(Yemenakhbar.com)

SANA’A, Dec. 31—Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, took over Raima governorate Monday night after violent clashes with armed tribesmen in the provincial capital of Al-Jabin.

According to Abdullah Al-Nimrani, an armed tribesman who took part in the fighting, the clashes on Monday left two dead. “Houthis took over all government buildings and facilities in the capital,” he said. “This includes the federal building, and the headquarters of the ministries of water, electricity and education.” 

Qaid Al-Saeed, a freelance journalist based in Al-Jabin, claimed that he witnessed Houthis erecting checkpoints both inside and at the entrances of the city. “Sources have told me that Houthis have done the same in other cities and districts throughout the governorate,” he said.

The Yemen Times spoke with Hassan Al-Amari, deputy governor of Raima governorate, who claimed that Raima’s governor, Ali Salam Al-Khadami, held a meeting with Houthi leaders last week, in which it was agreed that security forces would not confront the Houthis if they were to enter the governorate. “We had information that Ansar Allah was planning to establish popular committees in Raima,” he said. “It was better that we avoid a confrontation.” He added that despite the clashes, government offices were still open and operating, however that armed Houthi popular committee members had stationed themselves outside the federal building in the city’s center.

Al-Nimrani claimed that the tribes in the governorate, particularly the large and influential Al-Hamdani tribe, had for decades enjoyed close relationships with the Houthis. Both the Al-Hamdani tribe and the Houthis are adherents to the Zaydi sect of Shi'a Islam, he said. However despite this, Raima's tribesmen rejected direct Houthi control over the governorate. “We don’t want anyone, whether Houthis or anyone else, from outside of Raima ruling over us,” he said. “It’s better that we control the governorate and maintain security. The locals know us and we know them.” He claimed roughly 250 armed Houthis, coming from the governorates of Dhamar and Sa’ada, took part in the fighting on Monday, which lasted for nearly 5 hours. According to Al-Nimrani, tribesmen were left to fight the Houthis on their own and did not receive any help from local security forces. “We informed our contacts in the Governor’s Office that the Houthis were coming, but they did nothing,” he said.

Abdullah Al-Hajabi, a soldier with the Raima Security Department within the Ministry of Interior, witnessed the fighting in the city himself, however claims that neither he nor any of his colleagues took part or attempted to prevent the Houthis from entering the city. “The Houthis have set up checkpoints around the city and we’re coordinating with them,” he said.

Abu Yahya Al-Dailami, the ‘general supervisor’ and Houthi representative in Raima governorate, told the Yemen Times that although Ansar Allah has traditionally had a positive relationship with the tribes in the region, the Houthis had not yet officially appointed a popular committee representative in the governorate.

When asked why Houthis chose to enter the governorate at this particular time, he responded that rampant corruption in the governorate had gotten out of control. As a result, Al-Dailami said, a major gas distribution station, located in the Kefa region on the outskirts of Al-Jabin, had recently ceased to operate on a regular basis. “We came to monitor government facilities and stamp out corruption,” he said.

Qaid Al-Saeed agreed that the station had ceased to operate for a period of two months following the Houthi takeover of Sana’a on Sept. 21, however attributed the stoppage to sabotage and attacks launched by Al-Hamdani tribesmen, then allied with the Houthis, on the facility. “The station is owned by Mohsen Ali Mohsen, the son of Ali Mohsen Ahmar,” he said. Ali Mohsen Ahmar is the former major general of the now dissolved First Armored Division that fought six separate wars against the Houthis between 2004 and 2010. “Now they’re saying the plant’s administration is corrupt.”

According to Al-Nimrani, “The Houthis are using corruption as a pretext to take over all of northern Yemen. The truth is they’re just greedy.”

Abdu Muhammad Al-Wasahali, a Houthi fighter from Dhamar who arrived in Raima on Monday to take part in the fighting, said that they had received orders from Ansar Allah’s high leadership, ordering them to seize all government facilities in Raima and maintain security in the streets. Hussein Al-Bukhaiti, a prominent Houthi member, confirmed Al-Wasahali’s statement.

Muhammad Al-Qadi, director of Public Relations at the Ministry of Interior, confirmed to the Yemen Times that Raima governorate fell to the Houthis on Monday, as have other governorates before it. He added that government and security forces in the governorate had been cooperating with Ansar Allah in the weeks leading up to their arrival on Monday. “It was an example of the strong cooperating with the weak,” he said. “We had no choice.”

Al-Qadi claimed that despite the Houthi presence in the city, security forces would continue to man checkpoints and perform their normal job functions.