr, besieged the capital after rebels seized
it. Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser sent 70,000
troops to support the rebels in a war that lasted
around eight years, and in which Nasser lost around
half of his army.
Meanwhile, Israel struck Egypt in 1967 while Nasser
was fighting against Yemeni tribes. Before these
Egyptian attempts to gain influence in Yemen, there
were other attempts by the British and the Ottomans,
though they all failed to impose their rule on the
country. This is a brief history of bloody wars in
Sana'a, which I offer here in an attempt to explain
recent events in the capital that have left many
people baffled. The Houthis, who have taken control of
Sana'a, are a tribal party, which became affiliated
with the Iranians during the 1990s upon the
encouragement of former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah
Saleh, who thought he was capable of playing three
cards at once by supporting the Muslim Brotherhood,
the Houthis, and other tribes. In the end, however, he
was ousted from power thanks to mass protests in 2011.
Iran is bragging about the victory of its Houthi
allies. Analysts and commentators who support the
Iranian regime consider the recent developments in
Yemen the most important victory for Iran in the
region until now. But when taking a thorough look at
the fall of Sana'a to the Houthis' Ansar Allah
movement, we can see that in reality this will not
change much in geopolitical terms. Unfortunately, it
increases the suffering of the Yemeni citizens who
have endured poor governance for decades. The Houthis
will not be able to manage the Yemeni state, even if
the president himself flees his castle and they take
over.
Three years ago, Yemen was categorized as a failed
state, meaning it is ungovernable. The government's
annual expenditure is 8 billion US dollars. So how
will the Houthis pay public sector employees? Even the
state's oil facilities, which the Houthis occupied
days ago, will not produce enough money to pay the
wages of the police and the army. If Iran wants to
send its troops, as it has currently done in Iraq and
Syria, it must recall that Yemen has been the cemetery
of invaders for the past thousand years. Yemen is a
rugged country, which only its own people know well.
Mount Prophet Shuaib, which is 3,670 meters above sea
level, is the highest summit in the region. Towering
mountains and deep valleys separate Yemen and Saudi
Arabia, and it's impossible for armies to traverse
them unless they use large military transport
aircraft.
The Houthis won't be able to govern Yemen unless they
gain the approval of the Yemeni people, who are angry
with them over the seizure of the capital, and also
take issue with their attack against tribal sheikhs.
They won't be able to rule Yemen with their aberrant
political doctrine, or with their pretense of a
caliphate, or with their imported Iranian rhetoric,
because none of this has anything to do with Yemen or
with the Yemeni people's aspirations.
Al Rashed is
the general manager of Al -Arabiya television. He is
also the former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al- Awsat,
and the leading Arabic weekly magazine, Al Majalla. He
is also a senior Columnist in the daily newspapers of
Al Madina and Al Bilad. He is a US post-graduate
degree in mass communications. He has been a guest on
many TV current affairs programs. He is currently
based in Dubai.
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EsinIslam.Com
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