In the recent months, there have been massive anti-regime protests and demonstrations that are supported by a large part of the society. While, two weeks before the Tunisian revolution, the constitutional amendment which would enable that the President Abdullah Saleh stay in power for life was on the agenda, in the month of March both the government was made resigned and Abdullah Saleh was obliged to declare that he would leave the power within 2011. During the period when the high-ranking generals of the army started to support the opposition, President Saleh, in his declaration, stated that Yemen did not resemble to Tunis and Egypt and brought forward the possibility of a civil war. On the contrary, the opposition leaders pointed out that the only solution would be the immediate resignation of Abdullah Saleh.

Although he declared that he would resign from his office in 2011, Yassin Numan, one of the opposition leaders, expressed that the president must resign immediately or otherwise the demonstrations would go on until his resignation. [1] At the same time, the leader of the Hashid Tribal Confederation has withdrawn his support from Saleh. The fact that the government used force to suppress the protests caused that Abdullah Saleh has lost his legitimacy and support both within and outside of the country, but on the other side, some other clans have been accusing the opposition leaders of damaging the unity of the country. In that context, besides the Hutsis and also the tribes and the socialist groups in the Southern provinces, some powerful clans from the Hashid and Bakil tribal confederations, two of the most important clans of Yemen, have withdrawn their support from Abdullah Saleh, which was an important development. On the contrary, it is important to take into account that there are some clans from the both two tribal confederations that support Abdullah Saleh. But the as a result of the decline in the military and clan support, a number of people have resigned from the party in power, the army and the diplomatic missions of Yemen in the foreign countries. The fact that General Ali Muhsin Saleh, the brother of the Head of State, started to support the opposition side during the time when the post-Saleh period has been discussed has been interpreted as a sign of that the Abdullah Saleh Regime is coming to an end.

The Opposing Parties, Groups and Leaders against Abdullah Saleh

The rule of Abdullah Saleh has been facing with a serious opposition movement both on the South and North of the country for a long time. However, Saleh had succeeded to receive the support of the army and the tribes for his combat with the Hutsi on the North, the Al-Qaida on the South and Yemen’s Southern Separatist Movement. But the suppression of the riots on the North failed, the conflicts among the Northern tribes were criticized by the Zeydis in Yemen and besides the Army the usage of Special Forces by Abdullah Saleh became the matter of debate. Therefore, it means that before the events of 2011 Saleh’s rule had already lost an important part of his domestic support. In 2011 a very short time before the outbreak of the massive protests in Tunis and Egypt, the fact that Abdullah Saleh put on the agenda the legal amendments which would enable him to be reelected as the President in the post-2013 period brought about the criticisms and some tribe leaders declared that they are against the new amendments. And during the period when the law was being discussed in the Parliament, the Yemeni opposition groups and the leaders tried to attract attention to the power problem in Yemen by means of the street demonstrations. Just after the Tunisian revolution, firstly the students in the San’a University and some non-governmental organization started to organize protests for the purpose of making Saleh also resign from his office. However, the low number of participation which lasted for a long time encouraged Saleh to resist both the reform and resignation demands. However the use of excessive force particularly against the protests organized in the San’a University caused the withdrawal of the support given to Saleh’s rule. The tribes supported their members who lost their lives as a result of the use of force by the regime and accused the Republican Guard and Special Forces for trying to suppress the peaceful protests by use of force. But the continuation of the use of force in spite of the criticisms have caused that the powerful groups that desire to maintain their influence on the Yemeni politics and economics have withdrawn their support that they gave to the current rule.

In that context, it is seen that the primary leaders leading the opposition side, in this new era, are the leaders of the Hashid Tribal Confederation. The Hashid Tribal Confederation including Abdullah Saleh as well is the most important organized group in Yemen and it is consisted of 9 sub-clans a great part of which have supported the opposition. Some powerful clans from the Bakil Tribal Confederation supporting the Hutsis also have given support to the opposition. Both of these two tribal confederations came from the Hamdan Clan and are among the important clans that have taken place in the power struggle through the Yemeni history. Althouth there are some other clans such as Murad, Ans, Zabid which do not come either from Hashid or from Bakil, none of them have been so effective in the political and military structure of Yemen as those. [2] Sheikh Sadiq Al Ahmar, one of the leaders of the Hashid Confederation, in his declaration that he did during the time when the amendment about the prohibition related to the term of office of the President was being discussed, blamed Abdullah Saleh for damaging the stability of Yemen and trying to be an pharaoh. [3] And Hamad, the brother of Saleh, demanded an immediate resignation of President Saleh for the sake of stability in the country by giving a direct support to the opposition. It has been claimed that Hamad Al Ahmar has been planning to be the new president after Abdullah Saleh. Abdullah Saleh, in his meetings with the Yemeni religious men and some opposition groups, had claimed that Hamad Al Ahmar is behind the protests. [4] Sheik Hussein Al Ahmar and Himyar Al Ahmar (the vice president of the assembly) who resigned from the party in power declared that they will protect the protesters by the means of the forces of their clans. President Abdullah Saleh and the Ahmar Family are originated from the Sanhan Clan which is one of the clans composing the Hashid Tribal Confederation. The Sanhan Clan has also been known as the House of Ahmar (Beyt al Ahmar) in the region of Sanhan. While the President is also originated from the same clan, he is a member of a different tribe from the one of the Ahmar Family.  Some clans from the Bakil Tribal Confederation which has been supporting the opposition and which is the most powerful tribal confederation in terms of amount have been giving support to the anti-Saleh protests. Sheik Amin Al-Okaimi, one of the leaders that are bound to the Bakil, participated directly in the protests in San’a with the members of the clans. [5]