US News and World Report quotes South Asia Center Nonresident Senior Fellow Barbara Slavin on Yemen’s former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his role in the current conflict in the country:
“He’s a good snake dancer,” says Barbara Slavin, an Iran expert and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center. She expresses doubts at the ability of countries like Saudi Arabia to wage conventional war far away from its borders, and sees the current conflict as much about personal vendettas against Saleh as it is about international fears over Iran’s involvement.
“It’s tribal. It’s bloody. It’s not just the Houthis, there are other tribes trying to break away and have more influence over the government,” she says. “What we’re seeing is an effort by the Saudis to force the Houthis to accept Hadi.”