It is an axiom in mainstream analyses of the Middle East that Sunni and Shii Muslims overwhelmingly operate in society based on their sectarian identity and not much else, regardless of their location (Iraq, Syria, Yemen), profession, tribal or regional affiliations, or other economic and political factors. It is a slight variation on the larger manner in which Muslims, particularly in the West, are deemed to interact in society solely based on their “Muslimness,” where aspects of their identities- whether they are mothers, doctors, businessman, or possibly gamers– are deemed subsidiary to their membership in a religion that has over a billion adherents. The obvious unacceptability of such an approach as applied to members of other religions and ethnicities need not be recounted here.
The latest example of Shii-Sunni determinism, where Shiis and Sunnis act as Shiis and Sunnis and little else matters, can be seen no better than the ongoing media coverage of events unfolding in Yemen. It is a conflict deemed to be developing as a proxy war between the country’s Houthi rebels, seen as backed by Shii Iran, and a coalition of mainly Sunni Arab states, led by Saudi Arabia, supporting the ousted President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi. As the NY Times wrote on March 22, 2015: “The conflict has taken on the features of a regional proxy war, with Iran backing the Houthis, whose leaders are Zaydi Shiites, and Saudi Arabia and the other regional Sunni monarchies backing Mr. Hadi.”
This belief, and now likely occurrence, of a sectarian proxy war in Yemen has largely been a self-fulfilling prophecy, as much the result of unqualified claims perpetuated by mainstream media outlets as from hype stemming from Saudi Arabian officials that the Houthis are backed by Iran and doing their bidding in Yemen. The claims are based on the Houthis practice of Zaydism. (Zaydism is an offshoot of mainstream Twelver Shiism, the predominant religion in Iran.) No matter that former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a onetime ally of the United States and Saudi Arabia who sought to rally tribal support in Yemen against the Houthis years prior, is now aligned with the Houthis and assisting them through his continued support by some in the military.