Yemeni President: al-Houthi is an ill man, mentally abnormal
What has happened since
Leadership after Hussein al-Houthi’s death
According to the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies, Hussein al-Houthi was killed in September 2004. His father, Badr al-Din, then assumed leadership of the movement, before Hussein’s younger half-brother Abdelmalek became its leader.[1]
Saleh’s transition from power
The Sana’a Center records that Ali Abdullah Saleh signed the Gulf Cooperation Council transition initiative on November 23, 2011. His vice president, Abdo Rabbu Mansour Hadi, was elected interim president in February 2012.[1]
Sana’a seized and military intervention launched
The UN envoy’s background account states that the Houthis and allied armed forces seized Sana’a and other parts of Yemen in September 2014 and the following months. According to the Sana’a Center, Saudi Arabia launched Operation Decisive Storm on March 26, 2015, following Hadi’s request for military intervention against the Houthis.[2][1]
UN envoy reports full-scale war in October 2026
In an October 9, 2026 briefing to the Security Council, UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg said Yemen had returned to full-scale war, with fighting spreading across multiple frontlines. He described fighting west and south of Taiz and into Lahj following Ansar Allah advances around Mokha and the Bab al-Mandab coast.[3]
Territorial claims require attribution
Grundberg also referred to government reports of territorial gains around Bab al-Mandab after a large counter-offensive launched earlier that week. Those reports were attributed to the Yemeni government; the briefing did not establish the claimed gains as independently verified territorial control.[3]
Displacement and restricted access
On October 20, 2026, the United Nations reported that more than 250,000 people had fled renewed fighting in Yemen. It highlighted concern for people sheltering in Taiz city and the surrounding governorate, where access was severely restricted.[4]
Editor's note: The original article appears to conflate Hussein Badr al-Din al-Houthi with his father, Badr al-Din. The Sana’a Center identifies Hussein as the Hizb al-Haqq parliamentarian who served from 1993 to 1997, and Badr al-Din as his father and subsequent successor in the movement’s leadership. This clarification does not establish whom Saleh named in the remarks reported in 2004. (Source: Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies.) The historical text remains unchanged.
Sources
- Foreign Actors in Yemen: The History, the Politics and the Future — Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies
- OSESGY Background — Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen
- Special Envoy for Yemen's remarks to the Security Council [as delivered] — United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, 2026-10-09
- Yemen war continues to force families from homes amid hunger and disease — United Nations, 2026-10-20
The original report
ArabicNews.com, July 9, 2004
The Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh described the Yemeni opposition scholar Bader Eddine al-Houthi as " sick and mentally abnormal." This was expressed during the visit the Yemeni president made to the faculty of police and the higher institute for officers.
Saleh said "we have been since more than one year, making a dialogue with this simple misled group in Saadeh province, but it is a misconception that the government keeps a blind eye and this is because of a weakness in the political system." The Yemeni news agency reported quoting Saleh as saying " the revolution was held and united the nation on republican basics and there is no problem," but he stressed that there are outlaws extremist forces. Saleh said during his visit to the faculty of police to confirm that al-Houthi and his group provoke violence for their " selfish interests." During his meeting several days ago with a group of Yemeni clergy, Saleh called on al-Houthi to surrender himself, promising him a just trial.
However, the number of killing in the clashes taking place since June 18 between the government's forces and al-Houthi supporters in Sadaah governorate reached 166 persons including 125 of al-Houthi supporters.
Worthy mentioning that al-Houthi is a former Yemeni parliament member in the period between 1993- 1997. He is the son of one senior al-Zeidi Shiite community reference which constitutes a majority in north west Yemen, but a minority in Yemen which is a Sunni majority.