Houthi insurgency

Belligerents

Yemen

• Security Forces
• Sunni tribes
• Al-Islah militias

Saudi ArabiaHouthi Movement
Yemen (pro-Saleh forces)

al-Qaeda

• Ansar al-Sharia

Commanders and leaders

Abdrabbuh Hadi
(2012–2015)
Hameed Al-Qushaibi†
Ali Abdullah Saleh
(2004–2012)
Mohammed Basindawa
(2011–2014)
Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar
(2004–2014)
Ali Muhammad Mujawar
(2007–2011)
Abdul Qadir Bajamal
(2001–2007)
Ahmed Saleh
(2000–2012)

Yahya Saleh
(2001–2012)
†
Ali Salem al-Ameri †
Ahmed Bawazeir †
Khalid bin Sultan
(2011–2013)
Saleh Al-Muhaya
(2009–2011)

Abdul Malik al-Houthi
Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi†
Yahia al-Houthi
Muhammad al-Houthi

Abdullah al-Ruzami(POW)

Yusuf al-Madani

†
†

†
Fares Mana'a

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Ali Abdullah Saleh(alleged from 2014)
Ahmed Saleh(alleged from 2014)

Yahya Saleh(alleged since 2014)Nasir al-Wuhayshi†
Qasim al-Raymi
Nasser al-Ansi†
Ibrahim al-Rubaish†
Khalid Batarfi
Harith bin Ghazi al-Nadhari†Strength

Yemen:
30,000 soldiers in-theatre
66,700 total
27,000 tribal fighters
Saudi Arabia:
100,000 deployed

199,500 total

Houthis
2,000 (2004)
10,000 (2009)

100,000 (2011) -Casualties and losses

Yemen:
1,000–1,300 killed
6,000 wounded
(Yemeni claim)
2,600–3,000 killed
8,000 wounded
(Independent estimates)
495 captured
(all released)
Saudi Arabia:
133 KIA
470 WIA

6 MIA/POW

3,700–5,500 rebels and civilians killed

3,000 arrested -

Total casualties:
Hundreds to thousands killed (humanitarian organizations), 25,000 (Houthi sources)
2,000 Sa'dah residents handicapped
250,000 Yemenis displaced

1.GeneralAli Mohsen al-Ahmar in charge of Yemeni operations against the Houthis until 2011 when he deserted.
2.SheikhBadreddin al-Houthi died of natural causes in November 2010
3.SheikhAbdullah al-Ruzami turned himself in to the authorities in 2005, but later he was released

4.SheikhFarris Mana'a was a government ally until his arrest in 2010, after which he endorsed the Houthis and was appointed to head their administration.

The Houthi insurgency, also known as the Sa'dah Wars, was a military rebellion pitting ZaidiShiaHouthis that began in northern Yemen and has since escalated into a full-scale civil war. The conflict was sparked in 2004 by the government's attempt to arrest Hussein al-Houthi, a Zaidi religious leader of the Houthis and a former parliamentarian on whose head the government had placed a $55,000 bounty.

Initially, most of the fighting took place in Saada Governorate in northwestern Yemen, but some of the fighting spread to neighbouring governorates Hajjah, 'Amran, al-Jawf and the Saudi province of Jizan. After the Houthi takeover of the capital city Sanaa in late 2014, the insurgency became a full-blown civil war with a major Saudi-led intervention in Yemen beginning in March 2015.