Yemeni president loses control as Shiite rebels storm the presidential palace

Yemen may next on the list of Middle Eastern countries whose leadership has changed, following the capture of the presidential palace in Sanna, by a group of Shitte Houthi rebels.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The attack took place on January 20, and led to the Yemeni Minister of Information, Nadia Sakkaf, to declare that the Yemeni President "has no control" in his own country.

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Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, the President of Yemen, is believed to have been in his private home at the time of the attack, but reports of fights near that residence have also surfaced, though can not be confirmed.

What happens if the current regime loses control of Yemen, and why should the West, or more specifically the United States care?

Yemen is the center of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), a terrorist cell that controls one of the largest organized terrorist networks this side of the Islamic State. AQAP was behind the Charlie Hebdo and Parisian terrorist attacks earlier this month, as well as several other failed attempts, such as one plot to blow up a plane that was landing in Detroit back in 2009.

While the AQAP is a Sunni Muslim organization and Shiite Muslim militant groups are not affiliated, fighting two or three different insurgent forces is much too difficult for the Yemeni government.

Being weakened by the Houthi rebels is just opening the door for an al-Qaeda controlled country. If Yemen would stop persecuting their Shiite minority, they might have been able to avoid this entire mess, but like much of the Middle East, the name of the game is oppression.

Houthi rebel leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi gave a televised speech from a television network based in Beirut Lebanon and controlled by the Houthis.

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"We are victims of corruption and false promises," he said. "The government did not respect the peace and partnership deal from September. We are trying to bring some legitimacy to the government.

"Yemeni people have two options-to move against the foreign agendas, or stand against them firmly since they seek to spread chaos in Yemen. This is why we moved the Yemeni people though many powers inside and outside Yemen are angered. But the Yemeni people are with us and understand our goals."

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