article_snippet: (CNN)At any moment, Saudi troops could march through Yemen, heating up an already intense conflict that could have ramifications across the Middle East.
article_snippet: I think the Saudis ... feel directly, physically threatened by what is happening," said Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations.
article_snippet: But if a Saudi-led coalition of nine countries takes the fight to the ground in Yemen, the consequences could be severe.
article_snippet: And Yemen, already the home base to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, now teeters on the brink of becoming a failed state and an even more fertile breeding ground for extremism.
article_snippet: Here's the latest on the crisis in Yemen and Yemen impact around the world: .
article_snippet: The Yemeni crisis erupted when Shiite Houthi rebels, who have long felt marginalized in the majority Sunni country, began seizing the capital and other parts of the majority Sunni country last fall.
article_snippet: The conflict in Yemen also led to the withdrawal of U.S. special forces earlier this month, seriously undermining counterterrorism efforts in a country that has been a stronghold for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
article_snippet: Haass, of the Council on Foreign Relations, said what's happening in Yemen could devolve into a long, protracted religious war.