Houthi Rebels Sign Peace Deal to Form New Yemeni Government

After an advance on the Yemeni capital of Sanaa and four days of violent clashes, Houthi leaders signed a peace agreement, which called for an immediate cease-fire and the formation of a more inclusive government. Houthi rebels had overtaken several government buildings, state media facilities, and military bases. On Sunday, Yemeni Prime Minister Mohammed Salem Basindwa resigned saying he hoped the move would pave the way for an agreement. Under the deal, a new "technocratic national government" will be formed including the Houthis, the southern separatist Herak movement, and the Islamist Islah party. The agreement gave Houthi fighters 45 days to withdraw from the capital and other areas under their control, during which time the new government would be formed and a political and economic road map established.

Syria

Syrian Kurdish fighters said they have halted an advance by Islamic State militants to the east of the predominantly Kurdish town of Kobani (Ayn al-Arab) near the border with Turkey. An offensive by Islamic State militants has pushed around 130,000 Syrians to flee into Turkey over the past four days. On Sunday, Turkey closed several of its border crossings prompting protests and clashes between Kurds, who had gather in support of the refugees, and security forces on the Turkish side of the border.

Headlines

• Turkey secured the release of 49 hostages who were captured in Mosul in June by Islamic State militants, though details are unclear about the rescue operation.
• The Egyptian militant group Ajnad Misr has claimed responsibility for a bombing in Cairo Sunday near the foreign ministry that killed two police officers.
• U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met on Sunday with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to discuss Iran’s nuclear program and concerns over Islamic State militants.
• Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah began reconciliation talks on Monday in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, a day ahead of negotiations scheduled with Israel.

Arguments and Analysis

‘Out of the ashes: is Yemen’s Saleh trying to make a comeback?‘ (Tom Finn, Middle East Eye)

"It was meant to be a historic occasion. After 33 years in office, Saleh was stepping aside, handing power to his long-time deputy Abd Rabu Mansur Hadi. Civil war had been averted; the demand of the pro-democracy protesters had been met. It was the first peaceful transfer of power in unified Yemen’s history.

But a photo from the ceremony that appeared in newspapers the next day told a more complex and troubling story. In the picture, Saleh and Hadi stand side by side, smiling. Hadi, 66, looks focused, his eyes are on the flag in his hands. Saleh, whose suit is trimmer and darker than Hadi’s, stares through tinted spectacles into the distance, his back squarely turned on the newly anointed leader.

What happened in the palace on 27 February 2012 was not a neat affair, a clean transfer of power as the Yemeni authorities would have had it. Instead an intense, and deeply personal, rivalry was born, one that, two years and half years on, confounds Yemen’s efforts toward democracy and threatens to pull the country apart. Today’s Yemen is a tale of two men: a wily, ousted dictator, begrudged, and still at large, and his deputy, a political lightweight, determined to step out of his predecessor’s shadow, yet terrified of him to the point of paranoia, former aides say."

‘Implausible as it sounds, ISIL has plundered Mao’s playbook‘ (Hussein Ibish, The National)

"But now, with the rise of ISIL, a new generation of radical Islamists are evoking an entirely different historical analogue. In some crucial ways their strategic modus operandi looks strikingly similar to that of the Communist Party of China (CPC) led by Mao Zedong, in the late 1930s through to the late 1940s.

In contrast to more typical Salafist-Jihadist groups like Al Qaeda, ISIL concentrates on using both conventional military and guerrilla tactics to seize and control territory and assets in order to establish secured areas of governance.

There is a great deal in common between Mao’s revolutionary strategies and Abu Bakr Naji’s concept of ‘the management of savagery’, in which jihadist groups seek to frustrate and exhaust their opponents. The key idea inspiring ISIL is to first create and ‘manage’ chaos, and then to offer a form of order, thereby imposing their control in a given area."

— Mary Casey