![]() ![]() Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia, which launched a war against the Houthis at his request in March 2015. The Houthis struck again in 2014, taking control of parts of Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, before eventually storming the presidential palace early the next year. Saleh agreed in 2011 to hand power to his Vice President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, but this government was no more popular. Newly recruited fighters who joined a Houthi force intended to be sent to fight in support of Palestinians in Gaza march in Sanaa, Yemen, December 2, 2023. Emboldened by the early Arab Spring protests in 2011, they took control of the northern province of Saada and called for the end of the Saleh regime. The Houthi military wing grew as more fighters joined the cause. ![]() ![]() After months of disorder, Saleh issued a warrant for his arrest.Īl-Houthi was killed in September 2004 by Yemeni forces, but his movement lived on. Seizing on the public outrage, he organized mass demonstrations. Things came to a head in 2003, when Saleh supported the United States invasion of Iraq, which many Yemenis opposed.įor al-Houthi, the rift was an opportunity. But as the movement’s popularity grew and anti-government rhetoric sharpened, it became a threat to Saleh. His closest followers became known as Houthis.Īli Abdullah Saleh, the first president of Yemen after the 1990 unification of North and South Yemen, initially supported the Believing Youth. Al-Houthi’s movement was founded to represent Zaidis and resist radical Sunnism, particularly Wahhabi ideas from Saudi Arabia. The Zaidis ruled Yemen for centuries but were marginalized under the Sunni regime that came to power after the 1962 civil war. It emerged in the 1990s, when its leader, Hussein al-Houthi, launched “Believing Youth,” a religious revival movement for a centuries-old subsect of Shia Islam called Zaidism. The Houthi movement, also known as Ansarallah (Supporters of God), is one side of the Yemeni civil war that has raged for nearly a decade. Here’s what we know about the Houthis and why they are getting involved in the war. The Houthis are believed to have been armed and trained by Iran, and there are fears that their attacks could escalate Israel’s war against Hamas into a wider regional conflict. The attacks have forced some of the world’s biggest shipping and oil companies to suspend transit through one of the world’s most important maritime trade routes, which could potentially cause a shock to the global economy. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels are stepping up their strikes on ships in the Red Sea, which they say are revenge against Israel for its military campaign in Gaza. ![]()
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