The treacherous alliance that brought war to Yemen
Among various Arab Spring countries, Yemen was hailed as an exemplar to a good transition. The world was impressed that the region’s no 1 country with the largest arms per capita has not succumbed into a civil war like Syria or Libya. Despite limited armed clashes here and there, the image was far positive than initial expectations of how an armed society may turn into. In Nov 2011 and after numerous cycles of negotiations, Yemen’s longest serving president Saleh officially handed power to his deputy Hadi in exchange for an immunity from legal prosecution for his time in office. This was known as the GCC initiative and it succeeded largely because Saudi Arabia was the main the broker of the deal –an oil-rich neighbor that enjoys tremendous leverage in Yemen. Unlike other turbulent countries like Libya and Syria, the international community has largely delegated Yemen’s issue to its Gulf partners. Hadi assumed his presidency officially after single-candidate nation-wide elections in F...