Has Iran succeeded in changing the nature of North Yemeni society?
English - Thursday 16 April 2020 الساعة 05:22 pm
Newsyemen, Day Eight:
According to press reports, it has become impossible to talk about a near future to achieve stability in volatile Yemen since the 1990s, following the Houthis' control of the entire geography of what was known as the Arab Republic, before uniting with South Yemen.
The pro-Iranian Houthis, with regional support, tightened control over the border province of Al-Jawf with Saudi Arabia, which leads an Arab alliance to fight them, and approached more to Marib the last strongholds of the allies of the interim Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, while Taiz, the most populated city in Yemen, is subject to sharing between Houthi and Brotherhood militias.
The Arab coalition announced a halt to the war on its part, but the Houthis and the Brotherhood continue to fight and rally towards the southern ally of the Arab coalition, without any declared position from Riyadh, which provides military support and care to Hadi and those allied with his government. The Brotherhood, with Qatari, Iranian and Turkish support, to control the south, is working in an effort to implement the sharing strategy between Doha and Tehran, in order for the south to go to the Doha and north to Tehran, a strategy that press reports say Riyadh is dealing very slowly in dealing with.
Iran succeeded in building a society loyal to it and opposing Yemen's neighbors, after it relied on the Zaydi doctrine from which the Houthis descend from Tehran, until the geography of North Yemen, including the non-Zaidi regions, became subject to Iran and owed it loyalty, due to the de facto policy practiced by the Houthis.
The Houthis implemented a dangerous policy during the past years, by displacing and expelling all those who do not belong to the Zaidi school in Sanaa, and they maintain weak personalities that do not pose any danger to the future of the group that intentionally changed the school curricula and worked to consolidate its sectarian project through what it is known as Lieutenant Hussein Badr al-Din, the group's founder, who was killed in Saada during what was known as the Six Wars that took place between 2004 and 2009.
The Houthi practices were not limited to the Yemeni civil society, but went to the tribes that the militias imposed upon them various wars until they managed to control them by appointing loyal shaikh to the group, not to mention their refusal of financial levies and forced the tribes to recruit their members to fight in their ranks.
In spite of the discrimination practiced by the group against the tribes, this did not move the population and the northern Yemeni tribes remained hostage to the Houthis and what they impose on them, and the dead of the tribes became less important than the dead who belonged to the Houthi group in Saada.
Due to this policy, the Houthis have become a force to be reckoned with in confronting the Hadi government, which is shared by the conflicting regional parties, in light of the accusations directed against the Yemeni Vice President, the Muslim Brotherhood leader Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, of supporting the Houthis from under the table and obstructing the war efforts against them, considering that they are Zaydis and he doesn’t want to defeat them.
The Hadi government retreated in controlling many areas since Al-Ahmar was appointed vice president, until the Houthis became close to Ma'rib, the main stronghold of the interim president and his deputy.
The Arab writer Khairallah Khairallah says, "The Houthi takeover of Al-Jawf is the beginning of a new stage in Yemen, without meaning that they are on their way to regaining the initiative to attack again in the south."
He added, "What must be recognized is that they possess a significant and effective military force in the absence of those who are willing to confront them."
The Arab writer acknowledged that there was a change in the nature of Yemeni society, saying, "There has been a great change in Yemeni society, especially in the north, and this change is characterized by the weakness of the tribe's composition. The tribes are no longer ready to defend their Shaikhs as they have been in the past.
There is no longer any significant influence for the Al-Ahmar family, Hashed sheikhs, to name just a few. ”He said,“ Iran, to which the Houthis owe its complete allegiance, managed to change the nature of Yemeni society in the north. This raises big questions regarding the Yemeni future and the formula that Yemen can settle, one day, at a stage in which the Houthis will take their normal size. ”That will happen, the writer says,“ for a very simple reason that is due to the fact that the entire Iranian expansionist project is in retreat on the one hand and because The Houthis do not possess any political or economic project on the other hand. They have useless slogans that do not feed Yemenis with bread and protect them from disease. "
Quoted on the eighth day
