"Houthis are not so stupid to prevent ships from passing through the strait of Bab el-Mandeb in Yemen," Mohamed Mogahed al-Zayat, researcher at the National Middle East Studies Center told CBC Extra Channel on Tuesday evening.
The Peninsula Shield forces cannot resolve the situation in Yemen, he added.
If a regional military intervention took place in Yemen, it would turn into a jihadist hotbed for al-Qaeda and ISIS, especially given that the strongest branch of al-Qaeda already exists in Yemen, according to al-Zayat.
He also added that a civil war can be expected to break out between the Shia, represented by the Houthi rebels, and the Sunnis, represented by al-Qaeda in Yemen, given the availability of arms in the area.
The decisions of the GCC countries and the Security Council regarding the situation in Yemen are slow, and there is a lot of confusion with regard to the position of the US, he said, adding that "what is happening in Yemen, Syria and Iraq are means to exert pressure on Iran to offer concessions on its nuclear program."
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
