Nawar Fakhry Ezzi Since the beginning of the Saudi-led coalition airstrikes, Operation Decisive Storm, against the Houthis in Yemen on March 26, some international analysts have considered it to be a sectarian war and predicted that it would become the fuse that ignites a civil war between Sunni and Shia all over the Middle East. The underlying assumption is that sectarian zeal was the reason behind Decisive Storm while in actuality it is “really a war to defend the legitimate government of Yemen and to protect the Yemeni people from being taken over by a radical militant group that is aligned with Iran and Hezbollah” as Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Adel Al-Jubeir stated during an interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN. This decision has not been a hasty one; peaceful negotiations were attempted to avoid bloodshed, but as Ambassador Al-Jubeir further explained, “every time agreements were reached, the Houthis reneged on every single one of them – 67 agreements to be precise” during a conflict that has lasted over a decade. The Houthis were included in Saudi Arabia's list of terrorist organizations along with Hezbollah, Al-Qaeda, Daesh (the self-proclaimed IS), and Muslim Brotherhood. What is common between these groups is terrorism rather than their sect. Saudi Arabia has joined the international coalition against Daesh and Al-Qaeda and has now responded to the request of the Yemeni people to help save them from anarchy by leading a long-waited Arab and Islamic coalition, which includes more than 10 countries supported by most of the Islamic world and many Western countries. This war is to prevent an imminent threat to Saudi Arabia as well as neighboring countries and to end the sectarian charade played by the Houthis and orchestrated by Iran whose motivation is to gain Persian political power under the claim of being the "savior" of Shia. Shia Muslims whether Zaidi, Imami or Ismaeli are our brothers and sisters who live amongst us in most of the Gulf countries not only in Yemen. Treating them equally and accepting them is their right, which can be achieved through negotiations and dialogue. We are Arabs and Muslims who belong to the same land and speak the same language; if people seek foreign assistance, it will lead to chaos and eventually make them an oppressed ethnic minority under the rule of a foreign power. When identifying Houthis, it is important to note that they are a radical militant group, who happen to be Zaidi Shia. Accordingly, all Houthis are Zaidi Shia, but not all Zaidi Shia are Houthis as Zaidi Shia constitutes more than 30 percent of the Yemeni population. Moreover, Zaidi religious scholars have warned their followers against following Houthis because they contradict the Zaidi sect and are influenced by the Imami Shia. What proves that their hunger for power is their ulterior motivation is their aggression against Sunnis as well as Shias. Mohammed Azzan who is a Zaidi and was one of the moderate founders of the movement of "Believing Youth", reported that they attacked Sunni as well as Shia mosques assaulting worshippers and removing preachers they did not approve of including himself. Houthi is the radical offshoot of the "Believing Youth", which was founded in 1992 as a theological movement by a Zaidi group and was supported by the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh financially allowing them to open schools and devise curriculums. They started out as a relatively open-minded movement with a focus on progressive education and religious diversity. Hussein Badreddin Al-Houthi was one of the members, but his ideology leaned toward intolerance and radicalism, which ranged from blind adherence to old thoughts and intellectual isolation to calling for Jihad and armed resistance. His ideology was reinforced and further popularized after the American invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, which drove a wedge between Hussein Al-Houthi and the moderate leaders of the "Believing Youth". The movement started an armed conflict with the Yemeni government in 2004 and its name became official when it founder, Hussein Badreddin Al-Houthi, was killed in the same year and was succeeded by his brother Abdulmalik Al-Houthi. The conflict continued through 2011 when the rise of the revolutions in the Arab world provided the Houthis with the legitimacy they needed by joining the opposition leading to the coup against Ali Abdullah Saleh. Claiming to be the defenders of the oppressed Shia minority in Yemen helped them to gain more support from Yemeni Shia and provided them with financial support from Iran. This war is for Yemen not against them. There are around four million Yemenis living in Saudi Arabia and many prominent Saudi families are originally from Yemen. We are integrated through religion, marriage and friendship. If this war had not happened, the chaos caused by the Houthis would have created fertile soil for recruiting the youth of the region for Daesh as well as for Al-Qaeda as their cells are present in Yemen. This could have led to a bloodbath putting Yemenis as well as the whole Gulf region at risk. It is true that war is never an easy choice as collateral damage is bound to happen, but efforts are being made by the coalition forces to protect civilians as much as possible by issuing evacuation warnings to those who live in the regions where the airstrikes are launched. Nobody should lose sight of the implications of Decisive Storm; this war is about Arab and Muslim unity, asserting political power, and protecting the soil and people of Saudi Arabia and neighboring countries. Iran as well as the rest of the world now realizes that Saudi Arabia is a force to be reckoned with. We are capable of protecting our borders and nobody should mistake our patience for passivity or weakness. The writer can be reached at [email protected]
