article_snippet.sent: clashes between Shiite Houthi rebels and forces loyal to ousted Sunni President  Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi.
article_snippet.sent: Yemen has been descending into chaos in the weeks since Shiite Houthi rebels removed Hadi, a Sunni, from power.
article_snippet.sent: The sectarian nature of the conflict is drawing in regional rivals Saudi Arabia, which is predominately Sunni -- and is the country to which Hadi ultimately fled -- and Iran, which is predominately Shiite and supports Shiite Houthi rebels.
article_snippet.sent: Because of that, the conflict risks becoming a proxy war in the struggle between the Iranians and the Saudis for preeminence in the Middle East.
article_snippet.sent: the Saudis have conducted airstrikes against Shiite Houthi rebels and could send in ground troops.
article_snippet.sent: But little is simple in the Middle East.
article_snippet.sent: And while the conflict between the Houthis and forces loyal to Hadi rages in the western part of Yemen, where Yemen has caused hundreds of civilian deaths, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, controls parts of eastern Yemen.
article_snippet.sent: AQAP is considered one of the most ruthless branches of the terrorist organization.
highlights_snippet.sent: Yemen is descending into chaos as a Shia-Sunni conflict draws in regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran .