Saleh and Sunni-Shi`ite conflict

"Where was the Shia-Sunni issue when a purportedly Shia Saleh, now guiding the Houthi rebels, had sided with a Sunni Saddam Hussein against a Shia Iran? Saleh’s Yemen was Saddam’s only supporter in the UN Security Council. We are told that the Saudis feared a secret pact with Saddam perhaps to restore Yemeni rule over provinces lost to the kingdom in a 1934 war. President George H.W. Bush and King Fahd worked together to punish Saleh for his pro-Iraqi sentiments. It’s a mystery; why would he become Iran’s conduit?" (thanks Nasir)