Who are Yemen's Houthis and what do they want?

Yemen's Houthis: A look at the group's history and goals

The full report

The Houthi movement, officially known as Ansar Allah, or 'helpers of God', emerged in Yemen's far north in the 1990s around the cleric Hussein al-Houthi. It is rooted in Zaydism, a branch of Shia Islam whose followers are a minority in Yemen but concentrated in the northern highlands.

The group fought six rounds of war with the government of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh between 2004 and 2010. Hussein al-Houthi was killed in the first and leadership passed to his brother, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, who still heads the movement.

Houthi fighters captured Sanaa in September 2014, and in March 2015, Saudi Arabia led a military coalition into Yemen in support of the internationally recognised government, which has mostly governed from Riyadh and the southern Yemeni city of Aden.

By the time of the 2022 truce, the Houthis held about 30 percent of Yemen's territory but around 80 percent of its population. At home, the Houthis have sought greater autonomy for the north and, increasingly, recognition as Yemen's governing authority.

The Houthis have demanded an end to what they describe as a Saudi land, air and naval siege of Yemen, a characterisation Riyadh rejects. Heavy clashes are continuing around the strategically important city of Taiz, which sits above the Red Sea coast, and the renewed fighting has displaced 130,000 people.

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