Hussein al-Houthi

Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi (; 20 August 1959 – 10 September 2004), also spelled Hussein Badr Eddin al-Houthi, was a Yemeni Zaidi religious, political and military leader, as well as former member of the Yemeni parliament for the Al-Haqq party between 1993 and 1997. He was instrumental in the Houthi insurgency against the Yemeni government, which began in 2004. Al-Houthi, who was a one-time rising political aspirant in Yemen, had wide religious and tribal backing in northern Yemen's mountainous regions. The Houthi movement took his name after his assassination in 2004. Early life Al-Houthi was born in 1956 or 1959 in the Marran area of Sada'a region. His father, Badr al-Din, was a prominent Zaydi cleric who briefly took control of the Houthi movement after his son's death. According to a disciple, al-Houthi lived part of his life with his family, including his father and his younger brother, Abd al-Malik, in Qom, Iran. The disciple also claimed that al-Houthi had close relationships with Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran, and Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader. Political career