What religion are the Houthis?
In general, the Houthi movement has centered its belief system on the Zaydi branch of Islam, a sect of Islam almost exclusively present in Yemen. Zaydis make up about 25 percent of the population, Sunnis make up 75 percent. Zaydi-led governments ruled Yemen for 1,000 years up until 1962.
Does Yemen support Russia?
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Republic of Yemen recognized the Russian Federation on December 30, 1991. Since then relations between Russia and Yemen have been very close and friendly.
What countries support Houthi rebels?
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Sudan, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia has led a major military intervention in Yemen, and organized a coalition of other nations to support its efforts, including Egypt, Jordan, Sudan, and Bahrain.
What is the population of Shia in Yemen?
Religion in Yemen consists primarily of two principal Islamic religious groups: 65% of the Muslim population is Sunni and 34.5% is Shia. Others put the numbers of Shias at 30%.
Why is there a crisis in Yemen?
The conflict has its roots in the failure of a political process supposed to bring stability to Yemen following an uprising in 2011 that forced its long-time authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to hand over power to his deputy, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.
Who are allies with Yemen?
Relations with the Gulf Cooperation Council Yemen desires to join the 24-year-old Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a sub-regional organization which groups Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman in an economic and security alliance.
Was Yemen Soviet?
It was the only communist state to be established in the Arab world. With the collapse of communism, South Yemen was unified with the Yemen Arab Republic, commonly known as “North Yemen,” on 22 May 1990 to form the present-day Republic of Yemen.
Does Yemen have a president?
The first president of unified Yemen was Ali Abdullah Saleh and the second and current President of Yemen is Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who took office on 27 February 2012.
Where are the Houthis in Yemen?
The coalition continued its airstrikes on Sanaa and elsewhere Saturday, targeting a Houthi-held military facility and an abandoned headquarters of Yemeni state TV in the capital. The coalition said airstrikes also targeted the Houthis in the contested Harib district in Marib.
What’s the difference between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis?
Saudi-led coalition airstrikes have hit schools, hospitals and wedding parties, killing an estimated thousands of civilians according to monitoring groups. The Houthis meanwhile have used child soldiers and indiscriminately laid land mines across the country.
Why didn’t the Houthis report the site to the United Nations?
Saudi coalition spokesman Brig. Gen. Turki al-Malki said the Houthis hadn’t reported the site as needing protection from airstrikes to the U.N. or the International Committee of the Red Cross. He claimed the Houthis’ failure to do so represented the militia’s “usual deceptive approach” in the conflict.
Why did the Gulf States support the Houthis in Yemen?
While Houthi control expanded to the rest of Sanaa, as well as other towns such as Rada’, this control was strongly challenged by Al-Qaeda. The Gulf States believed that the Houthis had accepted aid from Iran while Saudi Arabia was aiding their Yemeni rivals.