29 Killed in Reactionary Attack by Suspected Al-Qaeda Militants, Yemen.

Wednesday October 8 saw the deaths of 29 people in the Yemen capital city of Sana'a during an alleged Al-Qaeda run attack on a number of Yemeni security and government official buildings, including an intelligence agency office, security headquarters and military camp. 

The attacks, run simultaneously at a number of strategic locations throughout the city, set in motion clashes between Houthi rebel groups, suspected Al-Qaeda militants and Yemeni security forces in an area that has been rocked by rapid and violent political change over the past three weeks.

On September 21^st Zaydi Shi'ite anti-government rebel group the Houthi's all but took Yemen capital Sana'a as a stronghold, signing a power-share agreement between the Yemeni government and the Houthi's political arm, Ansarullah. The agreement brokers for a number of political reformations, most importantly a reinstitution of fuel subsidies, the removal of which angered citizens and sparked nation-wide protests in July.

The build up to a rebel take-over began early in 2004 with a Houthi rebellion against the Yemeni government in response to a $55,000 bounty and subsequent arrest of Hussein al-Houthi, for whom the group is named. Claims of marginalisation and government instigated Shia discrimination have echoed through the Yemeni streets ever since, accompanied by no less than six violent wars throughout the 2009 to 2011 period, in which the Saudi Arabian forces were directly implicated along with allegations of U.S attacks targeting Houthi rebel groups.

Houthi claims of Al-Qaeda backing within the Yemeni government, inter-government corruption, and U.S drone strikes targeting Al-Qaeda in North Yemen further complicate the issue. Whilst many Sana'a residents have expressed a relatively peaceful Houthi presence, claiming the group have made moves toward improving infrastructure and availability of electricity, there are concerns of a Sunni blowback response from within Yemen, and the memory of past Saudi attacks lurks anxiously in the back of Sana'a citizen's minds.

The rebel coup in Sana'a and subsequent violent Al-Qaeda response has been vastly over-shadowed by the conflicts in Syria and Iraq, however the erupting violence in Yemen has the potential to overflow in to neighbouring Arab nations, re-igniting previous rivalries and re-opening old political wounds, spelling trouble for U.S and allied presence in the area who could get caught in the crossfire.

By Erin Lawson