Critical Threats: Al Houthis

Information about the contacts with Iran.


http://www.criticalthreats.org/yemen/profile-al-houthi-movement





Excerpt:

The al Houthi movement in Yemen traces its roots back to a political and paramilitary group called the Believing Youth established in the mid-1990s by Hussein Badr al Din al Houthi. The Believing Youth was aligned with the pro-government al Huqq party and sought to revive Zaydism, a Shiite sect whose tenets include the belief that only descendants of the Prophet Mohammad can be legitimate Muslim rulers.

After Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh aligned himself with the U.S. in 2001, Hussein al Houthi increasingly spoke out against the state, and the group held mass anti-government and anti-American demonstrations. The government issued a reward for the capture of Hussein and security forces killed him in September 2004 during an attempt to arrest him. His death ignited an uprising by his followers, who became known as the al Houthis.

The al Houthi movement draws its supporters from the Zaydi Shiite population in northern Yemen and is primarily active in Sa'ada and Amran provinces. The al Houthis' grievances include economic and social marginalization, corruption in the government, close alignment of the state with the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, and excessive Wahhabi influence on state policy and schools. The al Houthi rebels do not see President Saleh as a legitimate ruler, despite the fact that he is also a Zaydi, because he is not of the Haashimite bloodline (descended from the Prophet).

Haashimite Imams ruled Yemen for centuries before the 1962 coup that deposed the imamate. Al Houthi leaders, however, are quick to deny accusations that the goal of the al Houthi movement is to re-establish a Shiite imamate in the north of Yemen – an accusation the government often repeats. The al Houthi movement claims to seek autonomy from the Yemeni state for the Zaydi Shiite population in order to redress its other stated grievances.

There have been multiple attempts at ceasefires and peace deals since the beginning of the conflict, but agreements have repeatedly collapsed, leading to the resumption of fighting.

Most recently, the government launched a full-scale military offensive, OPERATION SCORCHED EARTH, in August 2009 in response to the al Houthi takeover of schools, hospitals, mosques, military installations, and roads in Saíada and Amran provinces.

Clashes have been continuing since then and have spilled over into neighboring Saudi Arabia. Riyadh announced in the last week of January 2010 that it had defeated the al Houthi rebels in its territory and was withdrawing its forces.


Leadership of the al Houthi Movement

Continued.

 

I'd say that Iran is all over this.. in Bahrain and in Yemen......


The Iran - Al-Qaeda Connection

•Iran became a safe haven for senior al-Qaeda officials who left Afghanistan in 2001 and has since been a thoroughfare for al-Qaeda members in transit to operative locations throughout the Middle East.[17]


•Asharq Al-Awsat recently revealed that the wife of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, his six children and 11 grandchildren have been living in Iran since 2001.[18] Their captivity has prevented al-Qaeda attacks on Iranian soil.[19]


•In November 2008, security officials intercepted a letter written by bin Laden’s son Saad, thanking Iran for "monetary and infrastructure assistance” in carrying out a double car bombing on the American embassy in Yemen that killed 16.[20] Signed by al-Qaeda’s second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the letter lauds Iran’s Revolutionary Guards for aiding al-Qaeda establish a Yemen network and Tehran’s “vision” for assisting the organization set up new terror bases throughout Yemen after cells in Iraq and Saudi Arabia were forced to disband.[21]
Iran-backed Shia al-Houthi Militants

Iran is sparking the violence in northern Yemen through its political and military support of the al-Houthi militants, a Shia offshoot sect within the Zaidi movement.[22] Since 2004, the Iran-backed Shia al-Houthi militants have been fighting against the Yemeni government, but the conflict has now reached a boiling point.[23] On Nov. 15, Yemen's counter-terrorism Chief General Yahya Salih told Al-Jazeera in an interview that “there is no doubt” that Iran is supporting and financing the Houthi proxy war against the government of Yemen.[24]

The militant group is named after Hussein Al-Houthi, an Al-Haq party representative in the Yemeni parliament from 1993 to 1997, who sought to overtake the government due to its alliance with the United States.[25] The Yemeni government alleges that the militant group seeks to establish an independent Shiite state in northern Yemen.[26]

This conflict consists of sectarian strife between Yemen’s Sunni Muslim majority and its Shia minority.[27] Shia Muslims comprise the majority of Iran’s total population (90-95 percent) and nearly 40 percent of Yemen’s population is Shia.[28]

While this conflict has not been heavily reported in the Western media, the Arab press has been increasingly critical Iran’s interference, pointing to further disquiet about Iran’s hegemonic ambitions in the region.[29]

Iran Threatening Yemen’s Sovereignty

•The Yemeni Navy seized an Iranian ship on Oct. 26 off of Yemen’s northwestern coast in the Red Sea, carrying anti-tank missiles intended for the Houthi militants.[30] Government sources also revealed that the five Iranian crewmen aboard the ship were weapons experts.[31]


•Iranian Fourth Fleet’s presence in the Gulf of Aden facilitates the Islamic Republic to increase its weapon smuggling operations to terrorist groups and Shia Islamists in Yemen and in Somalia, according to experts in an interview with the Egyptian government weekly Akhbar Al-Yaum.[32] Experts also said that Iran was smuggling weapons to Yemen via Eretria.[33]

continued.

http://righttruth.typepad.com/right...-qaeda-source-of-growing-terror-in-yemen.html

 

That's a very beautiful photograph, Margot, impressive. I should like to visit , when it's safe.

 

I have been to the other side in Asir..

Climbing to see the ancient houses carved into the rocky cliffs.. Its very beautiful and smells of roses in the cool air.

 

Current events from the Yemen Times.

http://www.yementimes.com/defaultdet.aspx?SUB_ID=35808

 

Fyi......................

 

Look at the photo.

 

Fyi................

 

While there is some operational connection between Iran and al-Qaeda it is important to note that they have strategic goals that are incompatible. Iran is trying, and in my opinion succeeding, in exerting its influence through Shia Islam, proxy militias, social movements, and political parties with the intention of controlling Iran to the Levant. That's why when the U.S. topples Arab regimes you immediately see increased Iranina influence in those areas. In fact, Iranian backed groups have already won significant support through their perceived victories against Israel and the U.S. The last six wars involving Arab armies have led to a massive defeat, or at lease a stalemate. Many Muslims believe Hezbollah defeated Israel in 2006, and combined with the "forced" withdrawal of U.S. forces from Lebanon after the Marine barracks bombing (and DoS bombings) Iran is viewed as a force to be reckoned with.

Al-Qaeda on the other hand, hasn't been nearly as successful. They are an apocalyptic organization with loose affiliations around the world. While they are able to occassionally pull of spectacular attacks, they are no longer coordinated with some type of centralized operations cell, and as a result you get a piecemeal effort to try to create an Islamic caliphate. Al-Qaeda essentially believes terrorism+?=Islamic Caliphate. They don't have a cohesive game plan.

 

Good summary.. Thanks.

Saudi Arabia no more wants Iranian influence on their southern border than they wanted Nasser and the Soviet influence on the border from 1962 thru 1970.

 

Northern Yemen.......

 

Northern Yemen, Haraz Mountains.

 

I really enjoy the pictures you've been posting. If the MENA region could ever relax long enough for me to take a year long vacation of the area I would. I think sometimes the western world forgets just how important MENA region is historically.

 

Asir means difficult...........

 

Fyi..............

 

..............................................

 

I'd love to see threads like this, however depicting how U.S and Globalist agendas and actions have played their parts in respects to the mess that is the Middle-East, although some may argue the region would be a mess with or without the U.S and Globalists imperialist activity in the region, at least we as nations would be blameless, and our young serving in the armed forces would not be needlessly thrown away, and our governments debts no where near as inflated and millions more people in our nations living happier more prosperous lives as a result of nothing but peace, and lack of military adventures that cost billions of credit based currency which has a role in directly determining the prospects of the youth in our nations, and the cost of bloodshed going into hundreds of thousands of innocents, and millions as a whole dead.

Btw, nice pictures.

 

We have never had much of a presence in Yemen beyond the Embassy..

And Yemen has been in conflict since I was a girl.

Remember that the Egyptians fought on the side of the Yemen Communists to overthrow the government all during the 1960s.


http://www.politicalforum.com/current-events/214533-libya-put-killers-qaddafi-trial.html

 

Told you so...............

 

Great thread and nice to see some Americans coming up to speed .
As long as you remember that Yemen will be controlled by the US by hook or by crook ( !! ) .
It may have unbelievable poverty and be the first State to run out of drinking water , but its strategic importance to the US and the industrialised West cannot be over stated .
The US will use anybody who will take on the work for them and if that is the so called mythical AlQaeda , so be it .
They did a fine job for the US and NATO in Libya and are repeating matters at a pleasant rate of knots in Syria .
Why discard a trusted winning formula?

 

nonsense

anyone who has been to italy would know this is Italy

 

This is Italy so I think it's quite safe to book a ticket and see this village now.

Margot is posting nonsense

anyone who has been to Yemen would know this is NOT Yemen

anyone who had been in the ME would know that even the little boats in the photo are not M eastern shape

Middle eastern boats have very sharp fronts like dhows

I think Margot has never been to ME

 

She will tell us next that this is Jeddah

 

Al Hajjarah, Yemen

 

Yemen: two women talking , Thula, Haraz.