Violent Civil War in Yemen Rages On

Death tolls from attacks on the city of Aden in Yemen over the weekend, have reportedly risen from 43, to 57. The attacks came from the Iranian-backed Houthi Shiite rebels, who have been fighting against Saudi Arabian-backed forces loyal to the exiled Yemeni president, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. Hadi was forced by the Houthis to flee Yemen in February.

The bombardment in Aden yesterday came just two days after Yemeni Prime Minister Khaled Baha declared the city to be “liberated” from the Houthis.

Yesterday’s attacks follow a recent series of gains made by the pro-Hadi forces. Last week, the Saudi-backed forces (known as the Popular Resistance) took back the international airport located in Aden. This took place after “months of deadlock in the city”. Pro-Hadi forces were also able to regain “other central areas” of Aden.

Since the Houthis’ capture of Sanaa (Yemen’s capital) last September, Yemen has essentially been “the battle ground of a proxy war between Sunni and Shia forces led by Saudi Arabia and Iran respectively.”

Amidst this proxy war conflict, the Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) group has been expanding its power and presence over large parts of Yemen, including the coastal city of Al Mukalla. Although Saudi Arabia launched a coalition in March in support of anti-Houthi forces, Saudi Arabia has withheld from attacking AQAP forces “because the AQAP provides an ideological ally against the Shiite Houthis.”

Additionally, the Islamic State has begun to increase its presence and involvement in Yemen as well. Over the past five months the Islamic States has conducted attacks on Houthi rebel leaders, the capital of Sanaa, and also suicide attacks and car bombs.

Just today, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for detonating a car bomb outside of the historic al-Mahdi mosque on the outskirts of Sanaa. According to Vice News, the al-Mahdi mosque was a “place of worship for followers of Zaydism, a form of Shiite Islam largely unique to north Yemen”.

The Islamic State and AQAP have similar goals in Yemen: obtaining territory, power, and support from the country’s people. They have different methods of obtaining these goals, however. The Islamic State holds itself to be the one and only Sunni regime fighting for the true meaning of Islam against the opposing Shiite sect. AQAP on the other hand, pursues a route that “blends in”, and acknowledges that there are many Sunni forces opposing the rebel Houthis, of whom they are one.

U.S. policy ought to be based on achieving an end result for Yemen where it is not a safe haven for al Qaeda or the Islamic State, nor beholden to Iranian proxies. The US has supported the Saudi Arabi air strike coalition against Houthi forces. However this support for Saudi Arabia, has undoubtedly come into question as the latest developments with Iran over a nuclear deal, and advances of Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Iraq indicate a different set of U.S. priorities. Given this less than coherent regional strategy, the Saudis are unlikely to be amendable to assisting in weakening Sunni jihadists grip in Yemen.