Instability Persists in Yemen

Three opposition soldiers loyal to defected Yemeni Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar were killed in clashes March 28 with Republican Guard troops, a force led by one of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh's sons. A deal brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and signed by Saleh in November 2011 removed Saleh from the presidency, but it did not remove him or his family from Yemen's political, military or economic domains. The country's new president, Abd Rabboh Mansour Hadi, has tried to fill his Cabinet with more of his allies, but Saleh continues to try to undermine the GCC deal.

The Yemeni government has been preoccupied with internal power struggles, Cabinet reshuffles and fighting in Sanaa between Mohsen's and Saleh's factions. In the meantime, groups on the periphery of Yemen, namely the al-Houthi Zaidi rebels in the north and the secessionist movement and al Qaeda in the south, will take advantage of Sanaa's distraction to intensify their own operations.