Houthis vs al-Qaeda: Yemen’s new sectarian war?

After breezing into Sana’a last month and seizing a vital port city on the Red Sea and several other strategic cities, Yemen’s Houthi rebels seemed like an unstoppable force. 

But in recent days, the group's progress has stalled. A fierce, and increasingly sectarian battle with al-Qaeda militants, backed by Sunni tribes in Yemen’s south, may be the Houthis’ undoing. 

Hailing from the arid mountains of north Yemen the Houthis stunned Yemenis last month when they seized the capital and forced president Hadi to form a new government and sack the Prime Minister.

In recent weeks, the Houthis have pushed south towards Bab al-Mandab, one of the most sensitive straits for oil and traffic in the region and north, up to border with Saudi Arabia.

However, when the group entered the central province of al-Bayda last week, they met stiff resistance from tribesmen and al-Qaeda militants who say they are fighting the Houthis, most of whom are Zaydi Shiite, in a “sectarian war.”

With AK47s held high, hundreds of tribesmen in Bayda city marched into the streets on Sunday, demanding that Yemen’s armed forces step in to halt Houthi incursions. 

Some members of al-Qaeda were also present in the protest, according to Majed Bin Karout, a local journalist who covered the demonstration.

"People here are armed and ready to defend their territories if they [the Houthis] advance further into the province," said Saleh al-Rassas, the Sunni deputy governor of Bayda province. “Yemeni tribesmen are now siding with al-Qaeda in a bid to expel the Houthis." 

Houthis make up 30 percent of the population, but while sectarian divisions have ravaged much of the Middle East in recent years, Yemen until now has seemed relatively impervious to the tensions. 

But recent confrontations between the Houthis and Sunni tribes in Bayda could ruin centuries of peaceful coexistence between the two sects in Yemen. 

Despite engaging in six sporadic wars with the Houthis, former president Saleh’s bombardment of the rebels from 2004 to 2010 were not seen as sectarian since Saleh was sharing the same Zaydi sect with the Houthis.

Al-Qaeda hotbed 

For years, Bayda has been a hotbed of al-Qaeda and is seen as a haven for the militant group. 

Despite a US drone programme - or, according to some analysts, because of it - al-Qaeda has been able to thrive, embedding itself amongst local communities and exploiting the anger of relatives of civilian victims killed mistakenly by drones attacks, by offering them a means to exact revenge.

More than 2,400 people have been killed by drone strikes in Yemen in the last five years, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. Bayda has seen its fair share of the fighting.

In early 2012, al-Qaeda briefly seized control of one of the largest towns in Bayda known as Rada'a. Today, Rada’a is the heart of a raging battle between the Houthis and al-Qaeda where ongoing clashes have seen dozens killed.

“Dead bodies are just strewn in the streets and valleys. No one can enter the areas to retrieve bodies," the deputy-governor al-Rassas, said.

Local links, bragging

The alignment of interests between al-Qaeda and local tribesmen in Bayda is, according to al-Qaeda experts, strengthening al-Qaeda’s presence.

“Tribesmen have no other options but to ally themselves with al-Qaeda to protect their province from Houthis," al-Rassas said.

The leaders of Al-Dhahab, one of the most prominent tribes in the province, openly brags about its relations with al-Qaeda. The tribe has lost many of its leaders in previous clashes with army troops or US drones.

Al-Dhahab tribe gained an unsavoury reputation in the west when a daughter of one of its leaders married Anwar al-Awlaki, the young US-born cleric who was assassinated by a US drone strike in September 2011.

The Houthis have crowed over their ability to defeat al-Qaeda in Yemen, saying that their fighters are more effective than a decade of US drones strikes.

“Dozens of armed men did what thousands of troops and machines could not do in years,” said Ali al-Bikhiti, a spokesperson for the Houthis.

"Eight pickup trucks and 65 armed men were more effective and decisive on the battle against al-Qaeda than US drones, the Yemeni army, police and $3bn spent on the latest battles with Al Qaeda," he said in a post on his Facebook page.

Others are more sceptical about the Houthis ability to push back al-Qaeda.

"The Houthis did not achieve any considerable gains in their fighting with al-Qaeda. On the contrary, they lost tens of their operatives in the fighting,” said Hamoud al-Hitar, an ex-minister who defected during the 2011 protests against former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. 

Others point out that the Houthis swift victories have occurred only in provinces where the Zaydi Shiite sect, to which the group adheres, holds sway.

In Sunni-dominated provinces like Bayda, Houthis expansion could be slowed or even stopped.

Sectarian warfare or not?

As the conflict spirals out of control Yemenis are in disagreement over whether this should be deemed ‘sectarian’ or not.

Al-Hitar says the fight became sectarian the moment Houthis started targeting factions that have different religious views form them such as Salafis, al-Qaeda and the Sunni-dominated Muslim Brotherhood party, al-Islah.

"The Houthis label their opponents Islamic State jihadists," he said. 

Al Hitar fears that the battle between al-Qaeda and the Houthis could spiral, pulling larger parts of the population into a wider sectarian war.

"Fighting al-Qaeda cannot be done by entrusting militias like the Houthis. The state should take responsibility,” said Hitar. “In Iraq, sectarian confrontation erupted when the government left Shia militias to confront al-Qaeda." 

Others argue that the current conflict is a political one, driven by the Houthis desire to consolidate power and capture new parts of Yemen.

"This is not a sectarian war. It is an extension of Houthi appetite for controlling new cities. If they are targeting the Sunnis, they would have purged them from the capital too," al-Rassas said.