The fall of Sanaa

I · January–July 2014The road south

The advance on Sanaa began in the far north. In January 2014, a presidential commission brokered a ceasefire in Dammaj, in Saada governorate, where Houthi forces had besieged the Salafi religious school of Dar al-Hadith since late 2013. Under the deal, government troops moved in, and the school’s leader, Yahya al-Hajuri, and its foreign students were flown out.¹ ■ Documented

The political process was moving at the same time. In February a government panel approved a plan to divide Yemen into six federal regions. The Houthis rejected it. Their spokesman said it split the country into rich and poor regions, and the region that contained Saada had no significant natural resources and no access to the sea.² ■ Documented

The Houthis kept moving south, through the territory of the Hashid tribal confederation. On 8 July they took Amran, about 50 kilometres north of the capital, overrunning the army’s 310th Armoured Brigade. Its commander, Brigadier General Hamid al-Qushaibi, was killed.³ The UN Security Council later named Abdullah Yahya al-Hakim, the movement’s second-in-command, as the leader of the takeover of Amran.⁴ ■ Documented

Figure 4.1 Cities placed by latitude and longitude. Borders and coastline are left out. Saada to Sanaa is roughly 240 kilometres by road.

II · July–September 2014The fuel protests

On 30 July the government ended fuel subsidies, and fuel prices nearly doubled that day.⁵ On 17 August, in a televised speech, Abdulmalik al-Houthi called on his supporters to protest in Sanaa and other cities. He demanded that the subsidies be restored and the government be replaced, and gave President Hadi days to respond. After the march that followed, two new protest camps were set up on the northern and southern edges of the capital.⁶ ■ Documented

On 2 September Hadi dismissed the government and announced a partial reduction in fuel prices.⁷ The Houthis rejected the offer. Their spokesman, Mohammed Abdulsalam, said it avoided the demands of the people.⁸ ■ Documented

On 7 and 9 September, security forces fired on Houthi protesters in Sanaa. Human Rights Watch counted nine dead and at least 67 injured over the two days, including an ambulance driver shot in his marked vehicle. It found no evidence that the protesters were armed and called the use of lethal force apparently unnecessary. The government said armed protesters had fired first.⁹ ■ Documented

III · 16–21 September 2014Six days of fighting

Armed fighting broke out in the north-west of the capital in mid-September. The Houthis said they were fighting General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar and his allies in the Islah party, not the army. By 21 September the heaviest clashes were around the headquarters of the First Armoured Division, the unit Ali Mohsen had commanded before it was formally dissolved, near Sanaa University and al-Iman University. Unofficial estimates put the dead at more than 100 in the final four days.²⁰ ■ Documented

On 21 September the Houthis seized the government headquarters and other key institutions in Sanaa. The Interior Ministry told its forces not to confront the Houthis and to cooperate with them in keeping security. The same day, Prime Minister Mohammed Basindawa announced his resignation, accusing President Hadi of autocratic behaviour.¹⁰ Ali Mohsen left the city the next morning on a military plane to Saudi Arabia.¹¹ ■ Documented

That night the Houthis and the main political parties signed the Peace and National Partnership Agreement, brokered by the UN envoy Jamal Benomar.¹² It called for a new prime minister and a government of technocrats, an adviser to the president from the Houthis, and the removal of the protest camps. The Houthis refused to sign the security annex, which required them to leave the government buildings they had taken.¹³ They did not leave. ■ Documented

The movement calls it

The 21 September Revolution, marked each year as a national holiday in areas under its control.

Its opponents call it

The coup of 21 September, the term used by the internationally recognised government and its allies.

IV · Why the army stood asideThe Saleh factor

Former President Ali Abdullah Saleh had fought six wars against the Houthis. By 2014 he was working with them, and units loyal to him did not defend the capital.¹⁴¹⁵ On 7 November 2014 the UN Security Council placed Saleh and two senior Houthi commanders, Abd al-Khaliq al-Houthi and Abdullah Yahya al-Hakim, under an assets freeze and travel ban for threatening Yemen’s peace and stability. The Council accused Saleh of backing violent groups to undermine the government.⁴ ■ Documented

□ Testimony · Reserved

This space is reserved for the editor's eyewitness account of the days around 21 September. It will be published as testimony and checked against the documented record above. Identifying details will be removed before publication.

V · After 21 SeptemberThe state from inside

Within weeks, Houthi representatives were deciding state spending in the absence of a functioning government.¹⁶ The movement placed its own supervisors inside ministries and state institutions, a system that grew into a parallel structure of control over the state.¹⁷ A new government under Prime Minister Khaled Bahah was sworn in on 9 November.¹⁸ ■ Documented

The arrangement lasted four months. In January 2015 the Houthis seized the presidential palace and President Hadi resigned. In February they issued a “constitutional declaration” dissolving parliament, and Hadi escaped to Aden. On 26 March 2015 a Saudi-led coalition began airstrikes. In April the Security Council demanded that the Houthis withdraw from all areas they had seized, including Sanaa.¹⁹ Chapter 05 continues from there. ■ Documented