Protect Displaced Families on the Northern Yemen Front

Yemeni rebels, Zaidi Shiites known for their allegiance to the Houthi clan, continue battling the Yemen government over a dispute which began about what level of power Zaidi Shiite clerics were to have in government. After weeks of fighting which caused at least 150,000 people to flee for their safety in and around Saada, northern Yemen, the conflict then spilled over into Saudi Arabia last week.

Recently I got a note from an aid agency representative working there illuminating how desperate the situation has become. With the rapid Saudi military response, the Houthu rebels apparently have retreated back into Yemen. But now Saudi defense asserts its right to continue fighting against the Houthi militia, into Yemen in alliance with the Yemeni government, until the rebels remain outside of a border buffer region...

The US may try to stay out of this conflict but it has long been a supporter of the Saudi and Yemeni governments in their quests to counter terrorism and militant groups like the Houthis. Most likely, the US government will play a key role in providing funding for aid to the displaced.

"I was recently deployed on an emergency mission to deal with the evolving situation in the north," my colleague tells me. "Displacement which is caused due to the sixth war between the government and Al Houthi rebels, a Shia group in Sa'ada governorate. We have over 150,000 internally displaced persons who moved south to Amran and Hajjah governorates and we are tying to set up the camps, expand our assistance in the rural and urban places, cause not all IDPs are in the camps... which is good as camps are the last resort and the least preferred option from the protection point of view. Few days ago the violence and conflict escalated and spilled over in to Saudi Arabia, causing more displacement so we have new arrivals in Amran and Hajjah governorates..."

For more, see "Saudis' Efforts to Swat Rebels From Yemen Risk Inflaming Larger Conflict," by Robert F. Worth at The New York Times as well as a call for support from the International Committee of the Red Cross. To contribute to the aid response (this will become my refrain here) please read the updates and choose from the list of aid agencies which are on the ground at Reuters Alertnet.

By the way, for those seeking to understand the role of Islam in this conflict, here's a quick specification. Islam's two largest branches overlap in this region. The population of Saudi Arabia and Yemen, as well as the governments which are US allies, are overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim. While the Saudi government is very conservative Sunni Wahhabi, the Yemeni government is Sunni moderate and secular in some respects. There do persist some pockets of Sunni Salafi extremism a la Al Qaeda in Yemen, but to be clear this is not directly related to the rebellion in the north.

As the NY Times story above explains, the Houthi rebels are Zaidi Shiite, which is not only in disagreement with Sunni and Salafi practice, but is also distinct from broader Shiism like that prevalent in Iran. If Iran which is friendly to the Zaidis were to see this as the Saudis, Yemenis, and by proxy the US ganging up against this small rebel group, it may - may, but not necessarily- choose to back them up.

[Photo: Yemen market, Ai@ce: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aiace/351528619/.]