Protest in Jakarta against Saudi aggression in Yemen. April 8,2015. Demotix/Baby Swaransky. All rights reserved..As the Iraqi army and Shia militias seized the Iraqi city of Tikrit from the Islamic State (IS), they unearthed a number of mass graves containing the bodies of Shia men and boys. Witnesses speak of IS fighters taking at least 1,700 captured Iraqi soldiers and sorting out the Shias from the group. They were then lined up in front of freshly dug trenches and murdered in droves. Many more such graves will likely be found in the coming months in and around Tikrit, Mosul and elsewhere.
The world, despite its revulsion, did not do enough to prevent these attacks. And in Yemen today Saudi Arabia, its Sunni allies and the United States are in fact helping to create conditions where similar attacks on Shias may once again occur.
Starting in September last year, the Houthis, a Zaydi Shia movement, proceeded to take over the capital and large portions of the country, including its major population centres. The Houthis brought some fighters and hardware, but most of their military might came from the large portion of the Yemeni armed forces loyal to the former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.
