Middle East Flashpoint

From the Times:

Iran warned Saudi Arabia yesterday not to become further entangled in supporting the Yemen Government’s drive to put down Shia Muslim rebels.

After a week of Saudi air raids and the imposition of a naval blockade by Riyadh to prevent weapons from reaching the insurgents, Iran issued comments that are certain to escalate tensions between the regional powers.

“Those who pour oil on the fire must know that they will not be spared from the smoke that billows,” said Manouchehr Mottaki, the Iranian Foreign Minister, in a clear warning to Saudi Arabia — which attacked Huthi rebels after they took control of a Saudi border town last week.

Iran is a majority Shia Muslim country and supports Shia groups across the region, particularly in Lebanon and Iraq, while Saudi Arabia is a Sunni Muslim state.

Yemen has become a flashpoint in the struggle between two very different theocracies: Shia Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia. Here's Olivier Guitta in Asian Times:

A new front on the war against radical Islam is on fire. While one immediately thinks of Afghanistan or Iraq, the flashpoint now is Yemen, which has become a haven for al-Qaeda fighters from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq and has also come under attack from Iran-backed Houthi rebels. A new element of this equation is the entry of Saudi Arabia, pitting it against Iran.

The conflict between the central government of Yemen and the Zaidite - a Shi'ite sect - Houthi rebels has been going on intermittently since 2004. Since August, the intensity of the fighting has risen as a result of regional players becoming involved behind the scenes.

While Yemen is supported by Saudi Arabia, the Houthis are backed by Iran, which has been more aggressive in the past few months in supporting and financing its allies. It has also mounted a campaign to convert people to Shi'ism, targeting several tribes, especially in the Hadramuth region.

See also here, on "the next Somalia", and here, on Iran's real target.

Comments

[Bob-B]

I wonder which side the average western Islamist supports. Or are they split? It would be good if both sides could lose.