Yemen's former dictator, who was heavily backed by various US administrations, is responsible for turning a local rebellion into a national civil war.
"For years, the Americans saw President Ali Abdullah Saleh as a key ally in the fight against al-Qaeda. He allowed his air bases to be used by US drones to strike at the movement’s operatives, and gladly received Western aid in development cash and arms supplies.
"Yet according to claims in a United Nations report last month, one of the first things Mr Saleh did when his three-decade rule was threatened by the 2011 Arab Spring was strike a secret deal to give an entire southern province to al-Qaeda.
"The more he could portray
Yemen as falling into militant hands, he calculated, the more the West want to keep him in office at all costs.
"On this occasion, his unholy alliance failed in its goal: by the following year, his Western backers had quietly
forced him out in return for immunity from prosecution.
"But last week, the man with a record of doing deals with anyone who will keep him in power was once again proving that his cunning should never be underestimated."
During his time in power, Saleh fought the Houthis "tooth and nail". But now he's ordered ..."relatives and cronies in the army to join forces with the Houthis."
How Yemen s US-backed ex-dictator is tearing his country apart - Telegraph