Operation Blow to the Head | |||||||
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Part of the Houthi insurgency in Yemen (Operation Scorched Earth) | |||||||
![]() A mud house in Saada. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Casualties and losses | |||||||
unknown | 24 killed 25 captured | ||||||
Location within Yemen |
Operation Blow to the Head was a Yemeni military operation against the militants in the insurgent Yemeni town of Saada in the Saada Governorate. The Yemeni government troops began trying to capture the town on 13 January 2010. On that day, the Islamic militant Abdullah Mehdar was killed by Yemeni security forces. [2]
In June 2004, insurgency returned in Yemen. [3] The Yemeni government allegedly received help from the United States in controlling the insurgent force. From June to August 2004, Houthis battled with the Yemeni government under Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi. Hussein was killed in the insurgency by September. [4] His brother, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi took over command over the insurgents, and leads them today. The allies launched Operation Scorched Earth, but the rebels agreed to a short truce on 12 February 2010. [1]
The Yemeni government troops led a military operation against the insurgent town of Saada. Other Islamic rebels also fought against the Yemeni troops, with the fighting destroying much of the old Saada city.[ citation needed ] Many buildings were reduced to rubble. Abdullah Mehdar was killed in a gunfight with security forces on the opening day of the conflict. 15 Houthi fighters were killed in the next two days in the operation. On 19 January 2010, several rebels were killed by government forces in raids on Houthi hideouts in the old corner of the north. [2] The operation ended after a truce was declared by both sides on 12 February 2010. [1]
Saada, a city and ancient capital in the northwest of Yemen, is the capital and largest city of the governorate of the same name, and the seat of the eponymous district. The city is located in the mountains of Serat (Sarawat) at an altitude of about 1,800 meters. In 2004, it was the tenth-largest city in Yemen and had an estimated population of 51,870.
The Houthi insurgency, also known as the Houthi rebellion, the Sa'dah War, or the Sa'dah conflict, was a military rebellion pitting Zaidi Shia Houthis against the Yemeni military that began in Northern Yemen and has since escalated into a full-scale civil war. The conflict was sparked in 2004 by the government's attempt to arrest Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, a Zaidi religious leader of the Houthis and a former parliamentarian on whose head the government had placed a $55,000 bounty.
Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi was a Yemeni Zaidi religious, political and military leader, as well as former member of the Yemeni parliament for the Party of Truth 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 assassination in 2004.
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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.
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