Yemen’s President Hadi and Houthis Hold Talks Following Intense Clashes

Houthi fighters clashed with pro-government troops in the worst violence to hit Sanaa since Houthis overran the Yemeni capital in September. Houthi fighters clashed with the army near the presidential palace, surrounded the prime minister’s residence, and seized control of Yemen’s state news agency and television station Monday, sparking accusations they were mounting a coup. Over the weekend, Houthi fighters abducted President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s chief of staff, Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, following the release of a draft constitution opposed by the Houthis. A cease-fire reportedly went into effect Monday evening, and Hadi and Houthi representatives were meeting Tuesday to hold negotiations.

Syria-Iraq

Islamic State militants have purportedly released a video showing two Japanese hostages, and threatening to kill the men, identified as Kenji Goto Jogo and Haruna Yukawa, within 72 hours unless the Tokyo government pays a $200 million ransom. The militant in the video linked the demand to the Japanese government’s pledge of assistance to countries fighting the Islamic State group. Meanwhile, local officials and the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights have reported that Kurdish forces have gained control of the strategic Mishtenur hill near the Syrian town of Kobani (Ayn al-Arab) following fierce clashes. In Iraq, Canadian forces on a mission to train Iraqi troops have ordered airstrikes on Islamic State positions and have exchanged gunfire with militants.

Headlines

• Defense officials say Israel is on high alert after an alleged Israeli airstrike Sunday in southern Syria that killed six Hezbollah fighters and a senior Iranian general.
• A senior Libyan OPEC official is missing meanwhile renewed clashes broke out near the port of Es Sider after the Libyan army agreed on a partial cease-fire with militias.
• Bahrain has charged opposition al-Wefaq leader Sheikh Ali Salman with “promoting the overthrow” of the government and his trial is set to begin Jan. 28.
• Iran and Russia signed a military agreement Tuesday as Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan called for cooperation in efforts to oppose U.S. ambitions in the region.
• Turkey has launched new raids detaining about 20 people suspected of illegally wire-tapping President Erdogan and other officials.

Arguments and Analysis

‘The meteoric rise of the Houthis in Yemen’ (Tom Finn, Middle East Eye)

“Once touted as a relative success story among Arab uprisings, the internationally-backed transition in Yemen has unravelled since the Houthi takeover of Sana’a. A power vacuum left after Saleh stepped down is quickly being filled. Sweeping south with heavy weapons, the Houthis, some analysts say, have already emerged as the most powerful force in the country: their fighters control a port, two government-run newspapers, nine provincial capitals, as well as schools, and government buildings. In Sana’a, the Houthis are not only controlling the city but renaming it. (Sabaeen, a square near the presidential palace now occupied by the Houthis, has been renamed ‘al-Houthi square’ and a nearby road named 50m street ‘The Great Prophet Road’.)

Further advances may also be on the horizon. According to Yemeni journalist Saeed al-Batati, the Houthis are setting their sights on Marib, an eastern province home to much of Yemen’s oil reserves.

Though the Houthis say their agenda is reformist: greater representation for religious minorities and an end to corruption, their opponents accuse them of trying to establish a Shiite theocracy and of being funded by Iran’s government bent on opening a new ‘Shiite lung’ in the Middle East.”

‘We are failing the children of Syria and Lebanon. This tragedy is avoidable’ (Gordon Brown, The Guardian)

“Only $100m of the required $263m has been collected, despite the generosity of many international aid agencies. Very soon we will need more: it is estimated that the number of Syrian refugee children who are between the ages of three and 18 will rise to 655,000. They are joined by more than 50,000 Palestinian refugees looking for school places, and another 40,000 Lebanese children who are currently without schooling.

To make the situation worse, many thousands of children have now been out of school for several years, live in informal settlements, work in the fields, are forced by parents and family to beg, and are at risk from the worst forms of child labour, exploitation and of being drawn into gangs and militant activities.”

‘Turkey’s Proxy War in Libya’ (Aaron Stein, War on the Rocks)

“Ankara’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood throughout the Middle East irritated most of the Gulf States (with the exception of Qatar), and contributed to a broader opposition to the JCP in Libya. After the July 2013 coup in Egypt, Egyptian strongman General Fatah Al Sisi, working with the United Arab Emirates and other anti-Brotherhood Gulf States, began to support Operation Dignity’s alliance of individual tribesmen and militias fighting under Haftar’s command.

Turkey and Qatar, in contrast, have reported links to Islamist-allied militias, known collectively as the Libya Dawn coalition. Ankara thus became entangled in a proxy battle that has pitted it against the majority of the Gulf States. To this end, in June 2014, Haftar accused Turkey and Qatar of supporting ‘terror’ and called on the ‘citizens of Turkey and Qatar [to] leave Libya within 48 hours’ of his saying so. The Justice and Development Party, or AKP, President Erdoğan’s party, denies these links, arguing that it supports national reconciliation and that it is working with all parties to promote political dialogue.”

— Mary Casey-Baker

MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP/Getty Images