The Islah Party between the 2011 civilian blocs and the 2023 military blocs
English - Tuesday 01 August 2023 الساعة 04:16 pm
Taiz, NewsYemen, Exclusive:
A few months after the peaceful popular protests against the late President of the Republic Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2011, the opposition parties, at that time, led by the Yemeni Islah Party, began spawning blocs and coalitions within Change Square in Sana'a and the sit-in squares in other governorates, with the aim of controlling these squares and directing their activities.
Those blocs and coalitions were dominated by a civil character, because the majority of the protesters were independent civil youth, but the Islah Party spared no effort in directing the energies of thousands of those youth to serve its agenda represented at the time by acquiring the largest possible share of political power that was already shared after the signing of the Gulf initiative. On November 23, 2011, between the General People's Congress Party and the opposition Joint Meeting Parties.
Before the signing of the Gulf initiative and its chronic implementation mechanism, the blocs and coalitions in Change Square in Sana'a had more than 500 youth coalitions in addition to about 19 senior coordinators, some of which are affiliated with these coalitions and others are independent. As for the names of these youth coalitions and components, they varied according to the goal, geography, or even professional specialization. After signing the Gulf initiative and obtaining its share of ministerial portfolios in the "national reconciliation" government, the Islah Party worked to weaken and dissipate those components and waste the energies of its youth to the point of establishing illegal detention rooms inside the square to imprison opponents of the party's policy and the behavior of its activists and members. The activity of the Islah party - the Yemeni arm of the Muslim Brotherhood - continued even to attract fighters from the sit-in squares to its ranks, which was also done by the Houthi militia in full view of Brotherhood activists.
Many of the activists of the youth revolution, which President Saleh described in one of his speeches at the time, as an extension of the revolution of September 26, 1962 and a correction of any crookedness of its owner, many of those activists still remember how the reform activists turned against them as soon as they obtained privileges in the new government. Some of these blocs turned into civil society organizations, while others disappeared completely with the emergence of the true face of the Houthi militia, which staged a coup against the legitimate authority and arrested hundreds of statesmen. When the Houthi militia showed its fangs to swallow up all of Yemen, armed popular resistance movements were formed in the central and southern governorates, especially Taiz, Marib, Aden, Shabwa and Al-Bayda. However, the armed arms of the Islah Party soon took control of the popular resistance movements in these governorates, and during the past years of war from 2015 until today, the Islah Party still imposes its political and military control over it, with the exception of Aden, which was snatched from its claws by the forces of the Southern Transitional Council in 2019 .
War takeover and failure
Popular resistance movements were formed against the Houthi militia in the governorates that are currently located on the lines of contact between the militia-controlled areas and the liberated areas. In Taiz, the Brotherhood leader Hammoud Saeed al-Mikhlafi formed the Popular Resistance Coordination Council, but he soon left the governorate outside the country, leaving it as a prey to Iran's arm. The real resistance men from Taiz stopped the Houthi militia's advance on the city and managed to liberate the city's districts and several other rural districts. In Al-Jawf Governorate and the eastern countryside of Sana'a, Al-Islah fighters withdrew, leaving those areas under the control of the militia, and the liberation of the rest of Taiz governorate has stopped until today.
Today, after nine years of war against the Houthi militia, and after reducing the influence of the Islah party, which was controlling the decision-making process within the legitimate government and the national army, the Islah party is returning to form a higher council for popular resistance against the Houthi militia at the level of the governorates of the contact line, headed by Hammoud al-Mikhlafi himself, who abandoned Men of the popular resistance in Taiz.
Imbalance and timing reveals targets
The timing of the formation of this council reveals the goals of the Islah Party, foremost of which is preserving its balance, which has been disturbed since the reduction of its influence in the southern governorates through the Transitional Council, and then after the formation of the Presidential Leadership Council. Moreover, the leadership of the Islah Party fears any rapprochement between it and other national forces opposed to the Houthi militia. A few days after the meeting held by the leader of the National Resistance, Tareq Saleh, with the local authority and representatives of political parties in Taiz Governorate, in order to unite efforts to liberate the remainder of the governorate in preparation for the liberation of Sana'a, the Supreme Council for Popular Resistance was announced from Ma'rib Governorate.
There is no doubt that the Islah Party and its armed arms resisted the Houthi militia and offered many martyrs in this endeavor, but after every round of resistance to the militia, it returns to abuse the comrades-in-arms of the other parties that fight side by side with it or those that are ready to put their hand in his hand to restore the state from the grip of the militia Dynastic. With this erratic behavior, it is self-destructing and sacrificing the sacrifices of its members and supporters in an effort to liberate all the northern provinces from the power of the Imamate militia.
