SAADA, March. 21(Saba) – Sayyed Hussein Badr al Din al Houthi was a religious scholar and served in parliament from 1993 to 1997 in the (Truth) Islamic Party.
After his term in parliament, he dedicated his time to leading the "Believing Youth," which means now Ansar Allah a group he helped establish in the mid-1990s affiliated with the al Huqq Party; the Ansar Allah aimed to revive Zaydi activism through proselytizing and education.
He repeatedly pledged loyalty to the state and denied that he was leading a rebellion.
The Ex-government of Saleh accused him of establishing unlicensed religious centers, arming the Ansar Allah , and staging violent anti-American protests , and accused the Ansar Allah of attempting to reestablish an imamate.
The Ex-government of Saleh also accused sayyed Hussein and Ansar Allah of receiving support from Iran and modeling itself after Hezbollah.
On June 18, 2004, Ex-government of Saleh arrested 640 followers of sayyed Hussein who were demonstrating in front of Sana'a Grand Mosque, and two days later launched an operation to arrest al-sayyed Hussein in the mountains of Sa'ada province.
In July 2004, the Ex-government offered a $75,000 reward for the capture of sayyed Hussein, His death ignited an uprising by his followers, who became known as the al Houthis.
Saleh forces killed sayyed Hussein Badr al Din al Houthi on September 9, 2004 in the mountains of Sa'ada province.
Ansar Allah rise . From the early 1990s until Yemen’s 2011 revolution, they gained physical ground, ideological influence, and political sway. Beginning as a religious revival group, the tribesmen and Sayyed descendants looked to their leader and namesake, Hussein al Houthi, to lead them out of forgotten corners of Yemen back onto the political scene. In 2004, as a reaction to the US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan.
As a response, former President Saleh waged guerrilla mountain war against Houthi and his followers from 2004 to 2009, led by former Ali Mohsen al Ahmar, completely destroying the northern province of Sa’ada with the help of Saudi fighters and American missiles. Though sayyed Hussein al Houthi was killed in the first war of 2004, his brother sayyed Abdul Malik, who still leads the movement today, quickly took the reins.
The Ansar Allah joined the revolution, supporting independent youth after it was hijacked by Yemen’s Islamist party, Islah—the party of then-General Ali Mohsen al Ahmar, who led the wars against Ansar Allah.
As well as, the Yemeni governors discussed the importance of the martyr leader project in the face of conspiracies hatched by enemies to tear the Arab and Islamic nation apart.
They stressed the importance of strengthening resilience in the face of aggression and the challenges it imposed, calling on everyone to participate in the convoy of steadfastness and contribute actively to the fronts with all the precious.
The Tribes of districts in Yemen denounced the international silence over the continued aggression in shedding the blood of Yemenis, stressing that these crimes will not break the steadfastness of the people.
The event in some provinces many speeches and poems that deal with the life of the leader martyr, his great sacrifices, his patience, and his steadfastness in the face of the arrogant people whom were enraged by his slogan calling to expose the real enemy of Islam and Muslims. He revealed with the Quranic project the American and Israeli project aiming at tearing apart the countries under the pretext of fighting terrorism and other false pretenses.
In Provinces of Yemen, the Tribes stressed also that this slogan embodies an attitude of faith and humanity towards the enemies of God and Islam and it has proved its impact and created in the hearts of enemies horror and humiliation. This slogan was raised by the Martyr Commander before the occupation of Iraq. “Death to America, Death to Israel, Damn the Jews, Victory to Islam.
Written by Mona Zaid