THE war in Yemen is the archetypal quarrel in a faraway country between people of whom the world knows nothing. Sometimes, though, its internal power struggles become enmeshed in wider geopolitical contests—rarely to its benefit. In the 1960s the rivalry between monarchists and Arab nationalists split the Arab world. Egypt intervened on the side of the nationalist republicans against the loyalists of the Zaydi imamate, backed by Saudi Arabia. These days the great division is the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which feeds sectarianism between Sunnis and Shias respectively. Now Saudi Arabia and Egypt are allies, intervening to support Sunnis against the Houthis, a northern Zaydi militia, that is backed by Iran.

Three weeks into the air campaign, and with civilian casualties growing, there is little sign that the Saudi-led coalition has much of a political or military strategy. The Latin name for the land, Arabia Felix (Happy Arabia) seems a mockery: the poorest country in the Arab world is being bombed by one of the richest.

For America, which backs the Saudi operation with logistical help and intelligence, Yemen presents two dangers: it is a breeding ground for transnational jihadists (al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is the most dangerous of the group’s branches) and it offers Iran an opportunity to extend its influence and nurture a Shia ally that, some fear, might become akin to Hizbullah in Lebanon. Both risks are being exacerbated by the chaos.

The Houthis fought repeated conflicts with the Yemeni government led by the former strongman, Ali Abdullah Saleh. Amid a popular uprising, the president stepped down in 2011 and power passed to a transitional government led by Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi. But the Houthis, now allied with Mr Saleh, took the capital, Sana’a, last September and then marched on Aden, to which Mr Hadi had fled.

The tangled geopolitics of the Middle East Sectarianism has not been strong in Yemen, and there is much uncertainty about how much support Iran provides the Houthis. Rhetorically, though, Iran’s backing has become strident. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, said Saudi attacks in Yemen amounted to genocide. In one tweet, he mocked the recently enthroned King Salman, and especially his son and defence minister, Prince Muhammad, who is in his thirties: “inexperienced #youngsters have come to power & replaced composure w barbarism”. Amid the chaos, al-Qaeda has taken over Mukalla, a Yemeni port—although it suffered a setback when an American drone strike killed one of its leaders on April 15th.