page_title: Houthi takeover in Yemen
section_title: Ali Abdullah Saleh
hierarchical_section_title: Houthi takeover in Yemen / Allegations of outside influence / Ali Abdullah Saleh
caption_attribution_description: THE KREMLIN, MOSCOW. With the President of the Republic of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh.
context_page_description: The Houthi takeover in Yemen, also known as the September 21 Revolution, or 2014–15 coup d'état, was a gradual armed takeover of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh by the Houthis and their supporters that pushed the Yemeni government from power. It had origins in Houthi-led protests that began the previous month, and escalated when the Houthis stormed the Yemeni capital Sana'a on 21 September 2014, causing the resignation of Prime Minister Mohammed Basindawa, and later the resignation of President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi and his ministers on 22 January 2015 after Houthi forces seized the presidential palace, residence, and key military installations, and the formation of a ruling council by Houthi militants on 6 February 2015.
  The unrest began on 18 August 2014 as the Houthis, angered over a government-implemented removal of fuel subsidies, called for mass protests. On 21 September, as the Houthis took control of Sana'a, the Yemeni Army did not formally intervene, other than troops affiliated with General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar and the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Al-Islah Party.
context_section_description: Yemen's former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, retained significant influence in the country's politics since resigning. Numerous media reports have suggested a link between Saleh and the rising power of the Houthis, with Al Jazeera even claiming to have received a leaked tape of a phone conversation between Saleh and a Houthi leader coordinating tactics in October 2014, after the fall of Sana'a. The London-based online news portal Middle East Eye, citing an unnamed "source close to the president", alleged that Saleh and his son Ahmed, Yemen's ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, received as much as $1 billion from the UAE to distribute to the Houthis in their campaign against Hadi's government. A UN report in February 2015 concluded that Saleh "provided direct support" to the Houthis during their takeover of the capital, ordering his supporters not to impede their fighters and directing his son, former military commander Ahmed Ali Saleh, to assist them in some capacity.
  Saleh's party, the General People's Congress, joined the Houthis in boycotting the "unity government" to which Hadi agreed under pressure after the Houthi seizure of the government headquarters. The withdrawal from the mediated political process drew swift sanctions against Saleh and Houthi leaders from both the United States and the United Nations in early November.
  The GPC initially objected to the Houthis' "constitutional declaration" on 6 February 2015. However, the party announced ten days later that it withdrew its objection.
caption: Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen's longtime president who was ousted after a 2011 revolution.
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