En gruppe innen en shia-sekt i Jemen ligger i geriljakrig med myndighetene. Den har også erklært krig mot det som er igjen av jøder i landet, og de har måttet søke tilflukt på hotell.

Flertallet av jemenittene er sunnier, og alt som smaker av konflikt mellom de to retningene innen islam, får idag et eget tilsnitt. Særlig fordi shia-bevegelsen Ungdommelige troende er radikal og ønsker å etablere et teokrati.

Abdul-Malik al-Houthi leads the rebel group Al Shabab al-Moumin, or the Youthful Believers, whose members are predominately from the Zaidi Shiite sect, a minority in largely Sunni Yemen. The group has launched uprisings twice in years past, both under the leadership of Houthi’s relatives: Hussein Badr Eddin al-Houthi, Abdul’s brother and an anti-US Shiite cleric, led a three-month insurrection before he was killed in 2004, while their father, also named Hussein Badr Eddin, led a second uprising in 2005. The Houthis have sought to overthrow the nascent Yemeni republic, which they accuse of being too close to the US government, in favor of a Shiite theocracy.

Minst sju ble drept i sammenstøt i helgen, hvorav seks var regjeringssoldater.

Gruppen har også rettet trusler mot det jødiske mindretallet, og anklaget dem for å selge alkohol. Bare en liten rest er igjen av de jemenittiske jødene. Flertallet befinner seg i Israel.

A Yemenite government official has said Monday that authorities will protect members of the local Jewish community under threat from Muslim militants.

Nearly a quarter of Yemen’s Jews have fled their village and sought refuge at a hotel in the Arab country after militant Islamists threatened to kill them for selling alcohol, a government official said on Monday.
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«The Shi’ite militants of (Abdel-Malik) al-Houthi sent threats to them (Jews) because they sell wine,» the official told Reuters. The Jewish community denied they sold wine.

«After two weeks, we are still in the hotel. It is the shelter that the government provided for us after we were threatened by Houthi,» Jewish cleric David Merhavi told Reuters by telephone.

«We do not sell wine, this is only propaganda,» Merhavi said.

Yemen’s president warns rebels to disarm