Jul. 30, 2021

Houthis advance amid discord between Yemeni government forces, UAE affiliates

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Pro-government forces took control of the strategically important Al-Zahir district in the central Yemeni governorate of Al-Bayda in early July. But shortly afterwards, news circulated of major disagreements between Saudi-backed government forces and affiliates of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Only days later, on July 8, the Iran-supported Ansarullah movement, better known as the Houthis, reportedly recaptured Zahir—at least partly on the back of these divergences.

Government forces and the Southern Transitional Council (STC) as well as other pro-UAE entities have a history of clashing. Their confrontations only subsided at the end of 2019, when the Riyadh agreement was signed. The accord provided for the formation of a jointly backed government in order to unite them in their fight against the Houthis. But the clashes between the partners have not fully stopped.

The most recent armed confrontation, on July 2, ended with pro-Saudi government troops taking control of the southwestern Lawdar district from UAE-backed STC forces. Yet neither this incident nor geopolitical differences prevented Emirati-affiliated forces known as the Giants Brigades from attacking the Houthis in Bayda alongside the government’s Operation ‘Piercing Star’.

 

Bayda’s strategic importance

“The strategic importance of Bayda governorate lies in the fact that it constitutes the ‘waist of the country’,” and is adjacent to “eight governorates,” political analyst Hassan Al-Dabai explained in an interview with Amwaj.media. Bayda’s geostrategic location is such that whoever controls the governorate is also in control of Yemen’s key supply routes—making it even more important than the oil- and gas-rich Ma'rib governorate.

The Houthis reportedly only hold 30% of Yemen at present, but they control an estimated 65% of Bayda governorate. It was in this context that on July 2, Yemeni Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism Moammar Al-Eryani announced the launch of Operation ‘Piercing Star’ to wrest back Bayda from Houthi control.

 

On July 5, Eryani confirmed that forces under the command of Yemen’s internationally recognized government had taken control of Zahir district and were advancing towards Bayda governorate’s eponymous capital. He further thanked the “3rd and 5th Giants Brigades” as well as Homaiqan and Yafe’i tribesmen, who are also reportedly close to the UAE, for their part in the advance.

Yet, political analyst Dabai told Amwaj.media, "The Coalition does not want the Houthis to be defeated, nor the Shar’eiyah [pro-government] forces to win, so that Yemenis will continue to fight among themselves, and Yemen will remain fragile.” He added that "the real difference is between Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE over positions of influence in Yemen."

Others mocked the supposedly arbitrary nature of efforts to end the bloodshed. British-based writer Ahmed Al-Muayyed tweeted that calls for peace only emerge when the Houthis are advancing whereas “peace advocates turn into military analysts” whenever the Iran-backed movement is on the backfoot.

 

Intra-Coalition differences appear

Saudi Arabia and the UAE formed a military alliance in March 2015 to reinstate the internationally recognized government in Sana’a after the Houthis seized the capital and southern Yemeni governorates. But six years later, the Coalition has failed to achieve this aim—and cracks in the Saudi-Emirati partnership have started to emerge.

On July 6, Al-Jazeera journalist Ahmed Al-Shalfi first reported that differences between Saudi-backed government forces and the UAE-aligned Giants Brigades had indirectly surfaced in Bayda. Shalfi tweeted that an official in the governorate wondered why the government forces on the Bayda axis “refrain from participating” in the fighting against the Houthis.

Only hours later, a close associate of Bayda axis commander (and Bayda governor) Gen. Nasser Al-Sawadi claimed that he intended to resign. This came against the backdrop of Defense Minister Mohammed Nasser Al-Maqdashi's reluctance to allow government forces to participate in the fighting in Bayda until the Giants Brigades withdrew from their positions and handed them over to the army. In essence, government forces and UAE-backed local affiliates were clashing over control of gains.

Local media reported that Sawadi received a phone call from Vice President Ali Mohsen Saleh on July 8 in which he offered a briefing on the latest developments in Bayda. According to Saba news agency, which neither confirmed nor denied Maqdashi’s reported reluctance to take part in the fighting in the governorate, the Saudi-based Saleh stressed the importance of "joining forces and rallying around the resistance, the army and the Giants brigades" in the face of the Houthis.

 

Zahir’s fall

The Houthis have encouraged the emergence of these differences before the Yemeni public, seeking to exploit any disagreements between the internationally recognized government and the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council. The Iran-backed counterattacked strongly after its loss, retaking Zahir district on July 8.

The Houthi-affiliated Al-Maseera TV on the same day aired images which included gatherings of Houthi fighters in front of the Zahir security department—the same location where government forces had appeared in a video on July 5 to confirm their gains.

Meanwhile, Yemeni government minister Eryani denied that the Houthis had seized back control of Zahir. But UAE-aligned Homaiqan tribesman spokesman Amer Al-Homaiqani, who took part in the military operations in Zahir, contradicted Eryani. Homaiqani subsequently listed the reasons why Zahir had fallen into Houthi hands once again.

 

Cause and effect

In an interview with Amwaj.media, Yemeni activist Mohammed Al-Rayami asserted that Zahir fell to the Houthis because of the nearby presence of “extremist parties loyal to the government,” referring to Al-Islah and Al-Rashad. He accused the two parties of indirectly forcing a halt to the progress of the Giants Brigades towards the city of Bayda by compelling a lack of defense ministry participation in the offensive. Indeed, the Yemeni activist stressed that the root of the dispute between the defense ministry and the Giants Brigades lies in the ministry’s lack of control over the “decisions” of the UAE-backed force. He also cited the lack of representation from Islah, which controls the defense ministry, in the Giants Brigades.

Rayami added that the July 8 statement by Defense Minister Maqdashi—which some have interpreted as implying that the army did not participate in the Bayda offensive alongside the Giants Brigades, because of their backing from the UAE—“hastened the Houthi retaking of Zahir.”

 

A “military and political setback”

According to political analyst Dabai, failure to control Zahir would represent a significant “military and political setback” for any side.

He told Amwaj.media that the government and Giants Brigades’ previous capture of Zahir was “a major military setback for the Houthis, because it meant that they were about to lose control of the capital of Bayda, and then probably Al-Sawma’ah and Sawadiyah districts— including an area right down into Dhamar governorate.”

Dabai elaborated that the prospect of such expansive losses prompted the Houthis to throw all their military weight into retaking the key Zahir district, thereby avoiding a “weak negotiating position” and “throw[ing] the ball of a military and political setback into the court of the allies of Saudi Arabia and the UAE.”

The political analyst was also quick to point out that this does not necessarily mean the complete defeat of pro-government forces, because the war is “a hit-and-run game in which you sometimes win and at other times lose.” Moreover, Dabai noted that this does not mean the failure of Operation ‘Piercing Star,’ which is ongoing, albeit not with the same vigor as before.

For the time being at least, Zahir appears to be in the hands of the Iran-affiliated Houthis—and it seems that this is at least partly an outcome of the differences between Saudi-backed government troops and UAE-supported forces.

Naseh Shaker
Naseh Shaker
Naseh Shaker
Naseh Shaker is a freelance journalist based in the Yemeni capital of Sana'a. He regularly contributes ... Full Bio
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