Saleh-Houthi alliance in Yemen on shaky ground

A long-simmering power struggle between Yemen’s Houthi rebels and former president Ali Abdullah Saleh has burst into the open, threatening to undermine their alliance against the internationally-recognised government and its Saudi-led backers.

For 34 years, Saleh ruled over one of the world’s most heavily armed and tribal societies with expertly balanced doses of largesse and force. 

He battled the Houthis for a decade in office before he befriended them when out of power.

After seizing the capital Sanaa in September 2014, the Houthis tried to oust the internationally-recognised president of Yemen, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.

Security forces loyal to Saleh played a key role in helping the Houthis to sweep down from the north and capture the capital.  

TRT World's Abubakr al Shamahi reports

Fragile alliance

The tactical alliance between Saleh and the Houthis has often appeared fragile, with both groups suspicious of each other’s ultimate motives and sharing little ideological ground.

The biggest rift between the two alliance came after a Yemeni colonel loyal to Saleh was killed in a clash at a rebel checkpoint in the southern neighbourhood of Hadda in southwestern Sanaa.

After the incident, Saleh’s party released a statement accusing a "group that knows no morality or oaths" of being behind the killing – a thinly-veiled reference to the Houthis.

A war of words between Saleh and rebel leader Houthi has escalated in the past weeks.

The two have publicly accused each other of treason, with Saleh hinting his allies were merely "a militia" and the rebels warning the former president he would "bear the consequences" of the insult.