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changes per talk. In this way, a parity is achieved: Both anti-Sunni actions and Sunni support are included + both positions as to the imamate are mentioned |
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[[File:Ansar Allah Logo.svg|thumb|left|Calligraphic logo of the Houthi movement reading "Oh ye who believe, be supporters of God" ([[Quran 61]]:14)<ref>{{cite web |author1=Middle East Forum |title=Harakat Ansar Allah (Yemen): Emblem |url=https://jihadintel.meforum.org/identifier/551/harakat-ansar-allah-yemen-emblem |website=jihadintel.meforum.org |access-date=15 February 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Ansar Allah |author1=Ansar Allah (Houthis) |url=https://www.ansarollah.com/ |website=ansarollah.com |access-date=15 February 2020 |language=ar}}</ref> Religious motives play an important role in the Houthi movement, though to what extent is disputed. ]]
Although they have framed their struggle in religious terms and put great importance in their Zaydi roots, the Houthis are not an exclusively Zaydi group. In fact, they have outright rejected their portrayal by others as a faction which is purportedly only interested in Zaydi-related issues. They have not publicly advocated for the restoration of the old Zaydi [[Imams of Yemen|imamate]],<ref name="wilson"/> although analysts have argued that they might plan to restore it in the future.<ref name="nagi"/> The movement has also recruited and allied with Sunni Muslims;<ref name="refworld quote">{{Cite web|url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a09aa064.html|title=Refworld | Yemen: Treatment of Sunni Muslims by Houthis in areas under Houthi control (2014-September 2017)|first=United Nations High Commissioner for|last=Refugees|website=Refworld|access-date=7 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190617141649/https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a09aa064.html|archive-date=17 June 2019|url-status=live|quote=[a]lthough the Huthis have widespread support among the Zaydi community, the movement also contains Sunni Muslims, [which is why] some Zaydis have denounced the Huthi movement [...] the Huthis are recruiting Yemenis of all faiths to fight for them}}</ref><ref name="wilson"/><ref name="bbc who"/><ref name="nagi"/><ref name="pbs"/> according to researcher Ahmed Nagi, several themes of the Houthi ideology "such as Muslim unity, prophetic lineages, and opposition to corruption [...] allowed the Houthis to mobilize not only northern Zaidis, but also inhabitants of predominantly Shafi'i areas."<ref name="nagi"/> However, the group is known to have discriminated against Sunni Muslims as well, closing Sunni mosques and primarily placing Zaidis in leadership positions in Houthi-controlled areas.<ref name="wilson"/><ref name="bbc who"/><ref name="refworld"/><ref name="nagi"/><ref name="pbs"/> The Houthis lost significant support among Sunni tribes after killing ex-President Saleh.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://carnegieendowment.org/sada/78969|title=The Houthi–Tribal Conflict in Yemen|author=Maysaa Shuja al-Deen|work=23 April 2019|access-date=13 February 2021}}</ref> Many Zaydis also oppose the Houthis, regarding them as Iranian proxies and the Houthis' form of Zaydi revivalism an attempt to "establish Shiite rule in the north of Yemen".<ref name="Profile: Who are Yemen's Houthis"/>
The Houthis have asserted that their actions are to fight against the expansion of [[Salafi movement|Salafism]] in Yemen,<ref name="Profile: Who are Yemen's Houthis" /><ref name="nagi"/> and for the defence of their community from discrimination, whereas their opponents have argued that they desire to institute Zaidi religious law,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7379929.stm|title=Deadly blast strikes Yemen mosque|date=2 May 2008|access-date=11 November 2009|work=BBC News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201160808/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7379929.stm|archive-date=1 December 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> destabilising the government and stirring anti-American sentiment.<ref>Sultan, Nabil (10 July 2004).</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FG10Ak02.html|title=Asia Times – Asia's most trusted news source for the Middle East|website=atimes.com|access-date=3 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516011845/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FG10Ak02.html|archive-date=16 May 2008|url-status=live}}</ref> Hassan al-Homran, a former spokesperson for Ansar Allah, has said that "Ansar Allah supports the establishment of a civil state in Yemen. We want to build a striving modern democracy. Our goals are to fulfil our people's democratic aspirations in keeping with the Arab Spring movement."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://yemenpost.net/Detail123456789.aspx?SubID=7375|title=Hassan al-Homran, spokesperson for Ansar Allah|newspaper=Yemen Post|date=22 November 2013|access-date=25 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925151608/http://yemenpost.net/Detail123456789.aspx?SubID=7375|archive-date=25 September 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> In an interview with ''[[Yemen Times]]'', Hussein al-Bukhari, a Houthi insider, said that Houthis' preferable political system is a republic with elections where women can also hold political positions, and that they do not seek to form a cleric-led government after the model of Islamic Republic of Iran, for "we cannot apply this system in Yemen because the followers of the [[Shafi'i|Shafi]] ([[Sunni Islam|Sunni]]) doctrine are bigger in number than the Zaydis".<ref name=":0">{{cite news|url=http://www.yementimes.com/en/1826/intreview/4467|title=Al-Bukhari to the Yemen Times: "The Houthis' takeover can not be called an invasion"|newspaper=[[Yemen Times]]|date=21 October 2014|access-date=17 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925182440/http://www.yementimes.com/en/1826/intreview/4467|archive-date=25 September 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2018, the Houthi leadership proposed the establishment of a non-partisan transitional government composed of technocrats.<ref name="Shaker Edroos" /> As a result of their strong support among the northern tribes, the Houthis have also been described as tribalist faction in opposition to republicanism. Regardless, they have managed to rally many people outside of their traditional bases to their cause, and became a major nationalist force.<ref name="Orkaby" /> When armed conflict for the first time erupted back in 2004 between the Yemeni government and Houthis, the President Ali Abdullah Saleh accused the Houthis and other Islamic opposition parties of trying to overthrow the government and the republican system. However, Houthi leaders, for their part, rejected the accusation by saying that they had never rejected the president or the republican system, but were only defending themselves against government attacks on their community.<ref name="arrabyee-2005">{{cite news| first=Nasser| last=Arrabyee| title=Rebellion continues| url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/743/re10.htm| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051024172005/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/743/re10.htm| url-status=dead| archive-date=24 October 2005| work=[[Al-Ahram Weekly]]| date=25 May 2005| access-date=11 April 2007 }}</ref> The Houthis have an ambivalent stance on the possible transformation of Yemen into a federation or the separation into two fully independent countries to solve the country's crisis. Though not opposed to these plans ''per se'', they have declined any plans which would in their eyes marginalize the northern tribes politically.<ref name="wilson"/><ref name="nagi"/>
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