For almost two weeks, an international coalition with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, as well as Egypt, Jordan and Sudan, has been conducting a military operation in Yemen against supporters of Ansar Allah (Houthis), who control most of the country. Yesterday information appeared that Houthis have declared their readiness to negotiate if the coalition ceases the air strikes on their positions, but they still oppose the return of President Mansour Hadi in Yemen.
The director of the Research Center (University) of the MFA of Russia, Andrey Kazantsev, told Vestnik Kavkaza that the events in Yemen fit into the logic of what is now called a "great Sunni-Shiite war." "In the Middle East it is a widespread opposition between Sunnis and Shiites on all fronts. The opposing sides are local ethnic communities, and the states, which are the leaders of the Sunni world (Saudi Arabia, Qatar) and the Shiite world (Iran)."
According to Kazantsev, this confrontation leads to civil wars, which we have already seen in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. «Victories of Islamic State are largely due to the fact that it has the support of the Sunni population in Iraq. In turn, Iran supports the Shiite government. Events in Yemen also began against the background of opposition between Shiite and Sunni groups. Radical extremist structures always win from these kind of conflicts. In the case of Syria and Iraq, Islamic State became such a structure," Kazantsev said.
According to the expert, "Yemen had been infiltrated by al-Qaeda for a long time. This kind of confrontation between different groups within the Islamic world, unfortunately, leads to the fact that they form a "failed state", and as a result these kinds of extremist groups are trying to infiltrate there."
