[YEMENONLINE.INFO] Opponents of Yemen's Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the
Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is
God is Great, Death to Americaâ„¢, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews...
militia announced the formation of a national alliance on Saturday to restore the authority of the state, in a major shakeup of Yemen's political landscape.
Shi'ite Moslem Houthis invaded Yemen's capital, Sanaa, in September and dissolved parliament last month. That created a political vacuum which is threatening to push the towards a civil war.
The coalition, called the National Salvation Alliance, formally unites players from across Yemen's regional and ideological divides. It may strengthen their hand in ongoing United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
-backed talks for a unity government.
"Its goal is to protect the state from collapse and disintegration while seeking to build a federal, democratic Yemen which rejects militias no matter whose side they may be on," Manea al-Matari, a former protest organizer and a member of the bloc, told Rooters.
The seven parties include activists, Islamists and members of Yemen's former ruling party, who back President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi from his base in the country's South.
It replaces the Joint Meetings Party, an opposition umbrella group founded in 2005. It joined many of the same groups that opposed Hadi's predecessor, veteran autocrat President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
, until he was swept from power by Arab Spring protests in 2011.
There was no immediate comment from the Houthis or from U.N. mediator Jamal Benomar during an interview with pan-Arab channel Al Jazeera aired on Saturday.
"The ball is in the court of the political factions and parties. They have to be more serious this time, because the situation is very dangerous," Benomar said.