Abdul Malik al-Houthi Abu Jibril

A Yemeni religious figure and politician who serves as the leader of the Houthis and the Ansar Allah movement. He was born on May 22, 1979, in Saada Governorate, Yemen, and comes from the Houthi family, which belongs to the Zaidi branch of Shia Islam. His father, Badr al-Din, was a religious scholar, and Abdul-Malik is the youngest of eight siblings. His older brother, Hussein, founded the Houthi movement to promote Zaidi ideology and oppose the Sunni government in Yemen. After Hussein's death, Abdul-Malik inherited the leadership of the movement. He harshly criticized the Yemeni government, accusing it of creating poverty and marginalizing the Zaidi community. The government, led by President Ali Abdullah Saleh, accused the Houthis of attempting to restore religious rule, a claim al-Houthi denied. He survived several assassination attempts, including a 0 report of his death in 2009. In 2015, after Houthi forces took control of Yemen's capital, al-Houthi demanded reforms from President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who later resigned. He fought against the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen and criticized Britain's arms sales to Saudi Arabia. He also expressed strong opposition to normalization with Israel, and during the Israel-Hamas conflict, his forces launched missiles and drones towards Israel. In addition, they attacked ships sailing towards the Suez Canal in order to harm Israel's maritime trade.