Name Mohammed al-Houthi | Allegiance Houthis | |
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Preceded by Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi (President) Battles/wars Houthi insurgency in Yemen Role President of the Revolutionary Committee Office President of the Revolutionary Committee since 2015 Battles and wars Houthi insurgency in Yemen | ||
Presidential term February 6, 2015 – | ||
Mohammed Ali al-Houthi (Arabic: محمد علي الحوثي) (born 1979) is a Yemeni political figure who is former President of the Revolutionary Committee or Revolutionary Council, a body formed by Houthi militants. He was one of the military field commanders who led the group's seizure of the Yemeni capital Sana’a in September 2014, and eventually became the de facto leader of Yemen after the Houthi takeover of the Yemeni government in 2015. He is a cousin of Abdul-Malik Badreddin al-Houthi, the group's leader.
Contents
According to the 6 February statement by a Houthi representative, the Revolutionary Committee is in charge of governing Yemen and forming a new parliament, which will then appoint a five-member presidential council. However, other reports indicated the committee itself would serve as the presidential council.
Al-Houthi has been described as a "former political prisoner".
Presidency
Mahmoud Al-Junaid was named as director of the presidential office on 9 February 2015, although he declined to confirm to the Yemen Times whether he was working for them.
The newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported on 19 February that al-Houthi had been sacked over the lack of an agreement among Yemen's political factions to support the Houthis' transitional authority, but a senior Houthi leader denied that he had been dismissed. The next day, Reuters and other news outlets reported that UN-led negotiations had produced a tentative agreement regarding the Yemeni parliament, but it did not address the political dispute over the presidency.
On 21 March, al-Houthi spoke at a meeting of the Revolutionary Committee, giving an address in which he said Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi's term of office legally ended on 21 February 2015 and his legitimacy had expired. He criticised foreign governments for continuing to back Hadi, accusing them of "blatant interference" in Yemeni affairs.
Al-Houthi was injured by a Royal Saudi Air Force strike in Sana'a during the first night of a military intervention in Yemen led by Saudi Arabia on 25 March, according to Al Jazeera.
Houthi-controlled state media reported in November 2015 that al-Houthi sent a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calling on the UN to restrain the Saudi-led coalition and accusing the coalition of "war crimes" and "genocides" against Yemen.
On 15 August 2016, the Supreme Revolutionary Committee handed power to the Supreme Political Council.
International reactions
The United Nations, the United States and the Gulf Cooperation Council refused to recognise the legitimacy of the Houthi declaration placing al-Houthi and the Revolutionary Committee in charge of Yemen's government. The UN Security Council adopted a resolution on 15 February 2015 calling on the Houthis to relinquish control of state institutions, with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warning that Yemen teetered on the verge of state failure.