It looks like there is a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia being fought in Yemen. And Iran’s proxies are winning.
The Iran-backed ethnic Houthis that captured and occupied Yemen’s capital city Sanaa last year are following up from Friday’s announce military mobilization have seized much of the city of Taiz and the surrounding province. They’ve taken control of the airport and security and intelligence buildings in Taiz, and have set up checkpoints in the area.
Yemen’s internationally recognized president Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi was forced last month to flee Sanaa, which is Yemen’s largest city and is in in the north of Yemen, to Aden, which is Yemen’s second largest city, and is a port city in the south of Yemen. Taiz is Yemen’s third largest city, and it’s located about halfway between Sanaa and Aden, so it’s a critical waypoint on the Houthis’ planned assault on Hadi’s forces in Aden.
The Houthis have been using Yemen’s air force for bombing strikes on Aden every day since Thursday. Now that the Houthis have control of Taiz airport, it’s expected that further air strikes will be launched from there.
It now seems unavoidable that within the next few days there will be a sectarian civil war between the Shia Houthis versus Hadi’s Sunni tribal militias. This will be further complicated by the presence in Yemen of two Sunni terrorist groups, the Islamic State / of Iraq and Syria (IS or ISIS or ISIL or Daesh) and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
The Houthis are now in control of the army and air force, and they’re backed by Iran which is suspected of shipping additional weapons to them. Saudi Arabia and the other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have expressed deep dismay at the Shia takeover of Yemen, but it remains to be seen whether they take any military action to counter it. If they do, then the result will be a sectarian proxy war in Yemen between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The National (UAE) and CNN and AFP and AP
Meanwhile, the US has been forced to retreat and evacuate Al Anad air base.