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Efforts Ramping Up to Resolve Yemen Conflict Following Saudi Attacks

Dale Gavlak

   AMMAN - Efforts to resolve the nearly five-year conflict in Yemen are
   increasing following drone and missile attacks on Saudi oil facilities
   last month.

   Despite Houthi rebel claims of carrying out the sophisticated
   airstrikes, most Gulf observers believe the highly coordinated attacks
   on the Abqaiq and Khurais crude oil production hubs were likely
   launched by Iran. They say regional players and the West see the
   imperative to prevent a broader conflict with Iran from developing. The
   conflict pits Saudi coalition forces that support Yemen's government
   against the Iranian-backed Houthi. Tehran has continued to deny any
   role in the attacks.

   The Houthi rebels aremembers of the Zaidi branch of Shi'ite Islam, to
   which at least one-third of Yemen's population belongs. Theonce rag-tag
   rebels have, with Shi'ite Iran's help, held off the military might of
   Yemen's rich Gulf neighbors, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates,
   for the past four-and-a-half years. They also have proven to be some of
   the most effective fighters in the proxy war playing out between Sunni
   Muslim and Shi'ite powers for control of the Gulf.

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