(Reuters) When Shi’ite Muslim fighters defeated presidential guards and tightened their grip on Sanaa last week, it cemented the role of their shrewd, practical young leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi as Yemen’s predominant powerbroker.
His Houthi movement, founded by his elder brother over a decade ago and named for the family, has controlled the capital since September after winning a series of battles with army units and Sunni tribes in its northern heartland.
Yet despite the Houthis’ effective dominance of Yemen in recent months, little is known of their commander, who rarely appears in public or gives press interviews, but whose few speeches reveal a gift for political opportunism.
