Yemen has long been on the United States radar as far as the War on Terror is concerned. President Obama ordered a 2011 hit on Anwar al-Awlaki an American who was placed on a terror-watch list, partially due to his work with the Al Qaeda funded magazine Inspire.
But it’s not Al Qaeda that is being attacked this time nor is it the U.S. doing the attacking, this time it is Saudi Arabia against the Houthi rebels.
The Houthi rebels ousted the Yemenese president attacking the presidential mansion and taking over the capital of Sana in September 2014. So why would the Sauds feel the need to involve themselves it was seemingly is a civil war? In short: religion.
The Houthi rebels are Shiites and the Sauds are Sunni. To complicate matters more the rebels are thought to be funded by the Shiite power-house nation of Iran. Political analysists have long pointed to the rivalry between the two nations of Saudi Arabia and Iran; each vying for power in the Muslim world.
It is important to note that the Islamic State, or ISIS/ISIL is a Sunni group with strong religious ties to their ideaological mother-nation of Saudi Arabia. Iranian armed forces have been routing the extremist army in recent weeks, bringing to light the very religious nature of any conflict that takes place in the war-torn Middle-East.
The President of Yemen has fled his nation and sought Saudi Arabia for shelter.
