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Yemen divided over Syria conflict

A diversity of views among Yemen's citizens has led to Yemeni factions taking opposing stances regarding the conflict in Syria.
A protester loyal to the Shi'ite Muslim Al-Houthi group, also known as Ansarullah, wears a headband with a picture of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad as he attends a demonstration against potential strikes on the Syrian government, in Sanaa September 6, 2013. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah (YEMEN - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTX139T8
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Amid talk of the role of Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) — two pro-al-Qaeda groups — in Syria, al-Qaeda in Yemen committed a heinous massacre involving three separate attacks against members of the Yemeni security forces in the south of the country. Although some do not see this as indicative of a link between the activity of al-Qaeda in the two countries, when the battle between different factions and President Bashar al-Assad’s regime began in 2011, al-Qaeda in Yemen was trying to tighten its grip on several regions. It even declared two Islamic emirates in Abyan and Shabwa, in the south of the country, before the Yemeni army regained control. This was an attempt to fill a power vacuum in the country and establish an Islamic state.

Recently, when the United States, Britain and other countries threatened to strike Damascus, the stances of different Yemeni factions changed vis-à-vis the Syrian situation. Those Yemenis who had maintained a moderate or even uninterested stance toward Syria became more involved in the course of events there. While the main parties were divided between the Muslim Brotherhood, which supported the revolution against Assad, and the Houthi movement's completely opposing stance, another stance appeared: that of the regular people, who despise radical fanaticism in favor of one party or the other. This third category saw the situation from a different perspective, one stemming from a common national feeling between the Arab countries and based on the historical background of Western-Arab relations. It takes into consideration the bias of the West, especially America and Britain, in favor of Israel in the Arab-Israeli conflict, which is still the pivotal Arab cause. At the same time, the subliminal talk of extremist groups calling for jihad in Syria could be heard in the pulpits of mosques, reminding us of jihadists' work in Afghanistan during the past century against the Soviet Union.

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