Michael Rubin, American Enterprise Institute – About a month after U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing the State Department to begin designating certain branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations, Saudi Arabia has taken a different approach. This approach has allowed the Muslim Brotherhood some leeway in neighboring Yemen, while Riyadh continues to repress the group within its own borders.
This behavior achieves two goals for the Saudi authorities.
Firstly, this approach allows Riyadh to appease the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters, enabling them to export their ideology and violence abroad while simultaneously cracking down on them within the Kingdom.
Secondly, Saudi policy in this context demonstrates a prioritization of regional conflict considerations and self-interest. This comes at the expense of international efforts to achieve stability and security in Yemen, including its relationship with the United Arab Emirates.
Saudi Arabia’s decision to bomb southern forces in Mukalla suggests a return to pre-9/11 Saudi policy. Before al-Qaeda’s attacks on New York and Washington, Saudi Arabia had been the world’s largest driver and funder of Islamic extremism for decades. It continued to support radical Islamic causes even after those attacks, only beginning to crack down when Islamist terrorists started attacking the kingdom itself.
It was no surprise that Saudi Arabia faced repercussions from this support; every country that backs extremist Islamist groups beyond its borders eventually faces their violence within its own territory. Pakistan, Syria, and Turkey have all learned this lesson. Saudi Arabia will be no exception if it resumes its support for the violent branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in Yemen.
The role of the Islah Party members is not limited to smuggling weapons to the Houthis, but they also provide support to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Riyadh may seek to curb Abu Dhabi’s influence, but doing so by empowering groups designated or accused of terrorism is unwise. The Islah Party has facilitated smuggling routes through Hadramawt to Houthi forces, who are fighting to control Yemeni oil fields near Marib. Saudi authorities must decide what is more important: a force allied with the UAE consolidating its control, or a resurgence of the Houthis.
Saudi-Houthi relations are complex. After the Houthis seized control of the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, Saudi Arabia initially moved to confront them. However, after successive US administrations, including those of Barack Obama and Joe Biden, as well as Donald Trump’s second term, withdrew their support for the Saudis in their fight against the Houthis, Riyadh concluded that the United States was no longer on its side and decided instead to appease the group.
This approach might succeed in the short term, but it will be disastrous in the long run, because the Houthis are as much an ideological adversary as they are a tribal group.
Trump favors a non-interventionist approach in the region and largely views Saudi Arabia through the lens of its investment potential. However, given Saudi Arabia’s renewed tolerance of the Muslim Brotherhood and its undermining of counterterrorism efforts in Yemen, he and the State Department should reject this duplicitous policy, halt arms shipments, and impose sanctions on any Saudi official or private citizen whose actions enable or support the Islah Party.
Saudi Arabia deceived the United States before the events of September 11, 2001. Recent Saudi actions in southern Yemen demonstrate that it is not only the Americans who have reverted to a pre-9/11 mindset. Saudi Arabia, too, has forgotten the lessons of that period and is now laying the groundwork for a possible recurrence.
Michael Rubin
A senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, specializing in Middle Eastern affairs, particularly Iran and Turkey.
He previously held positions at the U.S. Department of Defense and served in the field in Iran, Yemen, and Iraq. He also had contact with the Taliban prior to the September 11 attacks.
He has contributed to military education, teaching U.S. Navy and Marine Corps units on regional conflicts and terrorism.
His most notable books include *Dancing with the Devil* and *Eternal Iran*.
He holds a PhD and an MA in history, and a BA in biology from Yale University.
