Yahya al-Houthi Responds to Strategy Page: President Saleh is a Wahabbi
Yahya al-Houthi, Member of Parliament (in exile in Germany) and brother of rebel leader, Abdulmalik al-Houthi, responds to an article at Strategy Page (here) discussing the Houthi rebellion and Sa’ada War. He refutes the assertion that the rebels bombed the mosque:
Dear Sir,
I am grateful to Jane Novak and Gudrun for their comments, and would like to add mine. Let me note that the knowledge presented in this article is not entirely correct. First of all, the Zaydis make up about 45% of the Yemeni population. (According to the US foreign ministry, they make up 33%.) Regarding the claim that we seek to return imamate rule, I submit that the issue is neither imamate nor republican rule. What concerns us is that over the past thirty years, there has been a dictatorship in Yemen. During that period, there have been six US presidents who cannot rule for more than eight years. In Yemen, one president has been ruling for thirty years: Do you call this republican rule?
With respect to the bombing of the bin Salman mosque in Sa`dah, the writer’s conclusions are not backed up by evidence. Firstly, the city of Sa`dah is under government control. There are no fighters associated with the Huthi family stationed in the city. Anyone who is suspected of being affiliated with us is immediately arrested. The city resembles an army barrack. The motorcycle was the property of the Ministry of Agriculture. The bomb exploded at the gate to the courtyard of the mosque. The motorcycle was parked at the gate. It could not have been parked there if its owner was unknown because army commanders and soldiers predominantly use the mosque. As far as we are concerned, we are completely opposed to attacks on civilians. I would have appreciated it if the writer also talked about the army’s attacks on Zaydi mosques in the area.
The writer does not provide any evidence that “al Houthi supporters keep breaking” the truces between them and the government. It should be the mediator, in the case the government of Qatar, making claims as to whether we have broken the truce, but they have failed to do so. The writer’s accusations rest entirely on government propaganda.
Regarding the writer’s claim that we consider Saleh a traitor for dealing with the Sunni majority, this is incorrect. Traditionally the Sunnis in Yemen have been Shafi’is, and Zaydis and Shafi’is have always respected each other’s schools of thought. Our problem is that the president has become a Wahhabi and has been trying to implant by force the Wahhabi school of thought in Zaydi areas, aided by finances provided by Wahhabi-based institutions.
It is a distortion of Yemeni history to argue that the battles with Shia tribesmen have been going on since 1962. The leaders of the 1962 revolution were almost all Zaydi-Shi`is, and Zaydis fought on both sides during the ensuing civil war. While it is true that many government officials are Sunnis, the reigns of power are all in the hands of those hailing from Zaydi areas, whether or not they embrace Zaydi beliefs.
We are not anti-American per se. Rest assured that we do not have any issues with the American people, but we disapprove of some of their government’s foreign policy in the Middle East. Like many people in the Middle East of all faiths, we were opposed to the US led invasion of Iraq and the subsequent killing of civilians. Generally, we hate the use of force in order to solve problems because of the loss of life and the destruction it causes. If the writer has ever been listening to mosque speeches in Yemen, he would be aware that both Zaydi and Sunni imams curse America. The Saleh government itself opposed the invasion of Iraq.
It would have been helpful if the writer had based his research on government sources as well as on information provided by our own spokesmen.
Now if I was in Yemen, I’d be subject to the death penalty for publishing this letter.
