Expanding the Yemen War: The Muslim Civil War

The Saudi Arabian war against rebels in Yemen has opened the flood gate for a larger confrontation between Sunni and Shi'a Muslims. Traditions obliged, Sunni Muslims have always been dependent on Saudi Arabia and support its control of the two 'Holy Cities' while the Shi'a communities in the Middle East always looked to Iran as the main Shi'a center. The conflict is now swelling into who has the absolute right to be the 'Custodian' of the two Holy Cities? The recent Saudi resumption of the bombing of Northern Yemeni villages, hot bed of Shi'a fighters, is an example of how dangerous the Yemeni war is. There seem to be no end to the conflict which is entering a different phase altogether. The conflict has seen the escalation from Houtis fighting Yemeni and Saudi soldiers to Iranian Peshmerger joining the battle on the side of the Houtis. The other escalation was in the type of weapons used by the Houtis which changed from small firearms and RPG's to more heavy equipment which the Saudi suspected the rebels obtained from Syria, Iran and the Hizbollah in South Lebanon.
This escalation signified the 'Internationalization' of the conflict which started as a Yemen home based trouble into a regional one with the Saudi's entering into action with bombings and military intervention on foot inside Yemen. The internationalization continued with the U.S. aiding the Yemenis and the Saudis in the first protacted war between the U.S. and Iran. The U.S. pushing Saudi Arabia and Yemen to crush the pro-Iranian Houtis and the Al-Qaeda Yemen and using this war to attempt at proving links between the Iranians and the anti-American Sunni rebels inside the Al-Qaeda. Meanwhile, Iran is not sleeping on the bedrock as it is balancing the act with full support to the Houtis and in secret, channeling weapons to the Yemen Qaeda though Tehran is too quick to deny this element in the Yemen war.
The United States is looking for a very solid and air-tight reason to attack Iran. With President Barack Obama at the helm, the U.S. is not bound to make silly moves but will be forced to act against the Iranians over their nuclear program if the Iranians proves to be a nosey neighbor in the Saudi or Yemeni affairs. The U.S. as usual finds it necessary and legitimate to interfere in the affairs of the Islamic world but when a Muslim nation interferes in the same affairs of the Islamic world, it offends the U.S. This is the strategy of the enlarging of the Yemeni war beyond bombs and tombs, torn limbs and shattered future. The United States helped sparked the Yemen fight in a real bid to create an intra-Islamic civil war, a war between Shi'a and Sunnis and Iran V/s Saudis-Yemenis. Iran is Shi'a dominated and the Saudis-Yemenis are Sunni dominated. The equation does not need a rocket scientist or a genius to crack.
To succeed in creating a Civil War among Muslims, one has to be able to use 'religious' elements to incite anger, hatred and the need for revenge. The Americans learned this in Karbala and Basrah where the Blackwater helped and assisted rogue elements in planting bombs that destroyed historical Shi'a sites. The acts of terror by the U.S. was later blamed on the Sunni's who as a matter of fact has no reason to blow historical sites where 'Sunni' historical figures are burried. The Shi'a and the Sunni Muslims shares many of the same 'religious' icons and they include the grandsons of the Prophet of Islam, Peace Be Upon Him.
With the terror acts, the Shi'as and the Sunni's turned against each other and that triggered the bloody years of bombings, revenge attacks. hatred and anger between the Shi'a and SUnni communities who lived peacefully - albeit in a certain degree of fear - under the Saddam Husein regime.
The Yemen war took an even more dangerous curve when the Saudi Arabian regime showered the Houtis villages in Yemen with a religiously inclined leaflet that showed the pictures of the Holy Cities in Saudi Arabia with the writings: Saudi Arabia is the 'Custodian' of the Holy Cities and it has the right to protect its territory against aggression. It also said in essence that the rebels had to lay down their weapons and accept 'Saudi' dominance since the Saudi royal family was the highest 'Religious' authorities in the Islamic world.
This type of judgmental error started a world wide campaign against the Saudis, with pro-Shi'a elements questioning the right of the Saudi's to 'hijack' the two Holy cities, Makkah and Madinah and in some extreme cases they Saudis were called 'Zionist' and 'American' collaborators who are violating the sanctity of the Holy Cities and using the Holy Cities to pursue an unjust war against Shi'a Houtis in Yemen.
In this type of situation, there is no better way to keep the war in Yemen simmering with the ultimate goal of forcing Iran to act against the Saudi's in their claims of being the 'highest' Islamic religious authorities in the world. In the event Iran lay claims to the right to 'run' and 'administer' the Holy Cities, it will altogether signify the 'right' of the U.S. to defend the Saudis by 'bombing' Iran.

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