Introduction

For nearly six years, the Government of Yemen (GoY) has conducted military operations against groups of its citizens north of San‘a, known as “Huthis” or Believing Youth (BY). In spite of using all coercive and ideological means at its disposal, the GoY has been unable to fully subdue the Huthi movement, which has sustained a material and popular base over successive phases of armed conflict into the winter of 2010. At the same time, the regime has confronted mounting southern discontent and al-Qa‘ida–inspired terrorism, as well as severely contracting economic prospects. The war against the Huthis, however, has of