Houthis - Background

Yemen had a total area of approximately 328,080 square miles, and its population was approximately 20 million. Virtually all citizens were 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 were found in the north and northwest, and the Shafa'i school of Sunni Muslims were found in the south and southeast. There also were a few thousand Ismaili Muslims, mostly in the north.

The Zaidi Shia sect was founded about 1,000 years ago. Yemen had 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 a "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, was 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 AD, 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 2 decades of hostility between the states. The 2 countries were formally unified as the Republic of Yemen in 1990. A southern secessionist movement in 1994 was quickly subdued.

Yemen had long had a reputation of lawlessness and militancy. In December 1998, a group of western tourists, including 2 Americans, were kidnapped by terrorists in Yemen. Four hostages were killed and one American hostage wounded when Yemeni security forces attempted a rescue operation. In 2000, 17 sailors were killed and 39 injured when a US Naval ship, the USS Cole, was bombed in the port of Aden in Yemen. In October 2002, there was an attack on the French oil supertanker Limburg off Yemen.

Tribal violence had resulted in a number of killings and other abuses, and the Government's ability to control tribal elements remained limited. Tensions, which periodically escalated into violent confrontations, continued between the Government and some tribes. In several cases, long-standing tribal disputes were resolved through government-supported mediation by non-governmental actors.