Report: 9 dead in Saudi air strikes in Yemen

Admin Thu 08 Mar 2018, 10:42 pm

Report: 9 dead in Saudi air strikes in Yemen
https://www.conservativeinstitute.org/islam/islamic-terrorism/9-dead-saudi-strikes.htm
March 7, 2018

Report: 9 dead in Saudi air strikes in Yemen
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Turmoil in the Middle East is seemingly never-ending. Syria’s civil war worsens by the day, and fighting in Yemen is now picking up.

In the war against Houthi rebels in Yemen, 9 civilians were just killed by Saudi-led airstrikes. This news comes on the heels of 4 civilian deaths due to airstrikes on Tuesday, bringing the full death toll of the war to over 10,000 people, with 2 million people displaced.

Why War?
A little context helps to understand what’s happening in the Middle East. An ancient schism exists between Sunni and Shia Muslims centered around whether the lineage of the Prophet Muhammad is actually relevant to its current practice.

Sunni Muslims comprise the vast majority of the religion’s adherents, upwards of 90% of the total population. Sunni’s consider themselves to be the orthodox branch of the religion, and the center of the sect’s influence is in Saudi Arabia.

Shia Muslims differ from Sunni’s by their loyalty to the Prophet Muhammad’s son-in-law Ali, who they believe is the successor to the prophet. Iran is the center of Shia influence and the leadership of Iran under Ayatollah Khamenei, considers the country to be a counterpoint to the hegemony of the Saudi’s.

Much of the political and religious discontent in the Middle East revolves around that conflict, with those two countries, and then often with their relationships with Israel.

To place this in context, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, which is a tiny country on the southern border of Saudi Arabia, are Shia Muslims and are therefore in conflict with the Saudi government.

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The War Until Now
In 2004, Houthi insurgents started to make major gains in Northern Yemen. At the peak of its power, the Houthi faction was launching missile attacks into Saudi Arabia, prompting the Saudi government to respond with force.

According to the government of Yemen, the Houthis were attempting to impose a version of their own Zaidi version of Shia religious law. This became known as the Yemeni Crisis or Insurgency.

Between 2004 and 2015, the fighting was pretty fierce, which led to the 10,000 deaths. After 10 years of fighting, it seemed as though the Houthi rebels had been effectively quashed and the war looked all but over.

But the rebels have recently reared their heads again in Yemen. This is likely due to the intervention and funding of Iran and its Shia surrogate Hezbollah, which operates primarily out of Lebanon, providing a constant threat to Israel along with their Sunni counterpart, Hamas.

In their resurgence, the Houthis have put the pressure on the government of Yemen. BBC reports:

The Houthis meanwhile have not been dislodged from Sanaa, and have been able to maintain a siege of the southern city of Taiz and to fire mortars and missiles across the border with Saudi Arabia.

Jihadist militants from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and rival affiliates of the Islamic State group (IS) have taken advantage of the chaos by seizing territory in the south and carrying out deadly attacks, notably in Aden.

What does the future hold?
It’s always incredibly difficult to predict what will happen in foreign affairs. In the Middle East, the politics, ethnic and religious disputes, and varying coalitions are so complex that the future is consistently in flux.

In the short term, it looks like the fighting in Yemen will be ramping up as the Saudi-led coalition, which includes the United States, is interested in keeping the region from becoming unstable. Syria is already a major point of conflict, and major powers are undoubtedly interested in preventing additional conflicts from popping up.

For the sake of the civilians, hopefully, this comes to an end soon.