Middle EastYemen

Yemenis commemorate founder of Houthi movement


Yemen’s Shia Muslims have held a conference to commemorate Hussein Badr al-Din al-Houthi, the founder of the Houthi movement, a decade after his death, Press TV reports.

The conference was held in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, on Saturday to mark the tenth death anniversary of al-Houthi, who was killed by the Yemeni army in a 2004 conflict between the Shia fighters and the former regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Speakers at the conference said the Houthi founder was killed for refusing to bow down to what they called the “the US and Israel’s agenda in the Muslim World.”

“They killed Hussein because he raised sentiments to counter global arrogant agenda led by the US and Israel. Although they were able to kill him, they failed to kill his ideas,” Colonel Najeeb al-Mansouri told Press TV.

Houthi was from the province of Saada, where the Yemeni government waged six wars to counter the Houthi uprising. The northern province, which shares boarders with Saudi Arabia, fell under the control of the Houthis after Yemeni troops withdrew from it in 2010, following a ceasefire agreement between the two sides. A year after the Saada war ended, the Shia group joined the Yemeni revolution in 2011, which eventually toppled the regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Although the Houthi founder was killed in 2004, his movement has been able to gain grounds in the north of the country over the past ten years.

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