Saudi Arabia and GCC allies bombing Yemen

[Famous Mortimer]

Interesting blog post about the Sunni/Shiite divide in Yemen:

http://alshamahi.com/2014/02/19/yemen-is-more-nuanced-than-sunni-shia/

A MUST READ!

Shiite Muslim Brotherhood.

[swl]

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http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/03/sisi-arab-nations-create-joint-military-force-150329103508213.html

[Famous Mortimer]

It's actually a bit surprising that Saudi Arabia has come down this hard in favor of the government.

Previously, they had had pretty decent ties with the Zaidis, despite them being Shiites. They backed the Zaidi monarchy against Nasserites during the North Yemen Civil War in the '60s.

Additionally, it was the Saudis themselves who made the initial Houthi capture of Sanaa possible, when they withdrew their support for the al-Ahmar led Hashid tribal confederation over their close relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Not that I think they should be backing the Houthis, more that I don't see any reason for them to (strongly) intervene for either side.

I mean, I get that it's opposing Iranian influence but in a way, the invasion pushed the Houthi more into Iran's orbit when the Saudis could have just made diplomatic overtures.

[politicus]

After the fall of the Yemeni government the Saudis tried to capitalize on the Houthis need for political and financial support to re-establish their influence in the country. But because Iran tried to fill that support gap too Yemen became a battleground for the two rivals.

If the Houthis successfully consolidate their power in Yemen (without being dependent on Saudi aid) the southern Saudi provinces of Jizan and Najran will become vulnerable to Houthi expansion in the long run because they got a significant Shiite Ismaili populations. The Iranians would of course love this - influencing their support for the Zaidis. As soon as Iran got in for real, Saudi-Arabia had to fight the Houthis.

[Famous Mortimer]

Within the last 24 hours, President Hadi has finally fired Ahmed Saleh, son of former President Saleh, who was Yemeni ambassador to the UAE (having been demoted from head of the Republican Guard, ie most of the army). Saleh the younger had been using his position to raise money for the Houthis from the Gulf states, showing again just how much double dealing is going on in this conflict.

[Famous Mortimer]

Probably because Oman isn't Sunni. They're their own weird branch of Islam called Ibadi. They aren't Shiites but they probably sympathize with the Yemeni Shiites who are particularly heterodox.

Ibadis are neither Sunni nor Shia, actually predating the split. They have evolved from the Khawarij movement, though they came a long way from their fanaticism.

They're a dominant school of Islam in Oman and Zanzibar and also have some limited presence in severeal of North African countries.

Fun fact: According to unsourced Wikipedia article, the president of the Islamist rebel government in Libya is an Ibadi.

[Simfan34]

Ismalis? They're not Nizaris, are they?