May 5, 2015

Today’s Middle East, basically a battlefield between two opposing powers, is for many becoming an impossible place to live. Saudi Arabia and Iran are engaged in a series of proxy wars causing endless problems among Muslim states and the grassroots, where de facto animosity is increasing on both sides of the war front. Sectarianism is proving itself the only language spoken, but it is also clear that the heart of the struggle is political and involves history imported from hundreds of years ago to the present.

Yemen is the struggle’s newest arena. There the Saudis are leading a coalition arrayed against Iran’s close ally, Ansar Allah, the movement led by Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the Zaydi Shiite leader and descendant of a family from Saada, near the Saudi border. Over the course of a few months, forces led by Houthi advanced to the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and the southern capital, Aden, forcing Saudi-backed President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to step down. The Houthis view him as the main hurdle to national unity.

With the war ongoing, people awoke April 29 to news of a political reshuffling in Saudi Arabia: a new crown prince, Mohammed bin Nayef, also the interior minister; a new second-in-line, Mohammed bin Salman, the defense minister; and a new foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir. The appointments were interpreted as a major shift and raised questions about possible changes in Saudi Arabia's domestic and foreign policies, including Riyadh’s battles with Tehran.

Abdullah al-Shammari, a former Saudi diplomat and columnist, and Mohammed Marandi, head of Tehran University’s world studies faculty, expressed pessimism about the future when asked their thoughts on the shuffle and whether there might be a chance of Saudi-Iranian tensions being contained.

Marandi stated, “Changes in [Saudi Arabia] are seen here as a major sign of weakness and a major split within the Saudi ruling family.” He also said, “Since Saudi Arabia is not a state with a civil society that can play a role in policymaking, everything is confined within the royal family, and a split within could lead to serious problems in the future. This comes at a time when the Saudis are making more enemies in Yemen, Iraq and Syria. They are surrounding themselves with enemies as a result of their policies.”