WASHINGTON – The resignation of Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and the takeover by Iranian-backed Houthi Shiite rebels helps extend Iran’s influence into Yemen but doesn’t necessarily give Tehan control of the entire country, which also is home to al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, according to analysts.
The Houthi takeover of the Yemeni capital of Sanaa could splinter the country, placing neighboring Saudi Arabia in greater jeopardy not only from threats from AQAP and ISIS but also by igniting more rebellion in Saudi Arabia’s eastern province. The province, which is predominantly Shiite, is in the region of the Saudi kingdom’s oil production.
Iran gains the most from the two developments, said Liz Cheney, one-time Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate and the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, in a brief Fox News interview.
While the Houthis are against AQAP, they also are anti-American.
“(The Houthis) hate al-Qaida,” one former U.S. official told the London Daily Mail, “but they also hate the United States.”
Cheney said that as Iran now extends its influence well into Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, the Obama administration is suffering further loss with the development in Yemen as well as the death of Saudi King Abdullah.
Mathew Levitt, director of the Washington Institute’s Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, said the current crisis in Yemen adversely affects U.S. counter-terrorism efforts.
“The country has become a safe haven for both sides of extremists,” Levitt said. “Sunni extremists could control the southern part of the country while Shiite extremists could control the north,” he said.
Levitt said there is a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia as well as a sectarian conflict going on at the same time.
“While this is happening in other places, Yemen just happens to be the most recent country where this is occurring,” he said.
The death of Saudi King Abdullah also may stop the flow of financing to Yemen that until now has propped up the Hadi government and helped U.S. counter-terrorism efforts, which also could be in jeopardy.
The fall of the Hadi government comes just months after President Obama declared U.S.-Yemeni counter-terrorism efforts "sucessful," even though AQAP has taken over more areas in the country and ISIS also has begun to make inroads.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., asserted Obama’s pronouncement of Yemen as a success reflects a “misguided” U.S. policy and shows that the president “is either delusional or misinformed.”
While Hadi submitted his resignation, the Yemeni parliament rejected it, meaning that under Article 115 of the Yemeni constitution, the president needs to wait three months before submitting a second resignation, which the parliament cannot reject.
As a result, Hadi would remain in power until April 22 if he were to resubmit his resignation.
While the Houthis control the Yemeni capital, one Middle East analyst speculated the Shiite group wasn’t necessarily seeking the overthrow of the government but was pushing for a political settlement that would give the group more autonomy in parts of the country.
The Yemeni parliament that remains in place is set to discuss further the prospect of a political settlement with the Houthis, who initially were offered some concessions but not enough.
Abu al-Malek Yousef al-Fishi, an ideologue of the Houthis, proposed setting up a presidential council that would include the Houthi-led groups, the army and some political parties.
In a Twitter message, Fishi said that with the resignation of Hadi, Yemen was heading toward “security, stability, tranquility and prosperity.”
“I propose setting up a presidential council of the honorable revolutionary and political components, and in which the army, security and popular committees will be represented, so everybody will participate in managing what remains of the transitional period,” Fishi said.
With Hadi’s resignation, the head of the Yemeni parliament now takes charge of the country.
Just after Hadi resigned, Yemeni Prime Minister Khalid Bahah also resigned, saying he didn’t want to be part of the country’s collapse.
That left the head of the Yemeni parliament, Yahya al-Rayi, temporarily in charge.
Analysts say Rayi, who has the backing of the former Yemeni president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, tends to be pro-Houthi.
If the government in Sanaa were to totally collapse, however, analysts say AQAP stands to benefit the most, since it gives the jihadist group that claimed responsibility for the Jan. 7 Paris terrorist attack even more areas to operate.