al-Houthi cosigned a letter to the Yemeni government with Abdullah al-Ruzami, the rebels' military leader, in May 2005 offering an end to the uprising if the government would send emissaries or ended the military campaign against the rebels.
The al-Houthis and the Shabab follow the teachings of the late rebel cleric Hussein Badr Eddine al-Houthi, who was killed during a ten-week rebellion that he led in June 2004 against the Government in Saada.
In the 2000s the government has been fighting numerous rebel groups, such as the one led by Hussein al-Houthi's Zaydi movement Shabab al-Mu'mineen, "The Young Believers".
He claimed also that al-Houthi's relationship with Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, was similar to Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah.
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On 5 June 2013, tens of thousands of Yemeni Shias attended the reburial of the remains of al-Houthi in Sa'dah, where armed rebels were deployed in large numbers.
The conflict has its roots in an insurgency against the government of Yemen which was initiated by the Zaidi religious leader Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi in 2004.
Houthi appointed Sa'dah governor Fares Mana'a tried to mediate a cease-fire in which the Houthis would re-open the road and both sides would withdraw to their old positions.