From the Houthi and the Brotherhood to the Taliban.. Qatar is the official sponsor of chaos
English - Tuesday 17 August 2021 الساعة 08:36 am
NewsYemen, a special report:
The sudden developments in Afghanistan, following the great rise of the Taliban, through its control of many Afghan cities and provinces, raised many questions about the possibility of repeating this scenario in Yemen as well.
While she recalled the role that the State of Qatar plays in Yemen, and the accompanying support, on more than one level, for political Islam groups, specifically the "Brotherhood" and "Houthis" groups, especially since Doha has emerged as a major player in returning the "Taliban". To the forefront of the scene in Afghanistan.
Although the progress of the "Taliban" easily shocked the world, it was not surprising for many Yemenis, as it made them recall the Qatari activities that preceded and paved the way for the Houthi takeover of Sanaa and other Yemeni cities in 2014.
Scenario one from Sanaa to Kabul
Years ago, representatives of the Taliban secretly arrived in Qatar to hold talks with Western officials to reach an agreement that would allow the US-led NATO to leave Afghanistan.
But the number of Taliban representatives and their activities in Qatar gradually increased. Now there are dozens of high-ranking leaders of the movement, classified as a terrorist organization, living in luxurious homes with their families in Doha, at the expense of the Qatari government.
While representatives of the movement were sitting at one table, in the Qatari capital, Doha, with an Afghan government delegation, Afghan cities were falling like dominoes in the hands of Taliban fighters.
Just as Qatar has become a favorite place and friend for the Taliban, its support for both the Houthis and the Brotherhood in Yemen is one of the most important causes of chaos and bloody conflict in the country, according to 900 documents leaked from the archives of the Yemeni intelligence service.
However, the roots of its relationship with the Houthi militia extend for more than a decade and a half, as Qatar played a role in supporting the group during its rebellion against the regime of the late Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and it fought six wars against the state in the far northern corner of Yemen.
Meanwhile, Qatar and its money formed a lifeline for the armed Houthi rebellion. While the group was receiving many defeats at the hands of the Yemeni army, in its main stronghold in Saada Governorate, Doha worked to sponsor an agreement between it and the Yemeni government, and supported Houthi with millions of dollars in the name of reconstruction of Saada.
And Qatari support contributed - at that time - to strengthening the Houthis' influence to confront the state, as they launched double attacks on army and security positions in Saada, which caused the outbreak of the fifth war, in which the militia had expanded to the Bani Hashish district, east of Sanaa.
In 2006, after the killing of the founder of the militia, Hussein al-Houthi, at the hands of government forces, and at a time when the state was close to burying the seed of the rebellion completely, the former Emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa, intervened to mediate, and the main goal at the time was to save the rest of the Houthis.
In the midst of the sixth war, Qatar intervened to save the Houthis, and the so-called Doha Agreement was signed on June 21, 2010, to stop the Yemeni army’s progress towards the mountainous “Matarah” area, the last Houthi stronghold in Saada, where their current leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi was present, in exchange for a brother The founder of the movement, Yahya, his father, Badr al-Din al-Houthi, and his uncle, Abdul Karim, are temporarily in Doha.
During that period, the Houthi militia was taking advantage of the calm period to rearrange its cards to repudiate the agreements, while using Qatar's money to build its military and political power and expand its influence, leading to the overthrow of Sanaa and most of the Yemeni cities, with facilities from the alliance of interim President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi and the Brotherhood.
Doha's support is not limited to the financial and media aspect, as it also includes the logistical aspect, according to what was revealed by leaked documents regarding the secret coordination of the Qatari intelligence with the founder of the Houthi group, Hussein al-Houthi.
Second stage of support
Since 2011 and what was known as the Arab Spring, the second phase of Qatari support for the Brotherhood and the Houthis began, by pushing them to the squares to demand the overthrow of the former regime, then directing the militia to invade Sanaa in late September 2014, and from there to Hodeidah, Taiz and the cities of the south.
This support has increased since Qatar was exempted from the Arab coalition, and it included several aspects, including political, financial and media, in addition to Doha moving its cards in the "Yemeni legitimacy" to confuse the Arab coalition and thwart its efforts to help the Yemenis restore the state.
Except that the Gulf crisis (the four-way boycott of Qatar) pushed this relationship to the fore, as the hidden was revealed to the public through the Qatari media in its various means through the flagrant bias of everything related to the Houthis and their attempt to cover up their crimes against the people of Yemen.
It does not seem that Doha is innocent of the recent deals to smuggle qualitative weapons that the Houthi militia began using against Saudi Arabia, especially drones and remote-controlled booby-trapped boats.
Strengthening the Houthi position militarily
The role that Qatar plays, whether in the “legitimacy” front through the Brotherhood, or through the Houthi militias, which receive increasing political, media and financial support from Doha, has led to field transformations in favor of the Houthis, recently, as they returned to control areas they lost 6 years ago. Especially in Sana'a, Marib, Al-Jawf, Al-Bayda, and later in Shabwa.
Analysts expect that the coming period of the Yemeni conflict will witness an escalation at all levels, and the confrontations will move to areas of legitimate influence, against the background of suspicious activities in the region and the world, which are carried out with logistical support from Iran, Qatar and Turkey.
It is believed that Qatari activity in Yemen is going through a new turn in light of the messages sent by Doha in terms of raising the level of its support for the Houthis, and hosting negotiations that bring them together with the Yemeni government, in parallel with the Islah party's move to thwart the coalition's efforts to implement the Riyadh Agreement and end the state of conflict in the anti-Houthi camp.
Analysts believe that the Qatari role in the next stage will extend to using the Brotherhood militias’ card that Doha funded under the cover of “legitimacy” to target the Arab coalition and other anti-Houthi components such as the Transitional Council and the Joint Forces on the West Coast.
