Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Badreddin al-Houthi, head of the Zaidi Shia sect, launched an uprising against the Yemeni
government. Most of the fighting has taken place in Sa'dah Governorate in northwestern Yemen
although some of the fighting spread to neighbouring governorates Hajjah, 'Amran, al-Jawf and the
Saudi province of Jizan.
The Yemeni government alleged that the Houthis were seeking to overthrow it and to implement
Shareligious law. The rebels counter that they are "defending their community against
discrimination" and government aggression.[66] The Yemeni government has accused Iran of directing
and financing the insurgency.[67]
In August 2009, the Yemeni army launched a fresh offensive against the Houthis in the northern
Sa'ada province. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced by the fighting. The conflict took
on an international dimension on 4 November 2009 as clashes broke out between the northern
rebels and Saudi security forces along the two countries' common border and Saudis launched an
anti-Houthi offensive. The rebels accuse Saudi Arabia of supporting the Yemeni government in
attacks against them. The Saudi government denied this.[68] Houthi leaders claim that United
States involvement in the war started on 14 December 2009 when the US launched 28 air raids. [9]
General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar commanded the Yemeni security forces during the conflict and led all
the government offensives from 2004 until 2011, when he resigned his post to defend protesters
during theYemeni Revolution.[69]
A Houthi power grab in Sana'a escalated on 20 January 2015, the rebels attacked the president's
residence and swept into the presidential palace. President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi was inside
the residence as it came under "heavy shelling" for a half-hour, but he was unharmed and protected
by guards, according to Information Minister Nadia al-Sakkaf. Presidential guards surrendered the
residence after being assured that Hadi could safely evacuate. The U.N. Security Council called an
emergency meeting about the unfolding events. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki
Moon expressed concern over the "deteriorating situation" in Yemen and urged all sides to cease
hostilities.[70][71] On 22 January, President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and Prime Minister Khaled
Bahah tendered their resignations to parliament, which reportedly refused to accept them. [72]
In an interview with Yemen Times, Hussein Al-Bukhari, a Houthi insider said that Houthi's preferable
political system is a republic with elections where women can also hold political positions, and that
they do not seek to form a Shia cleric-led government after the model of Islamic Republic of Iran for
"we cannot apply this system in Yemen because the followers of the Shafi [Sunni] doctrine are bigger
in number than the Zaydis [Shia]."[76]
The Saudi and Yemeni governments both accuse Iran of helping the Houthis. Iran, they say,
has secretly landed arms on the Red Sea coast. In October, 2009, Yemens government said its
navy intercepted an arms-carrying Iranian vessel. Yemens state-controlled press claims Houthi
rebels have been trained in an Iranian-run camp across the Red Sea in Eritrea. Yemens
president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, says members of Lebanons Iran-backed Hezbollah militia are
teaching them. The Yemeni authorities also darkly note that the Houthis' long-time leader,
Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, who died in battle in 2004, used to visit Qom, one of Shia Islam's
holiest places.[188] None of these accusations have yet been borne out by independent observers
and the Iranians deny any involvement.
Saudi-owned Al Arabiya claimed that "well-informed sources" are saying that "the president
of the former South Yemen (Ali Salim al-Bidh) conducted a secret visit to the Lebanese
capital Beirut last October (2009), and tried to contact figures close to Hezbollah aiming to win
its support for the Houthi rebels, and for South (Yemen's) secession." The sources added that
those Hezbollah-allied figures "informed al-Bidh that the party's top officials do not want to meet
with him and that they do not approve the attribution of Hezbollah's name with what is happening
in Yemen, or to appear as supporting to any rebellion." Ibrahim al-Mussawi, Head of Hezbollah's
Media Unit, told Alarabiya.net that his party denies the report about an alleged secret visit. [189]
High-ranking officials from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard were said to have secretly met
with Houthi rebels and Hezbollah in Yemen to coordinate joint military operations against Saudi
positions along the border. Pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat daily said Arab and Egyptian sources
uncovered that a number of intelligence services in the region have learned of the three-way
meeting which also aimed at developing a plan to escalate the military situation along the SaudiYemeni border. It said the high-level meeting which took place in November, 2009 was the most
prominent evidence of "direct Iranian involvement" in the support of Houthi rebels financially,
militarily and logistically.[190]
Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi on 13 December 2009 urged Iran to crack down
on Iranian groups he accused of aiding Houthi rebels in northern Yemen and held Iran's
government partly to blame. He said: "Religious (Shiite) circles and groups in Iran are providing
aid to the Huthis," However, Iran has repeatedly denied such accusations. [191]
designed to ensure that India cannot threaten Pakistan with impunity from
the Nicobar and Andaman Islands or its long-range nuclear submarines.
Similarly, the deployment of nuclear-capable tactical missiles was in direct
response to India`s growing and advanced military deployments and
repeated threats to attack Pakistan. (It is similar to Nato`s deployment of
battlefield nuclear weapons during the Cold War against the larger
conventional forces of the Soviet Union.) The assertion that Pakistan is
`descending into chaos` is palpably false. Today, the politics of the street is
over; the economy has stabilised, and a concerted civil-military campaign is
under way to combat TTP terrorism and the Baloch insurgents, with the
cooperation of the new Afghan government.
(Meanwhile, 17 insurgencies simmer within India, unremarked by the
Western media.) The potentially disastrous consequences of the IndiaPakistan nuclear and military stand-off cannot be left to be debated in the
news media. But India refuses to discuss this seriously.
Under the circumstances, it would be wise for Pakistan to ask the US: if India
indeed threatens to launch an attack against Pakistan after a `terrorist`
incident, will the US intervene to prevent the conflict, or to prevent Pakistan
from resorting to nuclear deterrence? The central question which Pakistan
must pose to the world is: if the aim is to prevent a South Asian catastrophe,
is it not better for the world powers to promote an equitable solution to the
Kashmir dispute and an agreement on mutual military restraint between
Pakistan and India? The writer is a former Pakistan ambassador to the UN.