...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is
God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the JewsThey like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
, welcomed the announcement by one of the members of the Presidential Leadership Council loyal to the Saudi-led coalition, Sultan al-Arada, about the re-opening of the Ma’rib-Nihm-Sana’a road.
In a post on his account on the X platform, al-Houthi said that "ending the siege on Sana’a by the US-British-Saudi-Emirati coalition and its allies by announcing the opening of the Ma’rib-Sana’a road is good if it continues and allows the Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
is to cross it in the future."
Al-Houthi expressed his hope that the coalition forces would open the other two crossings, the Ma’rib-Serwah-Sana’a and Ma’rib-Bayda roads.
He also called for lifting the siege on the rest of the roads in all provinces, removing the militarisation of the roads, and releasing those kidnapped from the roads who were arrested during transit while traveling during the past years.
In February 2020, Mohammad Ali al-Houthi announced Sana’a’s readiness to open the Sana’a-Ma’rib road via Nihm District, but this announcement did not receive a response at the time from the coalition forces.
The Ma’rib-Nihm-Sana’a road had been shut down by the Saudi invaders and their allies ever since 2015, as part of the blockade against the Yemeni capital of Sana’a. The reopening of the road for the first time in almost nine years marks a major de-escalation and major stride towards possible peace.