Yemeni factions fighting the Iran-backed Houthis are united mainly in one thing — their opposition to the rebels who control the country’s north and have recently advanced along its Red Sea coastline.
asserted
who → fight → coastline
But beyond that, the groups fighting under the banner of Yemen’s internationally recognized government are divided by geography, foreign patronage and competing visions for what their country should look like if the Houthis are pushed back.
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Houthis → fight → what
In a month of intense fighting that saw the Houthis’ biggest land grab in years, factions of the anti-Houthi coalition lost their hold of Mokha, a strategic city on the Red Sea, and islands in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait further south.
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factions → see → Strait
The advance ended a truce that had been in place since 2022 and had calmed a devastating civil war.
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that → end → war
Neighboring Saudi Arabia is trying to weld the factions — amounting to thousands of fighters — into a more unified force, but their divisions have raised questions about their ability to halt the Houthi offensive that now has the rebels perched on one of the world’s busiest waterways.
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that → neighbor → waterways
The Houthis’ unified command and goals have helped their swift expansion, rather than any single military advantage, said Adam Baron, a fellow at New America, a Washington-based think tank.
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Baron → help → America
“For the Houthis, that makes it so much easier to fight this battle: one coherent movement on one side, and a loosely linked umbrella group on the other,” he said.
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he → make → other
Here is what we know about the anti-Houthi factions:
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know → know → factions
The factions have been shaped by Saudi-Emirati rivalry
Saudi Arabia formed a coalition to fight the Houthis in 2015, a year after the rebels overran the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and much of the country’s north, driving the government into the south.
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rebels → shape → south
In the south, an array of militias and armed groups arose over the years, ostensibly to back the government against the rebels.
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array → arise → rebels
Over the years, rivalries grew between Saudi-backed factions and others backed by the United Arab Emirates, as the two regional powerhouses competed for control over the coalition as well as Yemen’s coastal regions overlooking strategic shipping lanes.
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powerhouses → grow → lanes
The factions repeatedly clashed on the ground.
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factions → clash → ground
After Emirati-backed southern separatist factions intensified clashes last year, Saudi Arabia carried out airstrikes against a suspected Emirati weapons shipment to southern Yemen.
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Arabia → back → Yemen
In January, the UAE said it pulled out of Yemen’s war, ending its support for factions on the ground.
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it → say → ground
Bringing fighters under one umbrella is proving difficult
Now as a single patron, Saudi Arabia is trying to absorb under its command and funding structure the factions that spent years operating with other loyalties.
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that → bring → loyalties
Some commanders have been reluctant to give up autonomy and their own revenue sources.
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commanders → give → autonomy
A main faction is the National Resistance Forces, established in 2017 and long backed by the UAE.
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faction → establish → UAE
With an estimated 30,000 fighters, it has been considered one of the best-armed factions, according to the Washington-based Middle East Institute.
uncertain
it → estimate → Institute
It was the main group holding Yemen’s Red Sea coast but not the only one.
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It → hold → coast
The Giants Brigades was also part of the command overseeing the coast.
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Brigades → oversee → coast
Also once funded by the UAE, it broke with other Emirati allies last year and is now backed by the Saudis.
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it → fund → Saudis
Mistrust between the two runs deep.
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Mistrust → run → two
The National Resistance Forces is made up largely of Yemenis from the north, led by a commander related to the country’s former autocrat, Ali Abdullah Saleh, who died at the hands of the Houthis in 2017.
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who → make → 2017
The Giants Brigades is dominated by tribesmen from the south who are mostly Salafis — an ultraconservative movement within Sunni Islam — and who hold bitter memories of Saleh’s rule.
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who → dominate → rule
Officials say leadership disputes and lack of coordination between the factions were a major factor in their defeat by the Houthis as they moved along the coast.
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they → say → coast
The Saudis are trying to build a new Yemen command
Saudi Arabia also has been trying to build an umbrella group to unify Yemeni factions, called the National Shield.
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Arabia → try → factions
Established in January 2023, it reports to Rashad al-Alimi, the Saudi-based chairman of the Presidential Council, the leadership body of Yemen’s internationally recognized government.
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it → establish → government
The National Shield is dominated by Salafi fighters with close ties to Saudi Arabia.
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Shield → dominate → Arabia
It also includes tribal fighters, with some absorbed from the previously UAE-backed separatists.
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some → include → separatists
Composed of three divisions with tens of thousands of fighters, it operates in the sprawling central province of Hadramawt and areas in southern and eastern Yemen.
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it → compose → Yemen
The group also controls Yemen’s main land borders with Saudi Arabia and Oman.
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group → control → Arabia
The National Shield is not yet trying to bring the National Resistance and Giants into its forces.
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Shield → try → forces
But it was weakened for years by the UAE, which saw it as too close to Yemen’s branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islah party.
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which → weaken → Brotherhood
Instead, the UAE built a network of other groups as proxies.
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UAE → build → proxies
Now, army forces as well as Islah-connected armed groups are stationed in the oil-rich region of Marib, one of the current front lines with the Houthis.
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forces → connect → Houthis
Southern separatists have threatened government forces
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separatists → threaten → forces
For years, one of the strongest forces against the Houthis was the Southern Transitional Council, an umbrella group of armed factions that sought to restore southern Yemen as an independent country, as it was from 1967-1990.
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it → seek → 1967
The UAE funded and armed the council, which fought the Houthis but also frequently clashed with the government, based in the southern port city of Aden.
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which → fund → Aden
The council’s leadership was dismantled in January when the UAE quit Yemen.
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UAE → dismantle → Yemen
But its cause still has supporters, and earlier this month, a group of them attacked a convoy of the Yemeni defense minister, Lt. Gen. Taher al-Aqili, in the southern province of Dhale.
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group → have → Dhale
…and 2 more, not listed.
The Aporia
