Saudi Arabia losing influence in Yemen

Saudi Arabia is going through a pivotal phase of redrawing its alliances in the region, including in Yemen, where it seems to have lost its customary ability to understand the progression of developments on the ground. In the past, Saudi Arabia was the maker of events and heroes, who performed their Riyadh-scripted roles on the familiar Yemeni stage.

The list of forces with influence in Yemen has changed a lot after 2011, and in parallel, so did Saudi alliances on the internal Yemeni scene, where Riyadh’s influence was the greatest. These changes in alliances remain unclear and indiscernible, for they continue to be modified by Riyadh, pursuant to ongoing developments in Sanaa.

Despite the fateful shifts in alliances and policies currently underway in Yemen, Riyadh, for the first time ever, is represented today in Sanaa by a charge d’affaires instead of an ambassador, following the latter’s transfer to the Foreign Ministry in Riyadh where he was tasked with overseeing Yemeni relations. The ambassador secretly visited Sanaa lately, as an envoy of Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, to mediate between the former and current Yemeni presidents and try to reconcile between them, according to local media.

Saudi Arabia no longer has a strong ally to support its policies in Yemen, following the fall of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the Muslim Brotherhood distancing itself from the kingdom after 2011. The absence of a strong and definite ally in Sanaa has muddled Riyadh’s policies toward Yemen, for — throughout decades in the past — Saudi Arabia had contented itself with backing powerful factions or persons able to carry out its interests on the Yemeni scene.