HOUTHIS

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Context

• Yemen’s Houthis have waded into the ongoing conflict in Palestine.

Who are the Houthis?

• The Houthis are a large clan belonging to the Zaidi Shia sect, with roots in Yemen’s northwestern Saada province.
• The Houthi movement, officially called Ansar Allah (Supporters of God), began in the 1990s against the dictatorship of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
• Today, the Houthis are one faction in a bloody civil war that has raged in Yemen since 2014.
• They currently control territory in the west and northwest of Yemen, including the capital Sana’a.
• The Houthis, backed by Iran, are a part of what Iran calls, “The Axis of Resistance” — an informal anti-Israel and anti-West political and military coalition that it leads.
• Other notable groups in the Axis include Hezbollah and Hamas.
• In Yemen, the Houthis are fighting against the Sunni-led internationally recognized Yemeni government, backed by Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
• Experts see the civil war in Yemen as a proxy war between Iran and Saudi, the two foremost Islamic powers in the world