Hussein al-Houthi
Hussein al-Houthi حسين الحوثي | |
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Born | 20 August 1959 Houthi insurgency in Yemen |
Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi (also spelled Hussein Badr Eddin al-Houthi, or Hussein Badr al-Din al-Houthi;
Early life
Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi was born in 1956 or 1959 in the Marran area, the ancestral home of the Houthi tribe, which is administratively part of modern Haydan District of Saada Governorate. At the time of Al-Houthi's birth, that part of Yemen formed the core of the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen). His father, Badreddin al-Houthi, was a prominent Zaydi cleric who briefly took control of the Houthi movement after his son's death.[1]
According to a disciple, Hussein al-Houthi lived part of his life with his family, including his father, Badreddin and his younger brother, Abdul-Malik,[1] in Qom, Iran. The disciple also claimed that al-Houthi had close relationships with Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran, and Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader.[2]
Political career
Member of Al-Haqq
Al-Houthi was a member of the Yemeni Zaydi/Shafi'i political party Al-Haqq (The Truth). When the party supported South Yemeni separatism, it became a target of the government, and he fled, allegedly, to Syria and then to Iran. After his return to Yemen, he broke with Al-Haqq to form his own party.[3]
Believing Youth movement
Al-Houthi founded the Believing Youth movement (
Forming Ansarallah
Al-Houthi was accused by the Ali Abdullah Saleh government of trying to set himself up as an imam, of setting up unlicensed religious centres, of creating an armed group called Ansarallah and of staging violent anti-American and anti-Israeli protests, as al-Houthi's followers felt Yemen's government was too closely allied with the United States.[7][8]
Death
On 18 June 2004, Yemeni police arrested 640 of his followers, who were demonstrating in front of the
In July, the
Legacy
On 5 June 2013, tens of thousands of Yemeni Shias attended the reburial of the remains of al-Houthi in
The Houthis take their name from the family name
References
- ^ a b Ludovico Carlino (August 2013). "Militant Leadership Monitor". The Jamestown Foundation - Militant Leadership Monitor: 12. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
- MEMRI, 2 November 2009
- ^ Manuel Almeida (8 October 2014). "Profile: Who are Yemen's Houthis?". Al Arabiya News. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
- ^ "Yemen's Abd-al-Malik al-Houthi". BBC. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
- ^ "al-Shabab al-Mum'en / Shabab al-Moumineen (Believing Youth)". Global Security. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
- S2CID 110465618.
- ^ "Yemen continues anti-cleric drive". BBC News. 9 August 2004. Retrieved 5 February 2008.
- ^ a b "al-Shabab al-Mum'en / Shabab al-Moumineen (Believing Youth)". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 5 February 2008.
- ^ Iris Glosemeyer and Don Reneau, "Local Conflict, Global Spin: An Uprising in the Yemen Highlands," Middle East Report, No. 232 (Autumn 2004), pp. 44–46
- ^ "Yemen kills cleric's followers, offers reward". The Sydney Morning Herald. 11 July 2004. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
- ^ "Yemeni forces kill rebel cleric". BBC News. 9 October 2004. Retrieved 5 February 2008.
- ^ Yemeni Regime Releases Body of the Shiite Leader of al Houthi Movement After 9 Years Archived 26 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine ABNA.ir, 2 June 2013
- ^ "Yemenis bury remains of founder of Houthi rebel group". Reuters. 5 June 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
- Globe and Mail. Associated Press. 9 August 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
- ^ "Brother of Houthis' top leader believed dead after air strike". The National (Abu Dhabi). 1 September 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2020.