The Ansar Allah Movement was founded in 1992 under the name of “Faithful Youth Movement”. The movement’s followers are known as the Houthis, named after the founder of the movement Badr al-Din al-Houthi, who is considered its religious leader. While many believe that the Houthis are Shiites, they are in fact from the Zaydi faith,…
It is hard to imagine that along with the catastrophe that has been inflicted on Syria for the past six years, another calamity is unfolding in Yemen of damning proportions while the whole world looks on with indifference. What is happening in Yemen is not merely a violent conflict between combating forces for power, but…
We’ve reached half-time in what has been a very eventful year. It’s revealing to compare the stories that have made the headlines in the western media in the first six months of 2017, with those that haven’t. There’s been saturation coverage of alleged Russian interference in the US presidential election — and Russian state “hacking” in general — even though…
The Saudi war in Yemen is really directed at…Iran. Donald Trump’s first overseas visit to Saudi Arabia and Israel was specifically targeted at…Iran. The Saudi-led isolation of Qatar is actually about…Iran. The escalation of U.S. military actions against the Syria government is… well, do I really need to spell this out any further? Donald Trump…
The final act of the palace coup I have been writing about since King Salman took over has just been completed. Everyone was waiting for a coup against Qatar. In fact, the coup was within the kingdom itself. It took place in the middle of the night after fajr, the Muslim prayer that heralds the dawn…
In March, the world looked on as the Saudi-led coalition – which has been fighting a deadly war in Yemen since 2015 – moved to expand its naval blockade of Al Hudaydah, Yemen’s largest port. The move drew the consternation of the United Nations, as well as the Russian Foreign Ministry, with the latter warning…
