Destruction of a minaret in the recent fighting at Sa’da, Yemen

by Hakim Almasmari, Yemen Post, August 31, 2009

With every day that passes, we come close to believe that the war in Sa’ada is a Saudi-Iranian war, not a Yemeni one.
Both foreign countries are desperate for more regional power while both are also worried of losing greatly. Saudi Arabia does not want Houthis controlling northern parts of Yemen for one main reason; southern Saudi has a large number of Shiite’s which could make them turn against their country as well. Saudi also fears that Shiite’s already have a militant group in the north of Arabia (Hezbollah), and are now looking for one in the south of Arabia (Houthis). Saudi Arabia paid billions of dollars to keep Hezbollah out of rule in Lebanon and somewhat came out victorious for the meantime, and is doing the same in Yemen.

On the other hand, Iran is trying to expand its Persian Empire even further after great success in Iraq, Lebanon, Bahrain, and not mention keeping the estimated 15 million Sunni Iranians in check and with no power whatsoever. The famous Hezbollah satellite channel Al-A’lam has been reporting news about Houthi successes around the hour, and as if it was a Houthi channel. Houthis have until now managed to get strong media attention, which in result makes its struggle international after it was a local problem for more than six years.

Yemenis are dying for the sake of foreign agendas. Killing each other to please an outside party is what both Houthis and the government have been doing over the last six years. Is a Yemeni citizen so cheap in front of its leaders?

Over 5000 people have died in the ongoing war in Sa’ada, 45,000 have been injured and more than 200,000 displaced and living in tents, eating charity food, and sleeping through cold nights.
Saudis and Iranians have convinced the Yemeni government and Houthis to fight each other for nothing.

For photographs of the damage in Sa‘da, Yemen, click here.