CAIRO - Former Yemeni strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh's death at the hands of his own allies, the Shiite rebels known as Houthis, has put the impoverished nation's 3-year civil war at a crossroads, and there are several widely differing directions it could now go.
It could mark the beginning of the end for the Iranian-backed Houthis - as their opponents are hoping, trying to forge a force out of Saleh's angry supporters to assault the rebel-held capital, Sanaa.
Equally, it could show the strength of the Houthis: They easily eliminated the once-mighty Saleh, who had previously ruled Yemen as president for more than 30 years. They also broke the military units loyal to him, leaving his camp in disarray.
That's a sign of how complicated the conflict is. The fighting has been deadlocked for more than a year. Despite a punishing air campaign, the Saudi-led coalition backing President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has been unable to gain further ground against the Houthis, who control the north and western part of Yemen, where most of the population lives.
The war has caused profound misery among Yemen's 28 million people. More than 10,000 civilians have been killed in fighting and airstrikes; food-supply and medical infrastructure has collapsed, causing a humanitarian emergency of hunger and cholera.
Here is a look at Yemen's power players, what happened and what could happen next.
Originally a religious movement aimed at reviving Yemen's Zaidi branch of Shiism, Ansar-Allah, the group's official name, fought a series of wars against Saleh after his army killed its leader, Hussein Badr Eddin al-Houthi, in 2004. But after Saleh's fall, he backed the Houthis and they overran the capital in 2014.
Saudi Arabia and its allies say the group is a proxy for Iran, accusing it of providing weapons and missiles, a claim Tehran denies. The Houthi forces are battle-hardened and have a constant supply of new recruits from their heartland in the north. They have emerged as warlords with a powerful, repressive hold, detaining thousands, imposing heavy taxes and engaging in black market business.
During his three decades as president, Saleh built an extensive network of allies among tribes, the military and his political party. His sons and nephews commanded the main military branches. Much of that remained in place after he was forced to resign in 2012 and was replaced by Hadi.
Hoping to ride the Houthis back to power, Saleh threw that network behind the rebels.
But they never trusted each other. The Houthis quietly sucked away Saleh's strength, winning over his tribal allies, seizing his armories and wooing his military commanders. Analysts believe the large majority of Saleh's forces quit and went home or dissolved into Houthi ranks. Only a few remained in his camp, particularly the Special Guards unit, part of the Republican Guards once headed by his son Ahmed.
When Saleh turned against the Houthis, he "made many miscalculations; he thought the street will rise up; the forces will fight with him; the tribes will get together,'' one of his former associates, Gamal Ammar, told The Associated Press.
The coalition launched its campaign of heavy airstrikes along with an air, sea and land blockade in March 2015 after Hadi's government was driven out of the capital and nearly out of the country by the Houthi onslaught. The coalition succeeded in pushing the rebels out of the southern and eastern provinces - then deadlocked.
On the ground, the coalition fights with a mix of Yemeni army units loyal to Hadi, southern secessionist militias, the armed branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and ultraconservative Islamist fighters. Most of his forces are centered in Marib, east of Sanaa. Hadi has been in self-imposed exile in Riyadh for most of the war. In the south, the UAE has become the dominant power, setting up its own militias and undermining Hadi's authority.
The Saleh-Houthis alliance deteriorated for months; he resented their domination of power, they suspected he was secretly talking to the coalition. Last week, outright battles over Sanaa erupted between their forces. They fought for six days with artillery, heavy machine guns and tanks, trapping Sanaa residents.
During the fighting, Saleh and Hadi's government each said they willing to put aside their past enmity and join forces. But on Monday, the Houthis gunned down Saleh, and by nightfall they retook most of the capital from his forces.
The Houthis have sole domination over northern Yemen without their untrustworthy partner.