Nationality Yemeni Rank Commander Known for Houthis Years of service 2004 Parents Badreddin al-Houthi | Allegiance Ansar Allah Role Political leader Religion Shia Islam (Zaidiyyah) Name Hussein al-Houthi | |
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Born 1956 Yemen Battles/wars Houthi insurgency in Yemen Died September 2004, Saada Governorate, Yemen Battles and wars Houthi insurgency in Yemen Siblings Abdul-Malik Badreddin al-Houthi Similar People Abdul‑Malik Badreddin al‑Houthi, Ali Abdullah Saleh, Abd Rabbuh Mansur H, Ali Mohsen al‑Ahmar, Ahmed Saleh | ||
Sheikh Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi (Arabic: حسين بدر الدين الحوثي; 1956 – 10 September 2004), also spelled Hussein Badr Eddin al-Houthi, was a Zaidi religious, political and military leader, as well as former member of the Yemeni parliament for the Al-Haqq Islamic party between 1993 and 1997. He was instrumental in the Houthi insurgency against the Yemeni government, which began in 2004. al-Houthi, who was a one-time rising political aspirant in Yemen, had wide religious and tribal backing in northern Yemen's mountainous regions. The Houthi movement took his name after his death in 2004.
Contents
- Personal life
- Member of Al Haqq
- Forming the Believing Youth movement
- Forming the Houthi
- Death
- Legacy
- References
Personal life
Al-Houthi was born in 1956 in the Marran area of Sada'a region. His father, Badr al-Din al-Tabatabai, was a prominent Zaydi cleric who briefly took control of the Houthi movement following his son's death.
According to an al-Houthi disciple, he had lived part of his life with his family (including his father and younger brother Abd al-Malik) in Qom, Iran. He claimed also that al-Houthi's relationship with Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran, and Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader was close.
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 Yemen separatism, they became a target of the government and al-Houthi fled, allegedly, to Syria and then to Iran. After his return to Yemen he broke with Al-Haqq to form his own party.
Forming the Believing Youth movement
Al-Houthi founded the Believing Youth movement (Arabic: شباب المؤمنین) in 1990 or 1992 to teach young persons about Zaidi and its history to revive Zaidism in Saada Governorate. This group is a primary core of support of Ansarallah.
Forming the Houthi
Al-Houthi was accused by the Ali Abdullah Saleh government of trying to set himself up as an imam, of setting up unlicensed religious centers, of creating an armed group called the Houthis 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.
Death
On 18 June 2004, Yemeni police arrested 640 Al-Houthi followers who were demonstrating in front of the Great Mosque of Sana'a, and two days later the Yemeni government offered a bounty of $55,000.00 for al-Houthi's capture and launched an operation aimed at ending his alleged rebellion. In July, Yemen Army forces killed 25 al-Houthi supporters and upgraded the bounty to $75,500.00 (10 million rials). After months of battles between Yemeni security forces and the Houthis, on 10 September, the Yemeni Interior and Defense Ministries released a statement declaring that al-Houthi had been killed with twenty of his aides in the Marran district, Saada Governorate.
Legacy
On 5 June 2013, tens of thousands of Yemeni Shias attended the reburial of the remains of al-Houthi in Sa'dah, where armed rebels were deployed in large numbers. The new Yemeni government had turned over the remains of al-Houthi to his family on 28 December 2012 as a goodwill gesture to bolster national reconciliation talks. The previous government of Ali Abdullah Saleh, who had stepped down in 2012 after the Yemeni Revolution, originally buried al-Houthi in 2004 at the Sana'a central prison to prevent his grave becoming a shrine for the Zaidis. A representative of Yemeni president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi attended the funeral, but a Houthi spokesman accused the central government of refusing to give visas to several dignitaries who wanted to travel to Yemen to attend the ceremony, and of tearing down pictures of al-Houthi put up in the Yemeni capital.
The Houthis take their name from the family name al-Houthi. His brothers Abdul-Malik, Yahia and Abdul-Karim are leaders of the rebels.