ebrahym
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2015
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Brief overview:
Yemen used to be North Yemen and South Yemen until 1990. Houthis are Zaidi minority from the North. Yemen used to be ruled by Saleh, who was very corrupt and destroyed Yemen's economy. He wanted to become ruler of Yemen for life and become a dictator so Yemenis across the country rebelled against him (part of Arab Spring).
Then Saleh fled to Saudi Arabia and agreed to step down and transfer power to Hadi for a two-year term and promise to hold real elections in 2014. Saleh returned and was granted immunity against all prosecution for his crimes.
Hadi never held the 2014 elections, so Houthis rebelled to force Hadi to accept a unity government including Houthi representation. Hadi and his government resigned and then fled to South Yemen and Houthis declared they were the new government.
Hadi then rescinded his resignation (!), fled to KSA and invited KSA to bomb Yemen to restore him to power.
Then lots of complicated things happened such as Saleh and his forces allying with Houthis, then trying to ally with KSA only to be killed by Houthis for his betrayal, etc.
KSA backs Hadi to be ruler but UAE backs Southern Transitional Council (STC) groups in the South. STC want independence (remember Yemen used to be North and South Yemen - two separate states...). Both Hadi and STC were formally allied against Houthis, but now STC are fighting against Hadi forces and have seized a lot of military bases and key buildings (such as the Presidential Palace in Aden).
Houthis never fired any missiles against Saudi Arabia before KSA invaded Yemen to attack Houthis (committing war crimes, creating the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today according to the UN, killing tens of thousands of civilians, etc). KSA think Houthis are an Iranian proxy and Hadi was a Saudi puppet, so they prefer to have Hadi regime in Yemen.
Iran certainly gives Houthis some element of support, but the idea that Iran controls the Houthis or something is simply Saudi paranoia/propaganda. Indeed, in 2014 when the Houthis were rebelling against the Hadi regime to hold new elections, Iran advised the Houthis against moving into Sana'a (the capital), but the Houthis ignored Iran and did it anyway.
Now the Houthis have a wide range of missiles and drones and have shown an ability to strike targets 1200km into Saudi Arabia. Their traditional stronghold homeland in North Yemen is very large and mountainous and it is like the Taliban in Afghanistan; they cannot be totally defeated. UAE has pulled most of its forces out of Yemen already because they don't want to fight Houthis any more, they just want to gain influence with STC proxies.
credits:
@Battle of Waterloo
Yemen used to be North Yemen and South Yemen until 1990. Houthis are Zaidi minority from the North. Yemen used to be ruled by Saleh, who was very corrupt and destroyed Yemen's economy. He wanted to become ruler of Yemen for life and become a dictator so Yemenis across the country rebelled against him (part of Arab Spring).
Then Saleh fled to Saudi Arabia and agreed to step down and transfer power to Hadi for a two-year term and promise to hold real elections in 2014. Saleh returned and was granted immunity against all prosecution for his crimes.
Hadi never held the 2014 elections, so Houthis rebelled to force Hadi to accept a unity government including Houthi representation. Hadi and his government resigned and then fled to South Yemen and Houthis declared they were the new government.
Hadi then rescinded his resignation (!), fled to KSA and invited KSA to bomb Yemen to restore him to power.
Then lots of complicated things happened such as Saleh and his forces allying with Houthis, then trying to ally with KSA only to be killed by Houthis for his betrayal, etc.
KSA backs Hadi to be ruler but UAE backs Southern Transitional Council (STC) groups in the South. STC want independence (remember Yemen used to be North and South Yemen - two separate states...). Both Hadi and STC were formally allied against Houthis, but now STC are fighting against Hadi forces and have seized a lot of military bases and key buildings (such as the Presidential Palace in Aden).
Houthis never fired any missiles against Saudi Arabia before KSA invaded Yemen to attack Houthis (committing war crimes, creating the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today according to the UN, killing tens of thousands of civilians, etc). KSA think Houthis are an Iranian proxy and Hadi was a Saudi puppet, so they prefer to have Hadi regime in Yemen.
Iran certainly gives Houthis some element of support, but the idea that Iran controls the Houthis or something is simply Saudi paranoia/propaganda. Indeed, in 2014 when the Houthis were rebelling against the Hadi regime to hold new elections, Iran advised the Houthis against moving into Sana'a (the capital), but the Houthis ignored Iran and did it anyway.
Now the Houthis have a wide range of missiles and drones and have shown an ability to strike targets 1200km into Saudi Arabia. Their traditional stronghold homeland in North Yemen is very large and mountainous and it is like the Taliban in Afghanistan; they cannot be totally defeated. UAE has pulled most of its forces out of Yemen already because they don't want to fight Houthis any more, they just want to gain influence with STC proxies.
credits:
@Battle of Waterloo