Mohammed al-Houthi | |
---|---|
محمد الحوثي | |
Senior Member Supreme Political Council | |
Assumed office 15 October 2020 | |
President | Mahdi al-Mashat |
Prime Minister | Abdel-Aziz bin Habtour |
President of the Supreme Revolutionary Committee of Yemen* | |
In office 6 February 2015 –15 August 2016 | |
Prime Minister | Talal Aklan (Acting) |
Deputy | Naef Ahmed al-Qanis |
Preceded by | Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi |
Succeeded by | Saleh Ali al-Sammad |
President of the Revolutionary Committee of Yemen* | |
Assumed office 6 February 2015 | |
Prime Minister | Talal Aklan (Acting) |
Deputy | Naef Ahmed al-Qanis |
Personal details | |
Born | 1979 (age 45–46) Saada,North Yemen |
Relations | Abdul-Malik al-Houthi Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi Yahia al-Houthi (Cousins) Badreddin al-Houthi (Uncle) |
Military service | |
Allegiance | Houthi movement |
Battles/wars | Houthi insurgency in Yemen Yemeni Civil War (2014–present) |
*Houthi's term has been disputed by Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi and Rashad al-Alimi. | |
Mohammed al-Houthi [a] (born 1979) is a Yemeni politician who is the former President of the Revolutionary Committee or Revolutionary Council,a body formed by Houthi militants and the de facto President of Yemen. He was one of the military field commanders who led the group's seizure of the Yemeni capital Sana’a in September 2014, [1] 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. [2] [3] [4]
According to the 6 February 2015 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. [2] [5] However,other reports indicated the committee itself would serve as the presidential council. [3] [6]
Al-Houthi has been described as a "former political prisoner". [7]
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. [8]
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. [9] 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. [10] [11]
On 21 March 2015,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. [12]
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 2015,according to Al Jazeera. [13]
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. [14]
On 15 August 2016,the Supreme Revolutionary Committee handed power to the Supreme Political Council. [15]
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. [16] 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. [17]
On 9 November 2018,an opinion article by al-Houthi calling for peace in Yemen was published in The Washington Post . [18]
On 11 January 2021,the United States designated al-Houthi's movement as a "terrorist organization". [19] al-Houthi condemned the move by saying that the group "reserves its right to respond" to any designation by the Trump administration. [19] al-Houthi himself was also blacklisted by the United States government in the same measure. [20]
The Houthi movement, officially the Ansar Allah, is a Zaydi Shia Islamist political and military organization that emerged from Yemen in the 1990s. It is predominantly made up of Zaydi Shias, with their namesake leadership being drawn largely from the Houthi tribe. The group has been a central player in Yemen's civil war, drawing widespread international condemnation for its human rights abuses, including targeting civilians and using child soldiers. The movement is designated as a terrorist organization by some countries.
Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi is a Yemeni politician and military officer who served as the second president of Yemen from 2012 until his resignation in 2022. He previously served as the second vice president of Yemen from 1994 to 2012 under President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The Cabinet of Yemen refers to the governing body of the internationally recognized government of the Republic of Yemen, led by its President Rashad al-Alimi, who is also the chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), the governing body of Yemeni republic.
Abdul-Malik al-Houthi is a Yemeni politician and religious leader who has been the second and current leader of the Houthi movement, an organization principally made up of Zaydi Shia Muslims, since 2004.
Yemeni peace process refers to the proposals and negotiations to pacify the Yemeni crisis by arranging a power transfer scheme within the country and later cease-fire attempts within the raging civil war. While initially unsuccessful, the reconciliation efforts resulted with presidential elections, held in Yemen in February 2012. The violence in Yemen, however, continued during the elections and after, culminating in Houthi seizure of power and the ensuing civil war.
The Houthi takeover in Yemen, also known by the Houthis as the September 21 Revolution, or 2014–15 Yemeni coup d'état, was a popular revolution against Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi led by the Houthis and their supporters that pushed the Yemeni government from power. It had origins in Houthi-led protests that began the previous month, and escalated when the Houthis stormed the Yemeni capital Sanaa on 21 September 2014, causing the resignation of Prime Minister Mohammed Basindawa, and later the resignation of President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi and his ministers on 22 January 2015 after Houthi forces seized the presidential palace, residence, and key military installations, and the formation of a ruling council by Houthi militants on 6 February 2015.
The Yemeni crisis began with the 2011–2012 revolution against President Abdullah Saleh, who had led Yemen for 33 years. After Saleh left office in early 2012 as part of a mediated agreement between the Yemeni government and opposition groups, the government led by Saleh's former vice president, Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, struggled to unite the fractious political landscape of the country and fend off threats both from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and from Houthi militants that had been waging a protracted insurgency in the north for years.
The Supreme Revolutionary Committee, sometimes referred to as the Revolutionary Council or the Revolutionary Committee, is an interim body in Yemen formed by the Zaidiyyah Shia group Ansar Allah. In their 6 February 2015 "constitutional declaration" after seizing control of the Yemeni capital and much of former North Yemen, and the failure of Thursday talks between the Houthis and Yemen's many political parties that were aimed at forming a government to replace Hadi and his cabinet, the group declared the committee would act as Yemen's interim authority. The committee was given the task of forming a new 551-seat parliament, which would then select a five-member presidential council to rule the country for two years.
The Battle of Sanaa in 2014 marked the advance of the Houthis into Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, and heralded the beginning of the armed takeover of the government that unfolded over the following months. Fighting began on 9 September 2014, when pro-Houthi protesters under the command of Abdul-Malik al-Houthi marched on the cabinet office and were fired upon by security forces, leaving seven dead. The clashes escalated on 18 September, when 40 were killed in an armed confrontation between the Houthis led by military commander Mohammed Ali al-Houthi and supporters of the Sunni hardliner Islah Party when the Houthis tried to seize Yemen TV, and 19 September, with more than 60 killed in clashes between Houthi fighters and the military and police in northern Sanaa. By 21 September, the Houthis captured the government headquarters, marking the fall of Sanaa.
Saleh Ali al-Sammad was a Yemeni political figure from the Houthi movement who served as the chairman of Yemen's Supreme Political Council and the de facto President of Yemen until his assassination.
The aftermath of the Houthi takeover in Yemen refers to developments following the Houthis' takeover of the Yemeni capital of Sana'a and dissolution of the government, which eventually led to a civil war and the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen.
Abdel-Aziz bin Habtour is a Yemeni politician who served as prime minister of Houthi-led government in Sanaa from 4 October 2016 to 10 August 2024. On Saturday, August 10, 2024, Bin Habtour was appointed as a member of the Supreme Political Council. He also served as Governor of Aden during the Houthi takeover in Yemen. He is a member of the General People's Congress, sitting on its permanent committee since 1995. An ally of President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, he condemned the 2014–15 Yemeni coup d'état and received the deposed leader after his flight from the Houthi-controlled capital of Sanaa on 21 February 2015. He is also a vocal opponent of the separatist movement in the former South Yemen, saying the movement is too fractured and small to achieve its goals.
The Battle of Aden International Airport broke out in the early morning hours of 19 March 2015, when Yemen Army units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh attacked the airport in Aden, Yemen. The airport was defended by soldiers and guards supporting Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, Yemen's internationally recognised president.
The Battle of Aden was a nearly four-month battle in 2015 for the control of Aden, Yemen, between Houthis rebels and Yemen Army forces loyal to Ali Abdullah Saleh on one side, and Yemen Army units loyal to Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi and Southern Movement militias on the other side.
Major general Mahmoud al-Subaihi is a Yemeni military officer. He served in the cabinet of President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi as defence minister. In the Yemen Army, he holds the rank of major general. He was appointed to head the Ministry of Defence by Prime Minister Khaled Bahah in November 2014.
The Yemeni civil war is an ongoing multilateral civil war that began in late 2014 mainly between the Rashad al-Alimi-led Presidential Leadership Council and the Mahdi al-Mashat-led Supreme Political Council, along with their supporters and allies. Both claim to constitute the official government of Yemen.
On 26 March 2015, Saudi Arabia, leading a coalition of nine countries from West Asia and North Africa, launched a military intervention in Yemen at the request of Yemeni president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who had been ousted from the capital, Sanaa, in September 2014 by Houthi insurgents during the Yemeni Civil War. Efforts by the United Nations to facilitate a power sharing arrangement under a new transitional government collapsed, leading to escalating conflict between government forces, Houthi rebels, and other armed groups, which culminated in Hadi fleeing to Saudi Arabia shortly before it began military operations in the country.
The following is a timeline of the Yemeni civil war, which began in September 2014.
The siege of Al Hudaydah, codenamed Operation Golden Victory, was a major Saudi-led coalition assault on the port city of Al Hudaydah in Yemen. It was spearheaded by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia and has been considered as the largest battle since the start of Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen in 2015.
The Shura Council or Consultative Council is the upper house of the parliament of Yemen, with the lower house being the House of Representatives. Unlike the House it does not take on a legislative role, instead primarily being charged with an advisory role to the president. Per the constitution it has 111 members who are appointed by the president. There currently exist two Shura Councils as a result of the civil war, one in Sanaa aligned with the Houthis, and one aligned with the Presidential Leadership Council in Aden.