Houthis Top Leader Calls for Special Meeting in Saada to Discuss Military and Political Developments

Sources within the Houthi group told Sheba Intelligence that the group's leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, has called for a special meeting with military and political leaders in their stronghold of Sa’dah. Eyewitnesses reported seeing many leaders leaving Sana'a and Hodeida in tinted and separate cars.

According to a senior Houthi official who spoke to Sheba Intelligence, the meeting with the Houthi leader will discuss agreements made within the movement's leadership council on political, military, and economic issues, as well as the escalation against Saudi Arabia and the internationally recognized government. He indicated that the meeting is more like a conference but is being conducted through several separate meetings in different locations, divided by issues. Only some military and political leaders will meet directly with the group's leader.

It is expected that the meeting will address the results of the Muscat negotiations between the Houthis and the Yemeni government, which ended in failure. An agreement was anticipated on a deal for the exchange of prisoners and detainees.

The group, through its leader, has issued threats against its local opponents and Saudi Arabia, demanding the reopening of Sana'a International Airport and the cessation of actions by the Central Bank of Yemen aimed at drying up the armed group's revenues. The Houthis released videos threatening to target Saudi airports and ports with drones and missiles.

The Houthi leader typically calls for meetings with military and political leaders in the most urgent situations, including calls for recruitment and general mobilization, the announcement of a new phase of internal military escalation, or decisions related to the government under their control.

The halt in the Houthis' "radical changes" in state institutions, announced a year ago, raises questions among their supporters about whether the announcement was merely to appease public anger without real decisions to stop corruption and the levies burdening citizens in the areas under the Houthi group's control.