South24| Badr Mohammed                                                                   (نسخة عربية)

IN the middle of the last century emerged revolutions of the Arab peoples against the foreign colonialist, led by the Arab nationalist trend led by the late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. The time and political climate, then, were ripe for the formation of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, which fought a confrontation against the nationalist trend led by Nasser.

At the beginning of the current century and 2011, the Arab world witnessed what is known as the “Arab Spring revolutions” that were spearheaded by Muslim Brotherhood parties and groups in Arab countries against traditional regimes - the legacy of the aforementioned Arab axis. In an appropriate time and political climate, history repeated itself again in the form of an "Islamic axis" trying to penetrate the Arab region through the same tools, and a resistance "Arab axis" produced by counter-popular revolutions that managed in a short time to overthrow the rule of Islamic groups. The starting point was to preserve its Arab national security.


Demonstrators from the Muslim Brotherhood in "Turkey" in support of the Egyptian Brotherhood, raising the slogan "Rab'a". (IMAGE: Reuters)

The Arab night is not the exact replica of yesterday. There is a variable “x” in the political equation that is summarized in:

First: In terms of positioning and attitudes toward a process that previously and now formed Arab and Islamic axes, the exchange of roles between Saudi Arabia and Qatar appears. Qatar is currently positioned with the Islamic axis, where Saudi Arabia was previously located. That is why the turnover of the American and Israeli positions with Saudi Arabia becomes clear.

Second: From the historical window of Yemen, the role of Saudi Arabia as the leader of the Arab coalition, which has the current political and military intervention in the Yemeni crisis and war, replaces the former Egyptian role. Egypt, under the leadership of Abdel Nasser, was defeated by the Islamic axis in Yemen and suffered material and human losses that led to its announcement of the withdrawal of its military forces from Yemen, contenting itself with a state in North Yemen. Historians described its regime as a "royal republic." Now, Saudi Arabia faces the same Egyptian fate, leaving behind a Yemeni state with a monarchical republic system led by the royal dynasty, the "Islamic Houthi group", similar to its ally Tehran, to establish a similar Islamic republic.

So what is new produced by all these military events and political crises that have ravaged the Arab region today? These events cannot be separated from the international goal that focuses on combating and eliminating terrorism, and thus cycles of violence and military and political conflict have emerged in the Arab region in an attempt to eliminate the complex system of extremist Islamic groups on two sides:

A direct military side against terrorist organizations (apparent terrorism), led by the United States of America.

 - An indirect political side against extremist political Islam groups (idea terrorism), which Europe is probably currently leading to eliminate.

The last one was emerged by proving the failure of these groups politically, dismantling their intellectual and ideological system, and undermining their financial and economic foundations, as a network system that was once an exclusive representative of the Islamic religion in Western society in particular, when these groups were used as a tool by the West to strike the Soviet Union and the eastern axis in the past, and in countries Many as an ally of the capitalist system against the socialist system.

International player's substitutes

Yemen has always been an ideological protectorate of this Gruops when it was defeated on its walls the Egyptian army in the 1960s, and left behind the country that remained the largest repository for the graduation of Arab mujahideen and supplied Al Qaeda with many of the elements that fought the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and East Asia. This has led to al-Qaeda’s branch in Yemen becoming the most dangerous, according to Western researchers and officials.

The international player believes that there is no more suitable than the Shiite Houthi group as a primitive ideological root that fits the nature of the primitive Yemeni protectorate and replaces the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood and eliminates its extremist belief.

This is revealed, for example, through persistent European calls for recognition of the Houthis, and the pressing political role of Europe, to prevent the expansion of battles towards the areas of the group's control. This was a factor in the failure of the Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia to achieve any significant victories in NorthYemen.

The outside world is watching the Yemeni situation, hoping that it has succeeded in enabling an ideological group such as the Houthis to realize its aspirations in fighting extremism and "terrorism" attributed to the Sunni  Muslim Brotherhood.

Iranian protesters raise the slogan "Death to America," the same slogan the Houthi group raises in Yemen. (Agencies)

Trump's decision ... and a wave of extremism

Many researchers agree that the Yemeni ideological and even political versions are the most extreme. Al-Qaeda in Yemen and the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islah Party, are two examples of this.

The Houthi version of Shiite political Islam groups will not stray from this. The world will discover that it is the most extreme of all, due to many considerations, the most important of which are: its political and ideological identification with the Brotherhood and extremist organizations with religious references.

The group does not hide this secret. At a time when it raises the slogan "Death to America and the curse on the Jews," its missiles coming from Iran are falling on Saudi cities, a victory for the Palestinian cause, according to the famous Palestinian expert and journalist, Abdel Bari Atwan.

In light of all these facts, the American role has recently emerged to approve serious and practical plans towards designating the Houthis as a "terrorist organization" and imposing financial and judicial sanctions on its leaders.

It cannot be confirmed whether the possible and "imminent" American decision was based on real fears of an upcoming wave of extremism, led by the Houthis, the results of which can not be predicted, or whether the possible classification decision is nothing but a special republican step for US President Trump, to complicate the scene on his democratic successor Joe Biden, regarding the Iranian file, is far from the calculations included in this analysis.

Badr Mohammed
Researcher and fellow at South24 Center for News and Studies, specializing in religious groups and political affairs in Yemen.