The leader of the rebellion in northern Yemen has been seriously wounded in clashes with government forces and could even be dead, according to news reports.
‘Abd Al-Malik Al-Houthi was reportedly wounded in a missile attack and has been replaced by his brother Muhammad Badr A-Din Al-Houthi, according to the Yemeni website A-‘Sahwa.
Sources close to the government said the rebel leader could possibly have been killed in the clashes in ‘Sa’ada, in northern Yemen, according to the London-based A-Sharq Al-Awsat.
Fighting in the ‘Sa’ada district, north of the capital ‘Sana, began in 2004 between rebels from a local Shi’ite minority and government forces.
Hundreds of people from both sides have been killed in the rebellion.
Al-Houthi fighters belong to the Zaidi minority, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam. They wish to restore the Zaidi imamate to Yemen after it was overthrown in a coup in 1962.
They also feel the Yemenite government is too closely allied with the United States.
The Zaidis are a minority in Yemen, which is mostly Sunni, but they are a majority in the northwest of the country.
The rebellion was originally led by another brother, Hussein Badr A-Din Al-Houthi, who was killed in clashes in September 2004.
Also in Yemen, Al-Qa’ida is calling on its followers in the country to deal “painful blows” to foreign, and especially American interests in Yemen.
The international terror network wants its operatives in Yemen to replicate “sensational” operations such as the terror attack against the destroyer USS Cole in 2000 in which 17 sailors were killed, and the attack against the French oil tanker Limburg in 2002, which killed one person and caused financial damage.
Yemen is an ally of the United States in the fight against terrorism.