The betrayal of Shabwa stifles Marib.. Hadi and the Brotherhood alliance recognizes the new reality in Bayhan
English - Wednesday 20 October 2021 الساعة 08:44 am
Aden, NewsYemen, special:
About a month ago, the Houthi militia took control of the Bihan districts of Shabwa governorate (southeast of Yemen), without a fight. So far, there are no signs of an actual move by the kidnapped legitimacy of the Brotherhood's Islah party, to restore the strategic area.
By extrapolating the data on the ground, it is likely that the legitimate authority in its two wings (Interim President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi and the Islah Party, the local branch of the Muslim Brotherhood) does not have a serious tendency to confront the Houthis, as much as it appears reconciled with the new reality in Bayhan.
And last September, the Houthis took control of the districts of (Ain, Al-Olaya, and Asilan), after forces loyal to the Brotherhood, affiliated with the Yemeni government, withdrew from the three areas before the arrival of Houthi militants, to take control of them without any significant losses.
The Houthi militia had occupied several areas in Shabwa governorate, in April 2015, including Bayhan, but it was defeated under the pressure of a battle fought by the southern resistance with the support of tribesmen and the Arab coalition at the end of 2017.
And it returned last month to seize the areas west of Shabwa, after it tightened its control over the province of Al-Bayda, as it headed east towards the "Al-Qana'a" obstacle, from which the Brotherhood forces affiliated with the "legitimacy" banner withdrew, leaving behind about 80 square kilometers of the province's area for the Houthis.
Exorbitant cost for the Houthis' return to Baihan
The Houthi militia’s takeover of Baihan was a remarkable field transformation, as it later enabled it to encircle three districts in the adjacent Ma’rib governorate, leading to the overthrow of “Al-Abdiyyah” after a siege that lasted about 3 weeks, an area that it was unable to invade in 2015 and faced violent tribal resistance.
The Houthis have benefited a lot from what observers describe as the "betrayal of Shabwa" in strangling the Marib governorate, from its eastern and southern sides, and cutting off the road linking the two neighboring and southern governorates, in addition to the international road.
They affirm that the recent field developments in Marib and the setback of "Al-Abdiyyah" came as a natural result of the involvement of civil and military Brotherhood leaders, within the legitimacy system, in handing over Bayhan to the Houthi militia, which is confirmed by the fact that the group's forces in Ataq city did not move to restore the area.
Journalist and political writer Jalal Al-Sharabi criticized the state of silence on the part of the legitimate government and what he described as "allied with it with interests", regarding the process of handing over three directorates in Shabwa governorate to the Houthis, pointing out that what happened in Marib recently is a result of this handover.
Al-Sharabi confirmed, in a series of tweets on Twitter, that what happened in Shabwa was not only a betrayal of Marib and Shabwa, but of the Republic and Yemen, stressing that "reforming legitimacy, and removing (Ibn Adyo) is the only option in front of this betrayal."
He said that the governor, Muhammad Saleh bin Adyo, who is loyal to the Islah party, the local branch of the Brotherhood, "has become ready to open the door for the Houthis to enter the south, and sacrifice the blood of tribesmen and military fighters who are defending the republic in Ma'rib," in defiance of the Southern Transitional Council.
The Houthis’ retention of control over the region would pave the way for more military setbacks for the government forces and the tribes supporting them, and would facilitate their movement and overthrow more areas in the southern and eastern governorates, as the strategic location of Shabwa, in central Yemen, makes it link the east of the country to the west, north and south.
The governorate, which includes oil and gas fields, has wide borders with a number of Yemeni governorates, and overlooks a sea coast that extends more than 250 km, not to mention its large geographical area, as it is the third largest governorate in Yemen in area.
From the moments following its takeover of Baihan, the Houthi militia proceeded to perpetuate its sectarian ideology and practice extraneous religious and sectarian rituals on the population, taking advantage of what appears to be a "silent normalization by the Brotherhood's Islah Party with the new reality in Shabwa."
The Houthis are racing against time to funeral the Beihan community, transforming schools int something like sectarian camps; They use it to inflate the minds of young students, adolescents and youth, with their sectarian ideas, and indoctrinate them with the ideas of the group imported from Iran.
