Analysis | Yemen’s ex-president Saleh pivots towards Saudis, throwing alliances and his war-torn nation into turmoil

Yemen’s prodigal son has returned: strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh’s political shift towards Saudi Arabia could change the face and future of the war in Yemen, isolating his one-time allies, the Houthis.

Simmering resentment between Saleh and the Houthi rebels over money, power-sharing and suspected back door dealings exploded at the weekend when the ex-president announced he was open to talks with Saudi Arabia and its allies, with whom he was once allied and against whom he has been fighting for nearly three years.

The dissolution of the fraught Saleh-Houthi camp, predicted since its inception, and the subsequent shuffling of alliances in Yemen will play out as a definitive turning point in the conflict – one that is not necessarily for the better, analysts warn.

And for civilians trapped by fighting between the Iran-backed Houthis and Saleh loyalists in Sanaa, their future in a country already devastated by war, poverty, disease and hunger hangs in the balance.

“There is no doubt this is a turning point, but it is not clear to where,” said April Longley Alley, an Arabian Peninsula researcher with the International Crisis Group.

“Battles in the capital are ongoing and they are poised to get worse. This could be a very bloody fight.”