HOUTHI REBELLION
This article is about the Yemeni Islamist political and military organization. For the Arab
tribe in northern Yemen, see Banu Houth.
"Ansar Allah" redirects here. For other uses, see Ansar Allah (disambiguation).
Houthis
الحوثيون
The Sarkha, translated as 'God is the Greatest, Death
to America, Death to Israel, Curse be upon the
Jews, Victory to Islam,' is the main political slogan of
the Houthi movement.
Also Ansar Allah
known
as
Leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi (since 2004)
s Hussein al-Houthi †
(1994–2004) †
Spokes Mohammed Abdul Salam[1]
man
Dates 1994–present
of
operati
on
Group( Al-Houthi family and Zaidi Shias
s)
Headqu Saada, Yemen (since 1994)
arters Sanaa, Yemen (since 2014)
Active r Yemen, including Saudi Arabia–Yemen
egions border[2]
Shia Islamism[3][4][5]
Ideolog
Islamic revivalism (Zaidi)[6]
y
Khomeinism[3][4][7]
Pan-Islamism[8][9]
Arab nationalism[8][9][10]
Pan-Arabism[8]
Yemeni nationalism[9][10]
Populism[9]
Shia–Sunni unity (claimed)[9][11]
Anti-imperialism[3][12]
Anti-West[12][13][14]
Antisemitism[15]
Anti-Zionism[12]
Anti-Baháʼí[16]
Anti-LGBT[17]
Factions:
Anti-Sunni (denied)[18][19][20]
Sectarianism (alleged,[21][22] denied[11])
Size 100,000 (2011)[23][24]
200,000 (2020)[25]
Allies State allies:
Iran[26][27][28]
Syria[29] (until 2023)[30]
North Korea (alleged)[31][32][33][34][35]
Oman (alleged,[36][37] denied by
Oman)[38][39]
Libya (until 2011, alleged)[40]
Russia (alleged)[41]
China (alleged)[42]
Non-state allies:
Supreme Political Council[43]
Houthi Popular Committees[44]
General People's Congress (pro-
Saleh faction, 2014–2017;[28][45] pro-
Houthi faction since 2017)[46]
Hezbollah[47][48]
Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba[49]
Liwa Fatemiyoun (alleged)[50]
Hamas (since 2021)[51][52]
Oppon State opponents:
ents
Yemen (Presidential Leadership
Council)
Saudi Arabia
United Arab Emirates[53]
Egypt[53][54]
Jordan[53]
Sudan (until 2019)[53]
Bahrain[53]
Morocco[53]
Kosovo[55]
Somalia[56][57]
Senegal[53]
Belgium[58]
France[59][60]
Netherlands[61]
United States[62][63]
United Kingdom[64]
Canada[65]
Australia[66]
Israel[67]
Seychelles[68]
New Zealand[69]
South Korea[70]
India[71]
Sri Lanka[72]
Ukraine[73]
Pakistan[74]
Non-state opponents:
Southern Transitional Council[75]
Muslim Brotherhood[76]
Hamas (until 2021)[77]
Al-Islah[78][9]
Al-Qaeda (intermittent)[79][80]
Islamic State[81]
Battles Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict
and Houthi insurgency
wars Yemeni Revolution
Yemeni crisis
Yemeni civil
war
Houthi
–Saudi Arabian conflict
Arab–Israeli conflict
2023 Israel–Hamas war
Aerial attacks on
American targets in Iraq and Syria
Red Sea crisis
US & UK
missile strikes in Yemen
Design Yemen (Presidential Leadership
ated as Council)[82][83]
a Saudi Arabia[84]
terroris United Arab Emirates[85]
t United States[86]
group Malaysia[87]
by Australia[88][89]
New Zealand[90][91]
Canada[92]
The Houthis,[a] also known as the Houthi movement and officially the Ansar Allah,[b] is
a Zaydi Shia Islamist political and military organization that emerged from Yemen in the
1990s. It is predominantly made up of Zaydi Shias, with their namesake leadership
being drawn largely from the Houthi tribe.[94] The group has been a central player
in Yemen's civil war, drawing widespread international condemnation for its human
rights abuses, including targeting civilians and using child soldiers.[95][96] The movement is
designated as a terrorist organization by some countries.[97][98] The Houthis are backed by
Iran,[99][100][101] and they are widely considered part of the Iranian-led "Axis of Resistance".
[102][103]
Under the leadership of Zaydi religious leader Hussein al-Houthi, the Houthis emerged
as an opposition movement to Yemen president Ali Abdullah Saleh, whom they accused
of corruption and being backed by Saudi Arabia and the United States.[104][95] In 2003,
influenced by the Lebanese Shia political and military organization Hezbollah, the
Houthis adopted their official slogan against the United States, Israel, and the Jews.
[105]
Al-Houthi resisted Saleh's order for his arrest, and was afterwards killed by the
Yemeni military in Saada in 2004, sparking the Houthi insurgency.[106][107] Since then, the
movement has been mostly led by his brother Abdul-Malik al-Houthi.[106]
The organization took part in the Yemeni Revolution of 2011 by participating in street
protests and coordinating with other Yemeni opposition groups. They joined
Yemen's National Dialogue Conference but later rejected the 2011 reconciliation deal.[11]
[108]
In late 2014, the Houthis repaired their relationship with Saleh, and with his help
they took control of the capital city. The takeover prompted a Saudi-led military
intervention to restore the internationally recognized government, leading to an ongoing
civil war which included missile and drone attacks against Saudi Arabia and its
ally United Arab Emirates.[96][109][110] Following the outbreak of the Gaza war, the Houthis
began to fire missiles at Israel and to attack ships off Yemen's coast in the Red Sea,
which they say is in solidarity with the Palestinians and aiming to facilitate entry of
humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.[111][112]
The Houthi movement attracts followers in Yemen by portraying themselves as fighting
for economic development and the end of the political marginalization of Zaydi Shias,
[108]
as well as by promoting regional political–religious issues in its media. The Houthis
have a complex relationship with Yemen's Sunnis; the movement has discriminated
against Sunnis but has also allied with and recruited them.[113][114][11] The Houthis aim to
govern all of Yemen and support external movements against the United States, Israel,
and Saudi Arabia.[97] Because of the Houthis' ideological background, the conflict in
Yemen is widely seen as a front of the Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy war.[98]
History
See also: History of Yemen, Houthi insurgency in Yemen, and Houthi takeover in
Yemen
Territory controlled by the Houthi movement shown in dark
green
According to Ahmed Addaghashi, a professor at Sanaa University, the Houthis began
as a moderate theological movement that preached tolerance and held a broad-minded
view of all the Yemeni peoples.[115] Their first organization, "the Believing Youth" (BY),
was founded in 1992 in Saada Governorate[116]: 1008 by either Mohammed al-Houthi,[117]: 98 or
his brother Hussein al-Houthi.[118]
The Believing Youth established school clubs and summer camps[117]: 98 in order to
"promote a Zaydi revival" in Saada.[118] By 1994–95, between 15,000 and 20,000
students had attended BY summer camps. The religious material included lectures by
Mohammed Hussein Fadhlallah (a Lebanese Shia scholar) and Hassan
Nasrallah (Secretary General of Hezbollah).[117]: 99 [119]
The formation of the Houthi organisations has been described by Adam Baron of
the European Council on Foreign Relations as a reaction to foreign intervention. Their
views include shoring up Zaydi support against the perceived threat of Saudi-influenced
ideologies in Yemen and a general condemnation of the former Yemeni government's
alliance with the United States, which, along with complaints regarding the
government's corruption and the marginalisation of much of the Houthis' home areas in
Saada, constituted the group's key grievances.[120]
Although Hussein al-Houthi, who was killed in 2004, had no official relation with
Believing Youth (BY), according to Zaid, he contributed to the radicalisation of some
Zaydis after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. BY-affiliated youth adopted anti-
American and anti-Jewish slogans, which they chanted in the Al Saleh
Mosque in Sanaa after Friday prayers. According to Zaid, the followers of Houthi's
insistence on chanting the slogans attracted the authorities' attention, further increasing
government worries over the extent of the Houthi movement's influence. "The security
authorities thought that if today the Houthis chanted 'Death to America', tomorrow they
could be chanting 'Death to the president [of Yemen]'".[citation needed]
In 2004, 800 BY supporters were arrested in Sanaa. President Ali Abdullah Saleh then
invited Hussein al-Houthi to a meeting in Sanaa, but Hussein declined. On 18 June,
Saleh sent government forces to arrest Hussein.[121] Hussein responded by launching an
insurgency against the central government but was killed on 10 September.[122] The
insurgency continued intermittently until a ceasefire agreement was reached in 2010.
[115]
During this prolonged conflict, the Yemeni army and air force were used to suppress
the Houthi rebellion in northern Yemen. The Saudis joined these anti-Houthi campaigns,
but the Houthis won against both Saleh and the Saudi army. According to the Brookings
Institution, this particularly humiliated the Saudis, who spent tens of billions of dollars on
their military.[62]
The Houthis participated in the 2011 Yemeni Revolution, as well as the
ensuing National Dialogue Conference (NDC).[123] However, they rejected the provisions
of the November 2011 Gulf Cooperation Council deal on the ground that "it divide[d]
Yemen into poor and wealthy regions" and also in response to assassination of their
representative at NDC.[124][125]
As the revolution went on, Houthis gained control of greater territory. By 9 November
2011, Houthis were said to be in control of two Yemeni governorates (Saada and Al
Jawf) and close to taking over a third governorate (Hajjah),[126] which would enable them
to launch a direct assault on the Yemeni capital of Sanaa.[127] In May 2012, it was
reported that the Houthis controlled a majority of Saada, Al Jawf, and Hajjah
governorates; they had also gained access to the Red Sea and started erecting
barricades north of Sanaa in preparation for more conflict.[128]
Yemen's former president Ali Abdullah Saleh was allied with Houthis
from 2014 until his death in 2017. The Houthis assassinated him on charges of treason.
By September 2014, Houthis were said to control parts of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa,
including government buildings and a radio station.[129] While Houthi control expanded to
the rest of Sanaa, as well as other towns such as Rada', this control was strongly
challenged by Al-Qaeda. The Gulf States believed that the Houthis had accepted aid
from Iran while Saudi Arabia was aiding their Yemeni rivals.[130]
On 20 January 2015, Houthi rebels seized the presidential palace in the capital.
President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi was in the presidential palace during the takeover
but was not harmed.[131] The movement officially took control of the Yemeni government
on 6 February, dissolving parliament and declaring its Revolutionary Committee to be
the acting authority in Yemen.[109] On 20 March the al-Badr and al-Hashoosh mosques
came under suicide attack during midday prayers, and the Islamic State quickly claimed
responsibility. The blasts killed 142 Houthi worshippers and wounded more than 351,
making it the deadliest terrorist attack in Yemen's history.[
