October 10, 2014 Issue

Workers clear broken glass from the windows of an office building belonging to the business tycoon, Tawfeek Abdo Al-Raheem, in Sanaa, capital of Yemen. Shi’ite Houthi rebels have seized control of much of Sanaa and are now the dominant political force in the country following the 2012 uprising that overthrew Ali Abdulla Saleh. But Ansar al-Sharia, a group linked to Yemen’s al-Qaeda branch and which has carried out numerous attacks on military and civilian buildings linked to the US-allied Yemeni government, is now targeting the Houthis. Ansar al-Sharia adheres to an austere brand of Sunni Islam which views Shi’ites as heretics