al-Shabab al-Mum’en / Shabab al-Moumineen (Believing Youth)
Yemen's government faces a persistent rebellion by Shiite tribesmen. They are followers of cleric Hussein Badr Eddin al-Houti [Husain al-Huthi], who was killed in September 2004, after months of battles with Yemeni security forces. Sheik al-Houti, a one-time political aspirant in Yemen, had wide religious and tribal backing in Yemen, particularly in Yemen's northern mountains. Hussein al-Houthi was a former member of parliament for the pro-monarchy al-Haqq (Truth) Islamic party. The government of Yemen accused Hothi of setting up unlicensed religious centers.
Sheik al-Houti, a Zaidi religious leader, headed an armed group called the Believing Youth. The group led protests against the United States and Israel at mosques. Al-Houti's followers said Yemen's government had become too closely allied with the United States. During the main weekly prayers each Friday, al-Houthi’s followers used to chant slogans against Israel and the United States. Yemen's government said the group was modeled on the Lebanese Hizbollah, and that it sought to re-establish a monarchy in Yemen by force. Al-Houti was accused of trying to set himself up as Imam. Hizbollah in Lebanon denied any links with the rebels in Saddah, though some thought the Iranian-backed insurgents were linked.
The country has a total area of approximately 328,080 square miles, and its population is approximately 20 million. Virtually all citizens are Muslims, belonging either to the Zaydi order of Shi'a Islam or to the Shafa'i order of Sunni Islam, representing approximately 30 percent and 70 percent of the total population, respectively. The Shia Zaidi sect are found in the north and northwest, and the Shafa'i school of Sunni Muslims are found in the south and southeast. There also are a few thousand Ismaili Muslims, mostly in the north.
The Zaidi Shia sect was founded about 1,000 years ago. Yemen has not had an imam since the Zaidi Imam Hamid al-Din was overthrown as ruler in 1962. Some Zaidi Shia clerics dismissed al-Houti's rebellion as only "fitnah (disturbance) among Yemeni Muslims. The clashes with Sheik al-Houti's followeres were in the Marran mountains of Saddah area. Saddah, about 150km north of capital Sana'a and close to the border with Saudi Arabia, is the main centre of the Zaidi Shia sect.
Yemen was one of the oldest centers of civilization in the Near East. Between the 12th century BC and the 6th century AD, it was part of the Minaean, Sabaean, and Himyarite kingdoms, which controlled the lucrative spice trade, and later came under Ethiopian and Persian rule. In the 7th century, Islamic caliphs began to exert control over the area. After this caliphate broke up, the former north Yemen came under control of Imams of various dynasties usually of the Zaidi sect, who established a theocratic political structure that survived until modern times. (Imam is a religious term. The Shi’ites apply it to the prophet Muhammad's son-in-law Ali, his sons Hassan and Hussein, and subsequent lineal descendants, whom they consider to have been divinely ordained unclassified successors of the prophet.)
North Yemen became independent of the Ottoman Empire in 1918. The British, who had set up a protectorate area around the southern port of Aden in the 19th century, withdrew in 1967 from what became South Yemen. Three years later, the southern government adopted a Marxist orientation. The massive exodus of hundreds of thousands of Yemenis from the south to the north contributed to two decades of hostility between the states. The two countries were formally unified as the Republic of Yemen in 1990. A southern secessionist movement in 1994 was quickly subdued.
Yemen has long had a reputation of lawlessness and militancy. In December 1998 a group of western tourists, including two Americans, were kidnaped by terrorists in Yemen. Four hostages were killed and one American hostage wounded when Yemeni security forces attempted a rescue operation. In 2000, seventeen sailors were killed and thirty-nine injured when a US Naval ship, the USS Cole, was bombed in the port of Aden in Yemen. And in October 2002 there was an attacks on the French oil supertanker Limburg off Yemen.
Tribal violence has resulted in a number of killings and other abuses, and the Government's ability to control tribal elements remains limited. Tensions, which periodically escalate into violent confrontations, continue between the Government and some tribes. In several cases, long- standing tribal disputes were resolved through government-supported mediation by nongovernmental actors.
During the ongoing internal conflict that began in 2004, the government used heavy force in an attempt to suppress the al-Houthi rebels in Saada governorate. In August 2004 Yemeni warplanes and artillery pounded mountain hideouts of Sheik al-Houti and his followers. The major offensive aimed at ending a six-week conflict that had killed at least 500 people since the conflict began on 18 June 2004. Government troops took control of locations in the Jabal Maraan mountains, outside the northern town of Sa'dah, where followers of Hussein Badr Eddin al-Houti were holed up.
The government offered a $55,000 reward for the capture of Sheik al-Houti, accusing him of sedition. On 10 September 2004 government troops killed Hussein Badruddin Al-Houthi, his brother and twenty of their followers in the Marran district north of Sanaa, Yemen’s capital. His death came after three months of fighting between his followers and government forces in north Yemen.
The Government offered an olive branch to the Islamist opposition. A joint communiqué from the country’s Defense and Interior ministries urged Yemeni clerics to avoid incitement, "shun all types of extremism," and to "take part in developing the country." Numerous cease-fires and mediation attempts failed to end the conflict.
The Government prevented the media from fully conveying the extent of casualties on both sides, as well as the collateral damage. Estimates of civilian deaths ranged from 500 to 1,000, according to Amnesty International (AI). Opposition media and political leaders claimed the Government used excessive force in suppressing the rebellion. Security forces conducted mass arrests in Sa'da Province, as a result of the June conflict. Some Al-Houthi supporters captured during the conflict remained in detention at year's end. AI reported that those arrested have been detained incommunicado. There were no trials held by year's end.
Fighting resumed late on Friday 01 April 2005 in the northern area of Nishour after rebels tried to attack an army camp. Ten soldiers and six rebels died in the battle. Clashes spread close to Saada province the next day, killing at least 20 rebels.
Government troops worked to put down this resumption of violence by al-Houti's followers, in fighting that tribal sources say killed 250 people on both sides in the first two weeks of fighting. The army brought in artillery to pound the brick compounds that the rebels are holding out in. Opposition media reports said that the fighting on 13 April 2005 left 120 deaths and injuries among the rebels.
Abdullah Ayedh al-Razami, Yusuf Madani who had recently married one of Hussein al-Houthi’s daughters and Houthi’s brother Abdul Malak, were leading the rebels on the ground, while al-Houthi’s father, the 86-year old Badr Eddin al-Houti, had taken the role of spiritual leader. On 12 April 2005 Yemeni sources reported that authorities had killed Abdullah Izza Al Razami, the No. 2 member of the Believing Youth. Al Razami at the time was said to have died in a battle near the Yemeni-Saudi border during what appeared to be an attempt to flee Yemen. Al Razami in fact survived.
On 08 April 2005 the Department of State warned US citizens to defer non-essential travel to Yemen. The security threat to all US citizens in Yemen remained high due to terrorist activities in Yemen. The Department was concerned about possible attacks by extremist individuals or groups against US citizens, facilities, businesses and perceived interests and therefore authorized the voluntary departure from Yemen of non-emergency personnel and eligible family members.
Abdullah Razami, the military leader of the Believing Youth, surrendered on 23 June 2005 after tribal mediators worked out a deal with the government. The terms of the deal were said to include a cessation of hostilities in return for amnesty for members of the organization.
On August 02 2005, the government announced that 36 suspected terrorists tied al-Houthi and the Believing Youth would stand trial for plotting to cause rioting in Sanaa.
On 4 March 2006, the Yemeni government released 627 al-Houthi followers from custody. The rebels had to sign a "convenant of loyalty and good conduct" to secure their release. Not included in the amnesty were the 36 aforementioned terrorists standing trial for a riot in Sanaa.
The Yemeni government announced on 23 September 2006 that President Saleh won relection for another seven-year term with 77% of the vote. International monitors described the election as "an open and genuine political contest."
By 2007 the fragile ceasefire between the Government and al-Houthi rebels in Saada Governorate began to break apart. The Government maintained that the al-Houthis are adherents of Twelver Shi'ism, a variant of Shi'ism that differs from that of the country's predominant Zaydi-Shi'a. The al-Houthis follow the late rebel cleric Hussein Badr Eddine al-Houthi, who was killed during a 10-week rebellion that he led in 2004 against the Government in Saada. Some Zaydis continued to report harassment and discrimination by the Government because they were suspected of sympathizing with the al-Houthis. Human rights groups reported that hundreds of Zaydis remained in jail because of their religious affiliation and without any connection to the fighting. However, it appeared the Government's actions against the group were politically, not religiously, motivated.
In May 2008 the conflict spread for the first time beyond Saada to Bani Hushaish, a village on the outskirts of the capital. Both sides agreed to a fragile ceasefire in July. Although total deaths resulting from the conflict during 2008 are unknown, an estimated 1,000 government troops were killed and 3,000 wounded in the month of May alone. No reliable estimates for the number of rebel or civilian deaths were available.
