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Shi’ite rebels who stormed through Yemen’s capital Sana’a unopposed last month are now expected to seal their grip on the country by capturing oilfields and the strategically located Bab al-Mandeb strait.
Huthi militiamen stormed in the capital on September 21st and easily took over government facilities, and now run checkpoints and patrols in the city as security forces are nowhere to be seen.The Huthi rebels, who the Yemeni government says are backed by Shi’ite-ruled Iran, have refused to leave Sana’a despite an UN-mediated deal which would give them more power in the Sunni-dominated Yemeni government.
According to sources, the Huthis are now looking to take over the narrow Bab al-Mandeb strait, which leads into the Suez Canal, and oilfields in the province of Marib.
Bab al-Mandeb is a strategically crucial choke-point, with its Arabian shores only 40 kilometers away from Africa. According to the US Energy Information Administration, an estimated 3.4 million barrels of oil were transported across the strait every day in 2011. However, the rebels will likely look to take over the export terminal Hudeida on the Red Sea first, where they had opened an office last week. Experts feel that the Huthis want control over Bab-al-Mandeb and the coastal regions Makha and Dhubab, thereby controlling the passage of smuggling in the country.
Acting under the guise of the “Popular Committees”, the rebels are looking to oversee public finance through “systematic control” of the central bank and the finance ministry, employees of the central bank said.According to sources, the Huthis have also created a parallel justice system with a “complaints office”, resembling an Islamic court and headed by Abdulkarim Emireddine Badreddine al-Huthi, the nephew of their leader Abdulmalik al-Huthi.
They are also looking to grab the country’s oil reserves in the province of Marib, hoping that with the help of ally tribes, they can gain control of gas and oil wealth, and the main power plant which supplies electricity to Sana’a.
However, according to local sources, such a plan would face resistance from tribes against the Huthis, particularly the Murad and Abida tribes, who have already mobilized armed men. Additionally, the rebels could provoke a fight with al-Qaeda militants in Marib, who remain in the province.