Yemen on brink of sectarian war

[bemildred]

---

In Saada province, 240 kilometers north of the capital Sana'a, nearly 700 people have been killed as fighting reignited in late January between the Yemeni army and a Zaidi Shi'ite insurgent group called Al Shabab Al Moumin (the Youthful Believers) - formed by now-deceased tribal chief Hussein Badr al-Din al-Houthi - after the rebels threatened to kill members of a small Jewish community in Saada if they did not leave the country within 10 days.

---

The current conflict represents the third government crackdown since 2004 in Saada province, where the anti-government Shi'ite insurgency started out as a small domestic protest against Yemeni policy. Rebel clerics have denounced the government's ties with the United States and demanded an end to its gradual shift to Western-style social and democratic reforms.

While government forces seem to have emerged victorious from the latest fighting - they recently crushed the main rebel strongholds in the Razih and al-Shagaf areas of al-Naqa'ah - Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the new leader of this Shi'ite insurgency, threatens to widen the circle of armed confrontations to areas outside Saada.

---

The government has received strong US military support to curb terrorism in the region. Al-Thawra, a government-funded newspaper in Sana'a, reported last September 26 that US Ambassador Thomas C Krajeski had declared Washington's support for the Yemeni government in its confrontation with Houthi's insurgency.

Asia Times