How the Muslim Brotherhood conspired against the Arab Coalition in Yemen

Mohamed Abdel-Ghaffar

Al-Islah party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Yemen, is still setting the goals of the Iranian-backed Houthi militias and Muslim Brotherhood as a priority over the interests of Yemen.

As the Houthi militia managed to hold control over parts of the Yemen capital Sanaa in Sept. 21, 2014 and marched towards the presidential palace without resistance in Jan. 2015, former president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi fled to Aden, leaving the capital in the hands of the Iranian-backed militia.

After the ministry of health and the ministry of information were surrendered to the Houthis, the Arab-coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had to interfere to preserve Yemen’s constitutional legitimacy and stability.

Al-Islah Party was in shock after the Arab intervention in the Yemeni crisis, this helped in preventing the scheme to control the Yemeni state in cooperation with the Houthi militia, despite all ideological differences between the two parties.

For eight days, Al-Islah kept on thinking whether to support or reject the intervention, until it decided to declare a “fake” support to the Arab countries, while its hidden policy continued secretly, attempting to hold control over official government positions.

Despite the war waged by the Arab Coalition forces to preserve constitutional legitimacy in Yemen, terrorist organizations are working to hand over strategic positions back to the Houthis, either by escaping from military bases or by conducting fake confrontations.

This can be inferred by confrontations in liberated areas inside Yemen, as in June 2018, a military battalion, handed over some strategic locations in Al-Bayda governorate after fake confrontations with the militias.

Then this happened again in Taiz, which is considered the stronghold of the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated party, however, the Houthis managed to control the city without any resistance. But instead of fighting, mayors of these cities decided to sign agreements of co-existence with the Houthi militias.

This back-door agreement allowed Yemeni cities to be handed over one by one to the Houthis, as by signing an agreement of coexistence, mayors of these cities would be guaranteed more political and security gains.

It is clear that Al-Islah did not have a positive stand towards the Arab coalition that seeks to support legitimacy in Yemen, however, the party preferred to ally with the Iranian militias, in a clear treachery to the people of Yemen.