Who are the Houthis?
The Houthis are a Yemeni political and armed movement that controls large parts of northern Yemen. Their formal name is Ansar Allah (“Supporters of God”).
The Houthis emerged in northern Yemen and began as a religious and political movement among Yemen's Zaydi Shi'a community in the 1990s. They were founded and led by members of the al-Houthi family, particularly Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi.
Their movement grew because of opposition to Yemen's government, which they accused of corruption, authoritarianism, and being too closely aligned with Saudi Arabia and the United States.
They are supported by Iran, which has provided weapons, technology, training, and other assistance, although the Houthis have their own Yemeni leadership and interests rather than simply being an Iranian military unit.
Today, the Houthis control Sanaa and much of northwestern Yemen, although they do not control the entire country.
Why do they fight Saudi Arabia?
Saudi Arabia borders Yemen directly and has historically supported Yemen's internationally recognized government against the Houthis.
The Houthis and Saudi Arabia therefore became enemies during the Yemen war. Houthis have launched ballistic missiles and drones toward Saudi territory, while Saudi Arabia conducted extensive airstrikes against Houthi positions.
What About Iran
Houthis are not simply "Iranian soldiers."
They are a Yemeni movement with their own leadership and objectives. However, Iran has provided the Houthis with various forms of support, including weapons, technology, training and other assistance. This has contributed to the broader regional rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Iran and the Houthis also share opposition to Israel and strong hostility toward U.S. military presence in the region.
The Houthis originated in northern Yemen and eventually became powerful enough to capture Sanaa, Yemen's capital, in 2014. Saudi Arabia viewed the Houthi takeover as a major security threat because:
- Yemen borders Saudi Arabia.
- The Houthis had become an armed movement closely aligned with Iran, Saudi Arabia's regional rival.
- Houthi forces possessed missiles and drones capable of reaching Saudi territory.
- Saudi Arabia supported Yemen's internationally recognized government against the Houthis.
Why are we hearing about them so much recently?
Because the Houthis have become particularly important to international shipping.
They sit near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, one of the world's important maritime chokepoints connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
Since late 2023, the Houthis have attacked or attempted to attack commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea, saying their actions are connected to the Gaza war.
So you can think of the Houthis as:
Yemeni movement → controls much of northern Yemen → fought Saudi Arabia → supported by Iran → possesses missiles and drones → sits next to a major global shipping route.
The Houthi de facto government in Yemen
The Houthis control only roughly one-third of Yemen's territory, concentrated in the northwest. But that territory contains approximately 70–80% of Yemen's population, including Sanaa, the capital.
Even though the Houthis control the area where most Yemenis live, the majority of Yemenis are not necessarily "Houthis".
Yemen is roughly ~65% Sunni Muslim and ~35% Zaydi Shia Muslim. But these are estimates rather than precise census figures.
The Houthis are a Zaydi movement, but that does not mean all Zaydis support the Houthis. Likewise, being Sunni doesn't automatically mean someone supports the anti-Houthi side.
| Approximate situation | |
|---|---|
| Territory controlled by Houthis | ~⅓ of Yemen |
| Population living under Houthi control | ~70–80% |
| Entire Yemeni population | ~34.5 million (2025 estimate) |
| Estimated Sunni population | ~65% |
| Estimated Zaydi/Shia population | ~35% |
The Houthis do not need a majority of Yemenis to support them to control Yemen's most populated areas.
Their military organization and control of the northwest allow them to govern a huge portion of the population even though they don't control most of the country's land.
And because the Houthis control Sanaa and much of the northwest, they have effectively built a de facto government there. The internationally recognized government operates primarily from areas outside Houthi control. The political landscape has also become more complicated because the anti-Houthi camp itself contains competing factions.
How Houthis Conquered Most of Yemen
The key is that the Houthis didn't conquer Yemen by themselves in one giant military victory. They took advantage of a very weak and divided state, made alliances, and captured the political center of the country.
Before the Houthis took Sanaa, Yemen had serious problems. President Ali Abdullah Saleh had ruled for decades and built a complicated network of military, tribal, and political alliances.
After the 2011 Arab Spring uprising, Saleh left office. His successor, Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, struggled to hold the country together.
The transition process failed to resolve major disagreements over how power and territory should be distributed. Different military units, tribes, political parties and regional movements had their own interests.
So when the Houthis expanded, they weren't attacking a strong, unified government. They were entering an already-fractured political system.
The Houthis initially had help from their former enemy
Ali Abdullah Saleh, the former president, had actually fought the Houthis six times between 2004 and 2010.
But after Saleh was removed from power in 2012, he had a new enemy: Hadi's government.
So Saleh and the Houthis temporarily decided that "We used to fight each other, but we have a common enemy now."
Saleh still had loyalists inside the military, security forces, tribal networks and political establishment. Those forces joined with the Houthis and significantly increased their military strength.
Then came the 2014 fuel-price protests
In 2014, Hadi's government removed fuel subsidies, causing fuel prices to rise. The Houthis organized large demonstrations demanding lower prices and political reforms. This allowed them to attract support beyond their traditional Zaydi/Shia base.
In September 2014, Houthi forces entered Sanaa. They initially didn't need to destroy the entire city or fight every government soldier. The government was already extremely weak, while Houthi forces and their allies had considerable military capability.
By late 2014, the Houthis had captured much of Sanaa. Then in January 2015, they seized the presidential palace and placed Hadi and his government under enormous pressure. Hadi eventually fled Yemen and went to Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia then intervened — but couldn't simply remove them
Saudi Arabia therefore intervened in March 2015, leading a coalition to try to restore the internationally recognized government.
But Saudi airpower couldn't simply translate into control of Yemen's mountains and cities.
The Houthis proved capable of surviving years of fighting and eventually the front lines largely stabilized.
And then something unexpected happened
In 2017, Saleh decided to break with the Houthis and seek an accommodation with Saudi Arabia. The Houthi-Saleh alliance collapsed.
The Houthis then fought Saleh's forces in Sanaa. Saleh was killed by Houthi forces in December 2017. So the same man whose military network had helped the Houthis capture Sanaa eventually became their enemy and was killed by them.
After that, the Houthis became much more firmly established as the dominant power in northern Yemen.
The Houthis actually had a chance to take much more of Yemen in 2015, including moving toward Aden, but Saudi intervention pushed them back. That explains why Yemen ended up divided rather than becoming completely Houthi-controlled.
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