who are the houthis and what do they want

Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. In 2017, after each side blamed the other for breaking the cease-fire, the Houthis launched missiles into Saudi Arabia, including the capital, Riyadh. The Zaydi Royalists fled to the mountains along the Saudi border to fight a civil war for control of the country. In 740, Zayd led an uprising against the Umayyad Empire, which ruled from Damascus. t e The Houthi takeover in Yemen, also known as the September 21 Revolution (by supporters), [7] or 2014-15 coup d'tat (by opponents), [8] was a popular revolution against Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi led by the Houthis and their supporters that pushed the Yemeni government from power. Zaydis believe he was a model of a pure caliph who should have ruled instead of the Umayyads. Popular protests and several assassination attempts forced Saleh to resign in 2012. We are where we are today mostly because of domestic politics and power relations among political actors. They forged a coalition to back them including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and other traditional Saudi allies. As the movement grew, the Saleh regime began cracking down on its participants in June 2004 and issued an arrest warrant for Hussein al-Houthi. After leaving parliament in 1997, the charismatic Al-aqq activist Hussein Badr al-Din al-Houthi began fostering the Believing Youth, a network of Zayd youths intended as an alternative to similar Wahhb youth networks. The Houthi clan hails from Saada Province in the north, where the country's Zaydi Shiite community, about 30 percent of Yemen's 24 million people,. The UN wants both parties to agree to place it under UN jurisdiction, which it says is the only way to alleviate Yemens cholera and malnutrition crises. They fought against both the Ottomans and the Wahhabis in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Houthis are key players in an alliance of rebels formally known as Ansar Allah or "Partisans of God" who follow Shiite Islam. The port city of Al-udaydah (Hodeidah), meanwhile, served as a vital asset for the Houthi rebels. The al-Qaida attack on the USS Cole in late 2000 in Aden drew the Americans closer to Saleh, although his cooperation against al-Qaida was always incomplete. On September 21, Houthi fighters took control of all state institutions in Sanaa,overrunning an army brigade affiliated with al-Islah, Yemens Muslim Brotherhood party, making them effectively the power brokers in the country. Since the coalition intervened in 2015, Yemen has become the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, according to the UN. American intelligence officials said that Iran was actually trying to discourage the Houthis from seizing Sanaa and openly toppling Hadi. Both Trump and DeSantis want it gone, and they'll need the court's help to do it. The war ended in a republican victory after the Saudis and Egyptians resolved their regional rivalry after the 1967 war with Israel and lost interest in the Yemen civil war. May 6, 2021 Nadwa Al-Dawsari President Joe Biden's commitment to "stepping up" diplomacy to end the war in Yemen generated hope among peace practitioners and policy shapers. In turn, the Houthi leadership has said it will stop attacks on the Saudi-led coalition their most significant concession in years, although there is still evidence of fighting. Although it was unclear when Iran became a prominent source of military support for the Houthi rebels, it was beyond doubt that Irans clandestine Quds Force was responsible for the growing sophistication of their attacks. It may be wise for the international community to set its sights and goals on encouraging peace between the parts of Yemen, not on unification itself. The Houthis opened direct civilian air traffic between Sanaa and Tehran, Iran promised cheap oil for Yemen, and rumors of more Iran-Houthi cooperation spread quickly. AJ: How would you define the Houthi movement and what is your endgame? Saleh broke with his putative ally this month, signaled to Riyadh that he was flipping sides again, and was killed days later. Read more: Empowering women in Yemen's civil war. Distances that used to take 10-15 minutes by car are now an 8-hour drive on precarious mountain roads, as nearly all of the . The movement (Arabic arakat) calls itself Anr Allh ("Defenders of God"); the popularized term "Houthi . 8 min read When Joe Biden included ending the war in Yemen as a key goal during his first foreign policy speech as president, he was breaking with his predecessors. The Zaydi elevate him to be the epitome of a symbol of fighting corruption. Gulf States Iran Saudi Arabia Yemen, Center for Middle East Policy Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology. In June 2004, Saleh initiated a military campaign to suppress the Houthi insurgents in the Saada Governorate. The Houthis - also known as Ansar Allah, who now control most of Yemen's north, have launched repeated missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia and the UAE over the course of Yemen's civil war.. Not all Zaidis are Houthis. Peace talks in Geneva in September this year the first since 2016 were cancelled after the Houthi delegation failed to arrive, citing security concerns. June 21: SSDI payment for . They . Al-Bukhaiti: We have picked Ayoub al-Hamadi, an independent university professor. Hadi was deeply unpopular and seen as a Saudi stooge. Also known as Ansar Allah, the Proponents of Allah in English, the Houthis are an armed Islamist militia and tribe from north Yemen's poor, mountainous Saada region. It now threatens Israel with tens of thousands of missiles and drones. This is an inaccurate analysis of the situation in Yemen. As for the sectarian aspect, Yemeni people, across the spectrum, do not perceive the conflict as such. The Houthis have variously said their tactics are modelled on those of the Viet Cong and resistance movements in Latin America as well as Lebanons fearsome Shia Hezbollah, with which they have obvious kinship. But, because the port was also a lifeline for humanitarian aid, the United Nations intervened and mediated a cease-fire that came into effect in December. Zaidi Fiver Shiites are a denomination which arose in a dispute over the succession of the imamate and are actually closer in religious belief to Sunnis than the Twelver Shiites in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon. Indeed, we have rejected the Gulf initiative and we did not take part in the presidential elections. Internal and external pressure forced Saleh to resign, and his vice president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, assumed the presidency for a two-year transitional period in a deal brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). In 2015, the Houthis placed Hadi and his government ministers under house arrest. Hadi resigned and managed to escape to Aden where he requested assistance from the GCC. "If there is Houthi engagement in a regionalized conflict, it will be about political alignment and strategic interests rather than ideology,"Salisbury said. Here's when your payment should arrive, based on your date of birth: June 14: SSDI payment for those with birthdays falling between the 1st and 10th of any given month. The relationship between the Houthis and al-Islah is not at its best because of the wars that were waged against us which we believe al-Islah has been a primary party in, even if they deny this. They also enjoyed international recognition as the legitimate government of North Yemen. They take their name from Zayd bin Ali, the great-grandson of Ali, the Prophet Muhammads cousin and son-in-law, whom all Shiites revere. The Zayds, usually under the leadership of a political-spiritual head known as an imam, remained the regions predominant political force thereafter, despite the occasional challenge to Zayd rule. Yemeni forces killed Houthi leader Hussein al-Houthi in September 2004, sparking an escalation in the conflict, with as many as five wars fought between the Houthis and Yemeni government forces between 2004 and 2010. Saleh was ousted as president in February 2012 and replaced by his former deputy, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The Houthis' recent ability to ramp up attacks indicates that they pose an enduring threat to Saudi Arabia. Until the attacks in recent weeks, the last Houthi-claimed attacks on the UAE were in 2018, though were years of missile and drone attacks by the Houthis on Saudi-coalition forces and vice versa. The rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia is heating up across the Middle East. Q: Who are the Houthis and what do they want? Their anti-American posture is deeply rooted in the origins of the movement, a legacy of the poor decision to invade Iraq in 2003. Saleh ruledor misruledYemen for the next 33 years. Although some Houthi rhetoric has made claims to areas north of the Saudi border, their actions have mostly indicated aims within Yemen. They have rejected participation in Yemen's National Dialogue Conference, refused to sign the U.N.-sponsored peace agreement in Kuwait after months of talks, and made grave errors among local tribes, either fighting or coercing them to accept their mode of governance. Yemen Last September, thousands of fighters from northern Yemen seized control of the country's capital, Sanaa. Hezbollah, the Shiite movement in Lebanon which successfully expelled the Israeli army from the country, became a role model and mentor for the Houthis. U.S. After the Arab Spring protests in Tunisia and Egypt toppled their respective presidents in early 2011, Yemenis called for the end of the Saleh regime. As one of Yemens chief ports, it was the primary source of imports and revenue for the Houthi rebellion. DW examines the group's history, activities and alliances. Houthi attacks against Saudi Arabia have been concentrated in the country's southwest provinces and along the Red Sea, particularly in the provinces of Asir, Jazan, and Najran, as highlighted in Figure 6. That. In September Yemeni security forces opened fire on protesters in the capital city, Sanaa, killing several. President Hadi is the only statesman about whom there is wide consensus among Yemenis across the board. We are only there to protect those places including government installations, embassies, and main roads because there are hardly any security forces in the capital now. The Zaidis, once a powerful force in north Yemen, were sidelined during the 1962-70 civil war and then further alienated in the 1980s as Salafist Sunni ideals gained prominence across the border in Saudi Arabia, which exported the ideology to Yemen. In focus Wagner Group Russia's war in Ukraine Conflicts Who are the Houthis? The Pan-Arabist government, meanwhile, attempted to accelerate an ongoing alignment of the Zayd sect with modern trends in Sunni exegesis. Israel also clandestinely backed the Zaydi Royalists. The Houthi movement, named after the family it is associated with, emerged from Yemen's northern province Saada, bordering Saudi Arabia, and has been locked in an increasingly complex war. While the Houthis originate from the minority Zaydi offshoot of Shiite Islam, they have evolved from a religious group into a militia and political force. That should be Americas priority. The Houthis first loosely presented themselves as a resistance force that rose against a Yemeni military offensive in Saada and as a force of opposition to Salehs authoritarian regime. He had complicated relations with both Riyadh and Washington, but by the late 1990s was generally aligned with both against al-Qaida. While it is part of who we are, it occupies a secondary role and is not a decisive factor. Hutchins Roundup: Climate-induced losses, Russian oil price cap, and more, Addressing urgent challenges for the healthcare supply chain, Spurred by federal legislation, new industrial investments are reaching a wide swath of the country, Climate change, food insecurity, and migration in the Middle East, Migrants, Refugees & Internally Displaced Persons, Afghanistans twin human rights and humanitarian crises, Afghanistans crises require a clear statement of US policy, Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology. The south is primarily Sunni with very few Zaydis. The Houthis have now publicly threatened to fire on the headquarters of international companies in the UAE, in an apparent attempt to harm both business and tourism in the Emirates. Three weeks after they took control, a huge bomb devastated a Houthi rally. The Saudi-led coalition has tightened the blockade and gradually gained more territory, although Hadi has little if any control over the territory recovered from the rebels. AJ: How would you describe the relationship with Tehran? Yemeni politics are incredibly complex and volatilerather than get drawn into a quagmire against an enemy they hardly know, the United States and its partners should get serious about finding a political solution. ", "Editorial: Thousands Expected to die in 2010 in Fight against Al-Qaeda", "Yemen: Houthis Send Children into Battle", "Yemen is more nuanced than 'Sunni' & 'Shia', "Review: The Huthi Movement in Yemen: Ideology, Ambition, and Security in the Arab Gulf", "How the War in Yemen Became a Bloody Stalemate And the Worst Humanitarian Crisis in the World", "Houthi-Salafi Coexistence Agreements: Motives and Future Prospects", "In rare admission, Yemen's Houthis confirm they released Al-Qaeda terrorists", "Asia Times Asia's most trusted news source for the Middle East", "Hassan al-Homran, spokesperson for Ansar Allah", "Analysis: Iranian Reactions to Operation Decisive Storm", "Israel hails UAE deal but Palestinians and settlers dismayed", "Houthis under fire for arresting wedding singer in Yemeni capital", "Yemen minister says fate of country's last 50 Jews unknown", "Amid persecution, Yemeni Jews face extinction Jewish World Jerusalem Post", Houthis militants to Jews: Convert or leave Yemen, " ", " ", FAMILIAR BUT DISTINCT: Understanding the Houthi Ideology and its Consequences on Yemen, "Iran-backed Houthi rebels step up persecution of Baha'i (sic) minority in Yemen", "Yemen: Houthis Sentence Baha'i (sic) Man to Death", "Amnesty decries Houthi prosecution of Bahais in Yemen", "Meetings push government and Houthis closer towards "reconciliation", "Yemeni regime loses grip on four provinces", "Sana'a Cards to Pressurize Houthis to Enter New Dialogue Rounds", "Tens of thousands of Yemeni Houthis protest against fuel reform, government", "Coalition jets continue to hit Houthi targets in Yemen", "Radio becomes new battlefield in Yemen war", "Radio Station in War-Torn Yemen Raises $132,000 for Hezbollah", "Cablegate: Who Are the Houthis, Part Two: How Are They", "Saudi Arabia intercepts Houthi rebel missile fired towards Riyadh News DW 20.05.2017", "+ "1" | ", "Yemen Houthi drones, missiles defy years of Saudi air strikes", "Putin proposes Russian missile defence for Saudi after oil attack", "Analysis: Houthi naval attacks in the Red Sea", "Israel informed US it attacked Iran's Saviz ship in Red Sea as retaliation: NYT", "Iran replaces stricken Red Sea spy ship with new focus on oil tankers", "Navy: Saudi Frigate Attacked by Unmanned Bomb Boat, Likely Iranian", "Houthi Rebels Unveil Host of Weaponry, Compounding Drone and Missile Threat", "The Second Key Shift in the Military Balance: The Rising Impact of Iran's Asymmetric Forces", "Houthis increase use of suicide drone boats in recent weeks", "OPINION: Hormuz Strait Blockage Could Destroy IRGC Navy", "USS Mason Fired 3 Missiles to Defend From Yemen Cruise Missiles Attack", https://twitter.com/joshuakoontz__/status/1583526237237956608, "Iran-Saudi proxy war in Yemen explodes into region-wide crisis", "Al-Qaeda Fighting for Yemeni Government Against Houthi Shia Rebels", "Iranian ship unloads 185 tons of weapons for Houthis at Saleef port", "United states senate committee on foreign relations", "Houthi hysteria breaks out at the Wall Street Journal", "Kerry Says U.S. The Houthis won the battle for Sanaa but are isolated from the rest of Yemeni politics and political parties. Hussein Badr al-Din al-Houthi, the head of the rebel movement and its Saada province heartland, led an uprising in 2004 and has long sought to protect his clan from what some Shias see as an. We want people with integrity to be able to combat the chronic problems of corruption plaguing the Yemeni ruling establishment. Saudi Arabia supported the royalists against Egypt. ", "Checkpoint children: Armed Houthis under 18", "Q & A on The Conflict in Yemen and International Law Human Rights Watch", "Death toll from Yemen rebel shelling doubles to nearly 100", "Yemen: Houthi Landmines Claim Civilian Victims", "Yemen: Houthis Ban Rights Advocate's Travel", "Yemen war: WFP accuses Houthi rebels of diverting food aid", "World Food Programme to consider suspension of aid in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen", "Yemen's Houthis and WFP dispute aid control as millions starve", "UN warns food aid to Yemen could be suspended", "UN: Houthi rebels in Yemen recruited teenage girls", "Meeting the Houthis and their enemies", "Audience Question: Did Ansar Allah Liberated 95% of al-Jawf? In late January 2015, with the quiet support of Saleh and his backers in the military, Houthi fighters overran the presidential palace, and Hadi was forced to resign. He was martyred in his revolt, and his head is believed to be buried in a shrine to him in Kerak, Jordan. The Houthis routinely attack targets inside Saudi Arabia and now in Abu Dhabi with missiles and drones using technical expertise from Iran and Hezbollah. Peter Salisbury, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group told DW: "If Iran has been directly supporting the Houthis, as most people believe, it has been able to sustain at least a degree of plausible deniability. Hutchins Roundup: Climate-induced losses, Russian oil price cap, and more, Addressing urgent challenges for the healthcare supply chain, Spurred by federal legislation, new industrial investments are reaching a wide swath of the country, Transitional justice and the prosecution of political leaders in the Arab region. Two refused to join: Oman, Yemens neighbor, and Pakistan, whose parliament voted unanimously against the war. While the war in Yemen has had a broader regional dynamic, frequent references to the group by Saudi Arabia and its allies as a mere Iranian proxy do not tell the whole story. The existing U.N. Verification and Inspections Mechanism for Yemen (UNVIM) should be greatly expanded in mission and personnel to provide inspectors at all Yemeni ports and airfields to ensure no major violations of the resolution are perpetrated by either side. Two administrations have backed the war against the Houthis without a serious campaign to explain why Americans should see them as our enemies. Tehran and the Houthis are playing with fire, of course. In July 2014 Hadis administration enacted deep cuts in fuel subsidies to address the widening budget deficit and attract foreign funding. The civil war between the Zaidi-Shia Houthi Movement and the Sunni majority Yemeni government has created one of the worst humanitarian crises in modern history. From its outset, the Biden administration painted peace in Yemen as a top priority, but it has done little to secure an end to the fighting. The intermittent insurgency gained support from Shia Yemenis fed up with the corruption and cruelty of the long-time authoritarian president and Saudi ally, Ali Abdullah Saleh, particularly during the aftermath of 9/11 and the US invasion of Iraq. The place to start is in the U.N. Security Council. All sides are credibly accused of war crimes. His death has further destabilised the chaotic Houthi command structure. The Houthis have made fighting corruption the centerpiece of their political program, at least nominally. Moreover, Undersecretary of Defense Michael Vickers said on the record in January that Washington had a productive informal intelligence relationship with the Houthis against al-Qaida. AJ: Can you confirm news reports that Houthi fighters are besieging the Saudi embassy in Sanaa? Both groups are serial human rights abusers who have successfully positioned themselves as the nationalist defenders of their country against hated foreign enemies: Israel and Saudi Arabia (both backed by America). The letter F. An envelope. The increasing tension between the Believing Youth and the Saleh regime transformed the network into a broader movement. It indicates the ability to send an . Saudi's western allies have accused Iran of directing, arming and financially supporting the movement, an accusation Houthi supporters frequently deny. For the Saudis, who have spent tens of billions of dollars on their military, it was deeply humiliating. The Houthi blockade severely disrupted the lives of people here. It is also strikingly like Hezbollahs success story in Lebanon. Throughout the war the Houthis have been accused of torturing and killing journalists and critics, siphoning off aid supplies, using civilian infrastructure as a shield for military activity and persecuting the countrys Jewish and Bahai minorities. He united north and south Yemen in 1990, tilted toward Iraq during the 1991 Kuwait war, and survived a Saudi-backed southern civil war in 1994. The Houthis are Zaydi Shiite Muslims, significantly different in doctrine and beliefs from the Shiites who dominate in Iran, Iraq, and elsewhere. Not only did they gain ground against the coalition in Yemen, but attempts by Houthi militants to strike Saudi territory with drones and missiles became frequent. 'We are where we are today mostly. This brief and simplified account of the background of the Houthis should underscore how complex Yemeni politics are and how volatile they can be. In June 2018 the Saudi-led coalition advanced on the city, hoping that the threat of its loss would choke Houthi leaders into negotiating a peace agreement favourable to the coalition. He resides in Riyadh. 'Allah is Greater, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews, Victory to Islam." So goes the slogan of the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. The Houthis have already made significant gains recently on the ground around the port city of Hodeida. It is unclear if the Houthis have ambitions beyond northern Yemen. They fought against both the Ottomans and the Wahhabis in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Houthis have made fighting corruption the centerpiece of their political program, at least nominally. March 1, 2022, 6:31 PM. The Houthi movement started as a small religious group called "The Believing Youth," who sought to revive Zaydism, a sect to which some 30 percent of Yemenis, mainly in the north, belong. Houthi movement, Arabic al-thiyyn, formal name arakat Anr Allh, militant movement in northern Yemen originally led by Hussein Badr al-Din al-Houthi, a Yemeni politician and political activist from the Zayd sect of Islam, and rooted in Zayd revivalism. Newly recruited Houthi soldiers march during the funeral of Houthi fighters killed during recent fighting against government forces, in Sanaa, Yemen, December 6, 2021. With their own cities under constant aerial bombardment, the Houthis are firing missiles at Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, with Tehrans technological assistance. The Houthis have made fighting corruption the centerpiece of their political program, at least nominally. The first reported case of deal-making in New York centered around . https://www.britannica.com/topic/Houthi-movement, Official says Yemeni pilgrims depart Sanaa on first direct flight to Saudi Arabia since 2016. A Yemeni government fighter fires a weapon at a frontline position during fighting against Houthi fighters in Marib, Yemen, on March 9, 2021. The Trump administration is poorly designed to provide cooling counsel. Markaz For over two-and-a-half years, the United States has supported Saudi Arabia in a war against the Houthi movement in Yemen. themedialine.org/news/the-houthis-who-are-they-and-what-do-they-want/, Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 14_6 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/14.1.1 Mobile/15E148 Safari/604.1. Iran was a secondary source of support, especially since the Houthis and Iranians share a common enemy in Saudi Arabia. It was a very difficult challenge for an untried team in the royal palace. Ali Rogin Leave a comment Transcript Audio The Biden administration on Tuesday officially lifted the designation of the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen as a global terrorist organization. Who are the Houthis and what do they want? The Houthi movement was founded in the 1990s by Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, a member of Yemens Zaidi Shia minority, which makes up about one-third of the population. Still, Houthi attacks on Saudi soil were frequent as the Saudi-led coalition struggled to hold ground in Yemen. The establishment in the early 1980s of a Wahhb seminary near adahthe heart of Zayd societystruck a chord. The Houthis were formed by Zaidite scholars, a Shia sect who have lived in Yemen for over a thousand years and also ruled the country for several centuries. The most recent such challenge came in 1962 when the imam was overthrown and forced into exile. Backs Saudi-Led Yemeni Bombing With Logistics, Spying", ": 3 ", "How did Yemen's Houthi-Saleh alliance collapse? Corrections? The missile was intercepted by the UAE military and no casualties were reported. Both Hezbollah and Iran have increased their provision of guns, missiles, military training and funds for the Houthi war effort since 2014, happy to see their Saudi enemies expend soldiers and money on the Yemeni stalemate. As a Saudi-led campaign against the Houthi rebels began in March, Hadi and his government fled to Saudi Arabia, where they ruled from exile. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Hard Thing About Hard Things, and the upcoming Harper Business book, What You Do Is Who You Are, available October 29, 2019. The bombing in Tahrir Square was the bloodiest in Sana'a for years, killing more than 60 people. After 2003, Saleh launched a series of military campaigns to destroy the Houthis. Since 2004 it has persisted in intermittent armed rebellion against Yemens internationally recognized government.

Baked By Melissa Founder, Bhartiya City Mall Bangalore, Crown Xls 1502 For Sale, Fatal Accident On Us 27 Florida Today, Cooking With Nonna Rosella, How To Get To Akkala Ancient Tech Lab, Elden Root Mages Guild, Is Self-catheterization Classed As A Disability, Track Out Camps Near Koramangala, Bengaluru, Cheapest Cdl School In Chicago,