Truly, it is a terrifying development. The great religious fissure between Sunni and Shia Muslims that dominates the Middle East has erupted into open conflict  in Yemen, the region’s poorest country, threatening to engulf the entire area in a wider war. In a dramatic escalation of the stakes, a Sunni coalition of Arab states led by Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes against Iran-backed Shia Houthi rebels who have swept south through the country. As Yemen veered towards political disintegration, the conflict exploded into a region-wide crisis that could have far-reaching and unpredictable international consequences. Scroll down for video. Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes against Iran-backed Shia Houthi rebels, pictured people  gather at the site of an explosion near Sana'a Airport. Brent crude oil prices increased by 6 per cent, for example, since many of the world’s oil shipments pass through or past the Bab el-Mandab Strait linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden. But the far more pressing concern is whether we are now seeing a proxy war in Yemen between its neighbour Saudi Arabia, the leading Sunni power, and Iran, the leading Shia power, explode into a regional conflict that could sweep us all up in its wake. Saudi warplanes targeted Houthi positions in the country’s capital Sana’a killing 18 civilians and injuring many more. Britain and America supported the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen as the coalition deployed 100 fighter jets and amassed 150,000 soldiers to fight in the region. Another nine Sunni states joined the offensive, including the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar, pledging to send aircraft to bomb targets, with Egypt deploying ships. Anticipating the worsening situation, British elite soldiers — in Yemen to train government troops to fight Al Qaeda, which has established its most dangerous branch in the country — pulled out last Friday. This followed a decision by the U .S. to evacuate their remaining military personnel as the country teetered on the brink of civil war between the internationally recognised government of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and the Houthi rebels. As Western forces left, the rebels — trained, armed and funded by Iran — made further advances in the south of the country. The Yemeni president, who is backed by the U.N., was forced to flee his palace in the former British colonial port of Aden on the southern coast and there were reports last night that he had left by boat for the Saudi capital, Riyadh. This week, Aden — once one of the British Empire’s most important ports for ships heading to imperial India, and a haven of stability patrolled by officers in pith helmets and colonial shorts — was raked with the sound of gunfire. Just 35 miles to the north, Shia rebels had seized Al Anad air base, which until recently had been used by American counter-terrorism forces to fight terrorists. Yemen sits on the extreme end of the Arabian peninsula, with Saudi Arabia to the north — where the 150,000 Saudi troops are now amassing on its border. An armed member of Houthi militia stands over the rubble of houses which were allegedly destroyed by a Saudi air strike in Sana'a, Yemen. A fierce, tribal society, Yemen has long been torn apart by tribal conflicts. Governing the country has been compared with dancing on the heads of snakes. The Houthis — who belong to a relatively obscure branch of Shia Islam — were largely confined to the north of the country and were contained by the country’s longtime president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, a wily Arab strongman, until he was overthrown in the course of the Arab Spring in 2011. President Hadi, his weaker successor, never managed to reassert central control, and in September the Houthis took control of the capital Sana’a. In the vacuum created by President Hadi’s weak leadership, Iran saw the opportunity to taunt its old rival by backing the Houthis and establishing its influence in the Saudis’ backyard. But the recent Houthi advances have proved too much for Saudi, whose primary aim is to re-establish order in Yemen. It amassed a formidable coalition — Egypt, Jordan, Sudan, Morocco, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Egypt — of Sunni-led states and sent in its fighter jets to send a powerful message to Iran: stop meddling in Arab affairs. The Saudis also regard Iran’s influence in Yemen as evidence of a much larger drive by Shia Iran for regional dominance. They claim that Iran is using armed proxies to take over other states. Nothing happens in Lebanon, for instance, without the approval of the Iranian-backed Shia militia Hizbollah, which also provides Syria’s beleaguered President Assad with his light infantry. Houthi fighters manning a heavy machine gun fixed on the back of a pick-up guard a rally protesting Saudi-led airstrikes. For its part, Iran has condemned the air strikes. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said the country ‘considers this action a dangerous step’, adding that military action would complicate and worsen the crisis in Yemen. ‘This invasion will bear no result but expansion of terrorism and extremism throughout the whole region,’ she said. And the truth is that she may well be right. Yemen has a chronic terrorism problem, simply because such a failed state is an ideal operating ground for terrorists. Yemen is not only home to the most tactically lethal branch of Al Qaeda but now ISIS has a foothold there too. On March 20 four ISIS suicide bombers killed 137 Shia outside their mosques in Sana’a. Before the U.S. military moved out of the country, they were allowed to launch drone strikes on Al Qaeda. But now, in their absence, terrorists are no longer being targeted so effectively, and will only flourish as a result. To make matters still more precarious for the West in its fight against terror, Iran and the Shia militias it backs are proving an increasingly vital component of the ground war against ISIS in Iraq, with Iranian commanders directing them and supplying them too. This means the West is walking on diplomatic eggshells. What if Iran took over much of Iraq, whose government and population is largely Shia as well? Would the Saudis stand for that? And if a Shia Houthi government succeeds in Yemen, then wouldn’t Saudi Arabia’s own downtrodden Shia population, some 10-15 per cent of them in the kingdom’s oil-rich Eastern Province, want some independence? The western response to this chaos is understandably hesitant. Washington is unsure whether Iranian strategy is really to establish proxy Shia governments all over the region or simply to use the Houthi in Yemen to taunt Saudi Arabia and pacify the country’s own hardliners. We now have a bizarre — and potentially very dangerous — situation in which U.S. warplanes are providing air cover for Iranian-backed militias in Iraq in a joint effort against ISIS, while 1,200 miles to the south in Yemen, the Americans are helping Saudi pilots bomb Shia insurgents supported by Iran. So the U.S. is bombing Iran’s enemies in one country, while helping to bomb its allies in another. On top of all this, American and Iranian diplomats are resuming their talks about how to restrain Tehran’s nuclear programme. Such is the chaotic and complex nature of affairs in the Middle East. And as the Saudis pledge to resolve their own local difficulty, we can only hold our breath.

Write highlights for this article.
Religious fissure between Sunni and Shia Muslims erupted into conflict.
Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes against Iran-backed Shia Houthi rebels.
18 civilians were injured after Saudi warplanes targeted Sana’a in Yemen.
Britain and America supported the Saudi-led military intervention.
Coalition deployed 100 fighter jets and  150,000 soldiers to fight in region.
Det är verkligen en skrämmande utveckling. Den stora religiösa sprickan mellan sunnimuslimer och shiamuslimer som dominerar Mellanöstern har utbrutit i öppen konflikt i Jemen, regionens fattigaste land, och hotar att uppsluka hela området i ett bredare krig. I en dramatisk upptrappning av insatserna lanserade en sunnikoalition av arabstater ledd av Saudiarabien flyganfall mot Iran-stödda shia Houthi-rebeller som har svept söderut genom landet. När Jemen gick mot politisk upplösning exploderade konflikten i en regionomfattande kris som kunde få långtgående och oförutsägbara internationella konsekvenser. Scrolla ner för video. Saudiarabien sjösatte flyganfall mot Iran-stödda shia Houthi-rebeller, föreställde människor samlas på platsen för en explosion nära Sana'a flygplats. Brent råoljepriserna steg med 6 procent, till exempel eftersom många av världens oljetransporter passerar genom eller förbi Bab el-Mandabsundet som förbinder Röda havet med Adenbukten. Men den mycket mer angelägna frågan är om vi nu ser ett proxykrig i Jemen mellan grannlandet Saudiarabien, den ledande sunnitiska makten och Iran, den ledande shiamakten, explodera i en regional konflikt som skulle kunna svepa oss alla i dess spår. Saudiarabiska stridsflygplan riktade in sig på Houthis positioner i landets huvudstad Sana’a och dödade 18 civila och skadade många fler. Storbritannien och Amerika stödde den saudiskt ledda militära interventionen i Jemen då koalitionen utplacerade 100 jaktflygplan och samlade ihop 150 000 soldater för att strida i regionen. Ytterligare nio sunnistater anslöt sig till offensiven, bland annat Förenade Arabemiraten, Kuwait och Qatar, och lovade att skicka flygplan för att bomba mål, varvid Egypten utplacerade fartyg. I väntan på den allt värre situationen drog sig brittiska elitsoldater — i Jemen för att utbilda regeringstrupper att bekämpa al-Qaida, som har etablerat sin farligaste gren i landet — ut förra fredagen. Detta följde på ett beslut av USA. Att evakuera sin återstående militära personal när landet stod på randen till inbördeskrig mellan den internationellt erkända regeringen president Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi och Houthi-rebellerna. Allteftersom de västliga styrkorna gick, gjorde rebellerna — utbildade, beväpnade och finansierade av Iran — ytterligare framsteg i södra delen av landet. Den jemenitiska presidenten, som stöds av FN, tvingades fly från sitt palats i den tidigare brittiska kolonialhamnen Aden vid den södra kusten och det rapporterades i går kväll att han hade lämnat med båt till den saudiska huvudstaden Riyadh. Den här veckan blev Aden — en gång en av det brittiska imperiets viktigaste hamnar för fartyg på väg till det kejserliga Indien, och en hamn av stabilitet patrullerad av officerare i pithhjälmar och koloniala shorts — uppryckt av ljudet av skottlossning. Bara 35 mil norrut hade shiarebellerna beslagtagit Al-Anads flygbas, som tills nyligen hade använts av amerikanska antiterroriststyrkor för att bekämpa terrorister. Jemen ligger på den arabiska halvöns yttersta ände, med Saudiarabien i norr — där de 150.000 saudiska trupperna nu samlas vid dess gräns. En beväpnad medlem av Houthi milis står över spillrorna av hus som påstås ha förstörts av ett saudiskt flyganfall i Sana'a i Jemen. Jemen är ett våldsamt stamsamhälle som länge har splittrats av stamkonflikter. Att styra landet har jämförts med att dansa på ormarnas huvuden. Houthierna – som tillhör en relativt dunkel gren av shia-islam – var till stor del begränsade till norra delen av landet och innehölls av landets sedan länge sittande president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, en wanlig arabisk starkman, tills han störtades under den arabiska våren 2011. President Hadi, hans svagare efterträdare, lyckades aldrig på nytt bekräfta central kontroll, och i september tog Houthis kontroll över huvudstaden Sana‘a. I det vakuum som skapades av president Hadis svaga ledarskap såg Iran möjligheten att håna sin gamla rival genom att stödja Houthis och etablera sitt inflytande på saudiernas bakgård. Men de senaste Houthi-framstegen har visat sig vara för mycket för Saudi, vars främsta mål är att återupprätta ordningen i Jemen. Den samlade en formidabel koalition – Egypten, Jordanien, Sudan, Marocko, Pakistan, Förenade Arabemiraten, Qatar, Kuwait och Egypten – av sunniledda stater och skickade in sina stridsflygplan för att sända ett kraftfullt budskap till Iran: sluta lägga sig i arabiska frågor. Saudierna betraktar också Irans inflytande i Jemen som ett bevis på en mycket större driv av Shia Iran för regional dominans. De hävdar att Iran använder väpnade fullmakter för att ta över andra stater. Inget händer i Libanon till exempel utan godkännande av den iranskstödda shiamilisen Hizbollah, som också förser Syriens belägrade president Assad med hans lätta infanteri. Houthi-soldater som bemannar en tung kulspruta på baksidan av en pickupvakt ett rally som protesterar mot saudiskledda luftstridsflygplan. Iran har å sin sida fördömt flyganfallen. Utrikesdepartementets talesperson Marzieh Afkham sade att landet ”anser denna åtgärd vara ett farligt steg”, och tillade att militära åtgärder skulle komplicera och förvärra krisen i Jemen. – Denna invasion kommer inte att leda till något annat än en utvidgning av terrorismen och extremismen i hela regionen, sade hon. Och sanningen är att hon mycket väl kan ha rätt. Jemen har ett kroniskt terrorismproblem, helt enkelt därför att en sådan misslyckad stat är en idealisk operativ mark för terrorister. Jemen är inte bara hem för den mest taktiskt dödliga grenen av al-Qaida, men nu ISIS har ett fotfäste där också. Den 20 mars dödade fyra självmordsbombare från ISIS 137 shia utanför sina moskéer i Sana. Innan USA:s militär flyttade ut ur landet fick de starta drönaranfall mot Al Qaida. Men i deras frånvaro blir terroristerna inte längre så effektiva och kommer bara att blomstra som ett resultat av detta. För att göra saker och ting ännu mer prekära för väst i sin kamp mot terrorn visar sig Iran och de shiamiliser som landet stöder vara en allt viktigare del av markkriget mot ISIS i Irak, där iranska befälhavare leder dem och även förser dem. Det betyder att väst går på diplomatiska äggskal. Tänk om Iran tog över stora delar av Irak, vars regering och befolkning till stor del också är shia? Skulle saudierna stå för det? Och om en Shia Houthi-regering lyckas i Jemen, skulle då inte Saudiarabiens egen nedtrampade shia-befolkning, ungefär 10-15 procent av dem i rikets oljerika östra provins, vilja ha en viss självständighet? Det västerländska svaret på detta kaos är förståeligt nog tveksamt. Washington är osäkert om Irans strategi verkligen är att upprätta proxy-shiaregeringar över hela regionen eller helt enkelt att använda Houthi i Jemen för att håna Saudiarabien och lugna landets egna hårdföra liners. Vi har nu en bisarr – och potentiellt mycket farlig – situation där amerikanska stridsflygplan ger luftskydd åt iranskstödda miliser i Irak i en gemensam insats mot ISIS, medan 1 200 mil söderut i Jemen hjälper amerikanerna saudiska piloter att bomba shiauppror som stöds av Iran. USA bombar därför Irans fiender i ett land, samtidigt som de hjälper till att bomba sina allierade i ett annat. Utöver detta återupptar amerikanska och iranska diplomater sina samtal om hur Teherans kärnvapenprogram ska kunna hållas tillbaka. Sådan är den kaotiska och komplexa karaktären hos angelägenheterna i Mellanöstern. Och eftersom saudierna lovar att lösa sina egna lokala problem, kan vi bara hålla andan. Skriv höjdpunkter för den här artikeln.
It is indeed a frightening development. The great religious rift between Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims who dominate the Middle East has erupted into open conflict in Yemen, the region's poorest country, and threatens to engulf the entire area in a wider war. In a dramatic escalation of efforts, a Sunnic coalition of Arab states led by Saudi Arabia launched air strikes against Iran-backed Shia Houthi rebels who have swept south through the country. As Yemen moved towards political dissolution, the conflict exploded in a region-wide crisis that could have far-reaching and unpredictable international consequences. Scroll down for video. Saudi Arabia launched air strikes on Iran-backed Shia Houthi rebels, envisioned people gathering at the site of an explosion near Sana'a airport. Brent crude oil prices rose by 6 percent, for example because many of the world's oil shipments pass through or past the Bab el-Mandab Strait connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. But the much more pressing question is whether we are now seeing a proxy war in Yemen between neighbouring Saudi Arabia, the leading Sunni power and Iran, the leading Shia power, explode in a regional conflict that could sweep us all in its tracks. Saudi fighter aircraft targeted Houthi's positions in the country's capital Sana'a and killed 18 civilians and injured many more. Britain and America supported the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen as the coalition deployed 100 fighter aircraft and assembled 150,000 soldiers to fight in the region. Nine more Sunni states joined the offensive, including the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Qatar, promising to send aircraft to bomb targets, with Egypt deploying ships. Pending the worsening situation, British elite soldiers — in Yemen to train government troops to fight al-Qaeda, who have established their most dangerous branch in the country — withdrew last Friday. This followed a decision by the United States. To evacuate its remaining military personnel when the country was on the brink of civil war between the internationally recognized government President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and the Houthi rebels. As the Western forces went, the rebels — trained, armed, and funded by Iran — made further progress in the southern part of the country. The Yemeni President, supported by the UN, was forced to flee his palace in the former British colonial port of Aden on the southern coast and it was reported last night that he had left by boat to the Saudi capital Riyadh. This week Aden — once one of the most important ports of the British Empire for ships bound for Imperial India, and a port of stability patrolled by officers in pith helmets and colonial shorts — was caught up by the sound of gunfire. Only 35 miles north, the Shiarebells had seized Al-Anad Air Base, which had until recently been used by U.S. anti-terrorist forces to fight terrorists. Yemen is located on the extreme end of the Arabian peninsula, with Saudi Arabia to the north — where the 150,000 Saudi troops are now gathering at its border. An armed member of the Houthi militia stands over the debris of houses allegedly destroyed by a Saudi air strike in Sana'a, Yemen. Yemen is a violent tribal community that has long been divided by tribal conflicts. Ruling the country has been compared to dancing on the heads of snakes. The Houthi – which belongs to a relatively obscure branch of Shia-Islam – were largely confined to the north of the country and were contained by the country's long-time president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, a wily Arab strongman, until he was overthrown during the Arab Spring 2011. President Hadi, his weaker successor, never reconfirmed central control, and in September Houthi took control of the capital city of Sana‘a. In the vacuum created by President Hadi's weak leadership, Iran saw the opportunity to mock his old rival by supporting Houthis and establishing his influence in the Saudi backyard. However, recent Houthi advances have proved to be too much for Saudi, whose main goal is to restore order in Yemen. It gathered a formidable coalition—Egypt, Jordan, Sudan, Morocco, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, and Egypt—of Sunni-led states and sent in its fighter aircraft to send a powerful message to Iran: stop interfering in Arab affairs. The Saudis also regard Iran's influence in Yemen as evidence of a much greater drive by Shia Iran for regional dominance. They claim Iran uses armed warrantes to take over other states. Nothing happens in Lebanon, for example, without the approval of the Iranian-backed Shiamilis Hezbollah, who also provides Syrian besieged President Assad with his light infantry. Houthi soldiers manning a heavy machine gun on the back of a pickup guard a rally protesting Saudi-led air combat aircraft. Iran, for its part, has condemned the air strikes. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Marzieh Afkham said that the country "considers this measure a dangerous step", adding that military action would complicate and exacerbate the crisis in Yemen. “This invasion will lead to nothing more than an expansion of terrorism and extremism throughout the region,” she said. And the truth is, she may well be right. Yemen has a chronic terrorist problem, simply because such a failed state is an ideal operating ground for terrorists. Yemen is not only home to the most tactically deadly branch of al-Qaeda, but now ISIS has a foothold there as well. On 20 March, four suicide bombers from ISIS killed 137 Shia outside their mosques in Sana. Before the U.S. military moved out of the country, they had to launch drone attacks on Al Qaeda. However, in their absence, terrorists are no longer becoming so effective and will only flourish as a result. To make things even more precarious for the West in its fight against terror, Iran and the Shiamilis that it supports are proving to be an increasingly important part of the ground war against ISIS in Iraq, where Iranian commanders lead them and also provide them. That means the West is on diplomatic eggshells. What if Iran took over much of Iraq, whose government and population are largely Shia as well? Would the Saudis stand for that? And if a Shia Houthi government succeeds in Yemen, wouldn't Saudi Arabia's own trampled-down Shia population, about 10-15 percent of them in the kingdom's oil-rich eastern province, want some independence? The Western response to this chaos is understandably doubtful. Washington is unsure whether Iran's strategy really is to establish proxy-shia governments across the region or simply to use Houthi in Yemen to mock Saudi Arabia and calm the country's own hardliners. We now have a bizarre – and potentially very dangerous – situation in which US fighter aircraft provide air protection to Iranian-backed militias in Iraq in a joint effort against ISIS, while 1,200 miles south in Yemen help Americans Saudi pilots bomb Shia uprisings supported by Iran. The United States therefore bombs Iran's enemies in one country, while helping to bomb their allies in another. In addition, U.S. and Iranian diplomats resume their talks on how Tehran's nuclear program can be held back. Such is the chaotic and complex nature of Middle Eastern affairs. And since the Saudis promise to solve their own local problems, we can only hold our breath. Write highlights for this article.
Religiös spricka mellan sunnimuslimer och shiamuslimer utbröt i konflikt. Saudiarabien sjösatte luftanfall mot Iran-stödda shia Houthi-rebeller. 18 civila skadades efter att saudiska stridsflygplan riktade sig mot Sana’a i Jemen. Storbritannien och Amerika stödde den saudiskt ledda militära interventionen. Koalitionen utplacerade 100 jaktflygplan och 150.000 soldater för att strida i region.
Religious rift between Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims erupted in conflict. Saudi Arabia launched air strikes on Iran-backed Shia Houthi rebels. 18 civilians were injured after Saudi fighter aircraft targeted Sana'a, Yemen. Britain and America supported the Saudi-led military intervention. The coalition deployed 100 fighter aircraft and 150,000 soldiers to fight in region.