ID :
94058
Thu, 12/10/2009 - 02:42
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/94058
The shortlink copeid
Is another wound opening up?
TEHRAN, Dec. 9 (MNA) -- While Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine are bleeding, another wound is being opened up, this time in Yemen.
Unfortunately, all the sides are responsible for the exacerbation of the situation in Yemen, to various degrees: the Yemeni government, which has marginalized the Houthi Shia community, which constitutes over 30 percent of the country’s population of 23 million; the Houthi rebels, who resorted to violence to restore their rights; and Saudi Arabia, which is directly involved in the Yemen conflict.
None of the approaches taken by the Yemeni government and the Houthi rebels are conducive to a desirable result. They will only drain the resources of the poor Yemeni nation, already beset with turmoil and a growing Al-Qaeda threat.
The Saudi military intervention is an adventurist move that may set off a guerrilla war whose fires will flare for many years to come and draw Saudi Arabia into a quagmire in a mountainous tribal area.
History provides a good example. Saudi Arabia funded extremist groups in Afghanistan and still, two decades since the withdrawal of the Soviet army from the country, the flames of war in Afghanistan are overwhelming the allies of Saudi Arabia.
And a similar scenario is emerging in Yemen.
The armed conflict began five years in the northwestern part of the country, with perhaps a few hundred militants fighting the central government, but they have grown and gained allies over the years.
Saudi Arabia has only created animosity through its decision to launch a military offensive against the Houthis. There are horrific reports of Yemeni villages being targeted with deadly phosphorous bombs.
Saudi Arabia, as the home of Islam’s holiest sites, is expected to serve as an example for the Islamic world by making efforts to foster reconciliation between hostile sides, including in the conflict between the Houthis and Yemen’s central government, rather than throwing fuel on the fire.
Unfortunately, wicked hands are at work, attempting to turn the crisis in Yemen into a Sunni-Shia conflict, even though religious scholars say the Zaidi school of Shiaism, which the Houthis follow, is doctrinally closer to Sunnism than to mainstream Twelver Jafari Shiaism.
Another regional conflict will only divert attention from the Palestine issue, which will only benefit the common enemy, Israel.
So let’s stop opening new wounds in the region and make efforts to heal the wound in Yemen.
Unfortunately, all the sides are responsible for the exacerbation of the situation in Yemen, to various degrees: the Yemeni government, which has marginalized the Houthi Shia community, which constitutes over 30 percent of the country’s population of 23 million; the Houthi rebels, who resorted to violence to restore their rights; and Saudi Arabia, which is directly involved in the Yemen conflict.
None of the approaches taken by the Yemeni government and the Houthi rebels are conducive to a desirable result. They will only drain the resources of the poor Yemeni nation, already beset with turmoil and a growing Al-Qaeda threat.
The Saudi military intervention is an adventurist move that may set off a guerrilla war whose fires will flare for many years to come and draw Saudi Arabia into a quagmire in a mountainous tribal area.
History provides a good example. Saudi Arabia funded extremist groups in Afghanistan and still, two decades since the withdrawal of the Soviet army from the country, the flames of war in Afghanistan are overwhelming the allies of Saudi Arabia.
And a similar scenario is emerging in Yemen.
The armed conflict began five years in the northwestern part of the country, with perhaps a few hundred militants fighting the central government, but they have grown and gained allies over the years.
Saudi Arabia has only created animosity through its decision to launch a military offensive against the Houthis. There are horrific reports of Yemeni villages being targeted with deadly phosphorous bombs.
Saudi Arabia, as the home of Islam’s holiest sites, is expected to serve as an example for the Islamic world by making efforts to foster reconciliation between hostile sides, including in the conflict between the Houthis and Yemen’s central government, rather than throwing fuel on the fire.
Unfortunately, wicked hands are at work, attempting to turn the crisis in Yemen into a Sunni-Shia conflict, even though religious scholars say the Zaidi school of Shiaism, which the Houthis follow, is doctrinally closer to Sunnism than to mainstream Twelver Jafari Shiaism.
Another regional conflict will only divert attention from the Palestine issue, which will only benefit the common enemy, Israel.
So let’s stop opening new wounds in the region and make efforts to heal the wound in Yemen.
