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The Houthi army in Yemen goes back to a tribe in the north of the country, which is characterized by civil war and instability. Today it is at the center of the Middle East conflict. How could this happen?
“Arabia Felix”: The times when foreign powers referred to Yemen as “Happy Arabia” are a long time ago – as is the country’s wealth, which the Romans referred to with their title back then.
Today Yemen is characterized by a long history of rebellion, unrest and civil war. The region in the south of the Arabian Peninsula has been characterized by instability for decades, which is not least the result of ongoing conflicts between tribes competing for power and influence.
The country’s division also occurs along religious and social dividing lines and is also deepened by the conflicting interests of neighboring states.
A country on the edge of the East-West conflict
Until 1990, Yemen was a divided country. The People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen in the south was ruled by a socialist unity party and was considered one of the states of the so-called Eastern Bloc in the systemic conflict between East and West.
Even back then, the Arab Republic of Yemen in the north was a comparatively much more turbulent region, in which a majority of Shiite and Sunni tribes fought both among themselves and against each other for positions of power in the state. Several heads of government were overthrown and killed in revolts.
New struggles after unification
However, the unification of the two states did not lead to stability. Rather, it soon resulted in a civil war that ended with the victory of northern troops in 1994.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who had ruled the north since 1978, remained in power for more than 30 years. In 2012, mass demonstrations forced him to resign.
Under his authoritarian rule, living conditions in the country had deteriorated drastically. The enormous population growth, the country’s notorious scarcity of resources and rampant nepotism by the ruling elite played a prominent role.
Unresolved conflicts and new actors
Tensions with neighboring countries, especially with Saudi Arabia, but also with the United Arab Emirates, as well as the rise of Islamist terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda, increased tensions in the country – as well as the economic and social hardship.
Particularly in the north, the conflict with the Shiite Zaidis, who had dominated the country for more than a thousand years – until the republican overthrow in 1962 – remained unresolved and subsequently felt increasingly marginalized.
This is also the root of the emergence and strengthening of the armed forces that are now notorious under the name Houthis.
Rebellion against the South
Even before the country was unified, the Al Houthis, a family of Zaidi scholars, had united with tribes in the region to form the Ansar Allah militia (“the followers of God”) to fight the government in the south of the country.
This resistance to central power never completely disappeared and grew, enriched by a vehemently anti-American and pro-Palestinian component, in the early 2000s.
From 2004 onwards, President Salih’s troops took increasingly vehement action against the Ansar Allah militia, which he accused of separatism; He also accused Iran of financing the fighters.
Iran’s influence
The leadership in Tehran increasingly succeeded in harnessing the Houthi militia as part of the so-called “Axis of Resistance” for its strategic goals in the Middle East through financial donations, arms deliveries and logistical support. These goals primarily consist of a permanent threat to Israel and the complete exclusion of the USA from the region.
Until 2010, thousands were killed in the internal Yemeni fighting and hundreds of thousands were forced to flee. Militia leader Badr al-Din al-Houthi was killed and the militia took his name in his honor.
Another civil war – from 2014
A ceasefire only lasted from 2010 to 2012. Fighting flared up again under Salih’s successor Abed Rabbo Mansur Hadi, which further deteriorated living conditions in what was already the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula.
In September 2014, the Houthis captured the capital Sanaa and the important port city of Hudeida. President Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia. After parliament was dissolved in early 2015, the Houthis announced their intention to take power throughout the country.
The conflict becomes international
Shortly afterwards, a military alliance led by Saudi Arabia attacked the Houthis from the air. Egypt and the Gulf emirates of Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, among others, took part in the alliance. The United States, Britain and France provided logistical support.
The attacks and a naval blockade were primarily aimed at curbing the influence of Iran in the region, which was identified as the real power behind the Houthis. The Houthis, in turn, repeatedly attacked targets in Saudi Arabia over the course of the year.
An unprecedented catastrophe
However, the intervention failed to achieve its goal of driving the Houthis from power. Instead, it triggered an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, forcing millions of people to flee and starve. In 2022, the UN spoke of the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.
Attack on shipping
The Houthis, in turn, do not control all of Yemen today, but they do control most of the country. The conflict with neighboring states has been put on hold since Saudi Arabia and Iran became closer again in 2023 after years of ice age through China’s mediation.
To this end, the Houthis have actively intervened in the war in the Gaza Strip and are attacking shipping traffic on the Red Sea – in order to hit the economies of the West. As a result, the USA and Great Britain have been attacking Houthi positions since the beginning of the year.
While the war on the Arabian Peninsula was still a long way away for many people in the West, the country and the Houthis are now at the center of an international conflict, the end of which is not yet foreseeable for everyone involved.