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Sync

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Houthi chant:

Allahu Akbar (God is great)

Death to America

Death to Israel

God curse the Jews

Victory to Islam

Houthi funeral chanting, big crowd

PRE-TITLE

A political crisis in Yemen is threatening to tear it apart.

Northern rebels called the Houthis have taken the capital and are imposing their revolutionary agenda.

Houthi chant:

Allahu Akbar (God is great)

Death to America

Death to Israel

God curse the Jews

Victory to Islam

But they face fierce opposition to their rule from Al Qaeda and other groups.

Sunni tribal fighter:

Allahu Akbar!

Another fighter:

I am against all the Shia, those dogs.

Their audacious bid for power has ignited sectarian hatred.

AQ tribes

Abdullah Al Khubzi (Sunni fighter):

They question our faith. But in reality, they are the biggest threat to Islam.

Houthi fighter:

I send a warning to every member of Al Qaeda – we will follow you to every cave.

And stirred-up what many believe is a proxy war in Yemen between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

My name is Safa Alahmad. I’ve spent months negotiating unique access to the Houthis to understand where they came from and what they want.

.Saada

Dhayf Allah AlShami (Houthi):

Our borders are those of the Holy Quran and the Islamic and Arab World.

What does their rise to power mean for the country and the region?

Radiyah Almutawakil (human rights activist):

I think this is the worst phase Yemen has ever gone through.

Radiyah in car

And will the rise of the Houthis split Yemen into two?

Aden shooting

We will not be humiliated!

We will not be humiliated!

Houthi funeral

SANAA’

The Houthis seized control of Yemen’s capital Sana’a in September 2014.

Mobilizing thousands of fighters, the Houthis pushed south from their northern stronghold close to the Saudi border.

Map 1 Slow pull out Sannaa center, Houthi shading coming south and consuming Sanaa – see border of Saudi. End frame full Yemen and Saudi named.

Yemen’s government was weak, its army fractured.

The Houthis saw an opportunity. They took the capital in only four days.

I arrived two weeks later.

The Houthis are mostly Zaidi Muslims, from the Shia branch of Islam. Their slogan is now seen everywhere.

It’s a political chant from the days of Ayatollah Khomeni and the Iranian revolution.

4

It reads:

“God is great

Death to America

Death to Israel

God curse the Jews

Victory for Islam”

I’m staying with the family of my close friend Radiya, a human rights activist. Her father, Dr Mohamed Al Mutwakil, is a prominent independent local politician.

Date stamp and aston Safa.

I ask Radiya to take me on a drive around Sana’a, to show me how the city has changed since the Houthi takeover.

Radiyah:

Let’s pretend we are driving.

Beep!

Safa:

You grew up on this street?

Radiyah:

Yes, I spent my whole life on this street.

Safa:

The Houthi slogan is everywhere.

Radiyah:

The slogan is new to the street.

It’s a very strange situation. The Houthis are here and in control of the capital, Sana’a. The Government is here, in parallel to them, but the Houthis have the upper hand.

This fragile government is all we have. It is fragile but all we have.

Honestly, I think this is the worst phase Yemen has ever gone through.

The increasing weakness of the state is in parallel to the rise of armed political groups.

The Houthis have set up checkpoints all over the city, but they have left the Yemeni government bureaucracy functioning. Their control is still tentative.

Abdulillah is a member of the so-called Revolutionary Committee, which the Houthis have established to enforce their agenda on the government.

They are a secretive movement. They won’t even tell me how many of them are in the city.

After weeks of negotiations they finally let me follow them in action.

6

Guard:

You want to come in?

Abdulillah:

Yes.

Guard:

Are you an employee?

Houthi:

I am from the Revolutionary Legal Committee.

Rev committee drive to Min of Finance

This is an unannounced visit to the Ministry of Finance. The Houthis have put their own guards inside the ministries.

Aston

Ministry of Finance

11

Walking up and down the stairs looking for deputy’s office

8

Abdulillah:

These are revolutionary committees, of course.

Safa:

The ones who are wearing army uniforms?

Abdulillah:

Yes.

Safa:

Why are they wearing army uniforms?

Houthi:

We asked them to. It looks better than civilian clothing.

9

Safa:

Why? For their security?

Abdulillah:

No, it’s not about safety. It’s a better look.

Abdu Rabu Al Morttha is also a member of the Revolutionary Committee.

Together with Abdulilah, they have come to confront the deputy minister about billions of Yemeni Riyals of government funds they say are missing.

They walk right into the office of deputy minister Jamal Al Maliki.

12

Abdulillah:

Sir, we would like to talk to you for five minutes.

Deputy min of finance:

Let me finish my meeting with these people, but without media.

Abdurabu:

No, the media is necessary.

Deputy min of finance:

Without media.

??

There is a revolution and there must be transparency.

Deputy min of finance:

We will sit with you without media.

Abdurabu:

Things have changed in the country, Mr. Jamal. You can’t tell us what to do. The days of dictatorship are over.

Mr. Jamal:

This is not a dictatorship.

13

Abdurabu:

The people are monitoring and following what is happening.

The people want to monitor you!

Deputy min of finance:

First we meet and then you can say what you want.

Lawyer 2:

The people are monitoring and they must be informed of all that is happening.

Deputy min of finance:

We meet first then we talk

Lawyer 2:

No, this language no longer works. I don’t want this or that…We crushed it with our shoes. It’s over. People don’t realize the new reality we are in.

The revolution brought me here.

15

The revolutionary committee refused to leave until the deputy minister signed a document ordering an investigation into the missing funds.

Signed document

The Houthi anti-corruption agenda has helped them gain popular support.

But their grab for power has also made them enemies.

17

They have largely driven out the previously dominant Muslim Brotherhood forces.

But they also face fierce opposition from Al Qaeda.

Spell out militia for the first thing

BOMB

18

Three weeks after they took control, a huge bomb devastates a Houthi rally.

The bombing

Archive security footage of the bombing

19

The bombing in Tahrir square was the bloodiest in Sana’a for years, killing more than 60 people.

9th of October 2014

Tahrir Square

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/09/yemen-suicide-attack-kills-20

20

I arrived soon after the attack. It was only my first week in Yemen.

We were on our way to the rally. I was there and we heard an explosion. The power of the explosion threw people in the air. A body flew towards us. So many people died. I saw around 32 bodies.

22

Safa:

Who do you think is responsible?

Security guy:

Who else? The Takfiris Al Qaeda.

Al Qaeda are fiercely opposed to the Houthis. Their Sunni extremist beliefs mean they consider the Houthis heretics.

Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the bombing.

The Houthi leadership quickly arranged a large state funeral for the victims and even bigger rallies in the following days.

MAP 2 sanna in shadow – line drawing along route to Sadaa – including Saudi border

I want to understand how this mountain militia managed to seize the capital of Yemen. So I’m travelling north, to the mountains of Sa’ada and the birthplace of the Houthis.

They are a movement born of war. The Yemeni government, fearing the spread of their ideology, launched six wars against the Houthis in the last decade.

Their leader and namesake, Hussain al Houthi, was a Zaidi, an offshoot of Shia Islam.

The Zaidi’s ruled north Yemen for more than a thousand years and make up roughly a quarter of Yemen’s population.

At the heart of the Zaidi faith is the principle of rebellion against unjust rulers.

Following the attacks on the twin towers in September 2001, and the invasion of Iraq, Hussain al Houthi developed a radical theory that combined Zaidi revivalism with an anti-imperialist agenda.

Dhayf Allah Al Shami, a senior Houthi, was my guide in Sadaa.

Dhayf:

This is the house of the Sayid Hussein al-Houthi. A very modest house. He didn’t even have a sitting room for people to meet in.

Hussein Al Houthi believed 9 11 was an American and Zionist conspiracy to occupy Muslim lands.

Dhayf:

After the September 11th attacks, we were euphoric and proud of this stand against America. But the Sayid al-Houthi had a different opinion. He said it was actually an American and Zionist ploy to attack Islam.

Hussain’s home

And he launched the slogan that still resonates and shakes the Americans and the Israelis.

In 2004, Hussein al Houthi and his men came under heavy attack by the Yemeni army. They hid in a cave in the mountains of Sadaa. It’s now become a shrine for his followers.

Entering the cave

Dhayf:

This is the entrance of the cave. It’s a little smaller because some rocks have fallen. Let’s go in.

These martyrs are still under the rubble.

Three are still buried here.

This was the operations room. He would meet with the Mujahideen fighters here.

According to the Houthis,

the Yemeni Army poured petrol into the cave, then set it on fire.

Many of Al Houthi’s family were killed.

Dhayf:

This is what is left of their blankets and mattresses, after they were set on fire with petrol. It was a great crime.

Hussian Al Houthi was allegedly captured by the army and later killed.

He became a martyr whose ideas still resonate today with his followers.

They compare his death to the martyrdom of one of the founders of Shia Islam, also called Hussain.

This is a new Karbala, another Karbala. This is Karbala and this is the Hussein of Karbala.

We have given the blood of innocents from the sons of Hussein and the likes of Hussein.

By 2009 Saudi Arabia, concerned about the Houthis on their border, joined the Yemeni army’s attacks on Sadaa.

This is only a sample of the remnants of war, from the Saudi and Yemeni planes.

This comes from Saudi.

We downed about six Yemeni MiG fighters.

This ammunition only comes from them.

All methods of war were used.

The old city of Sa’ada still bears the scars of the sixth and last war, in 2009.

Old Sa’ada city

Children:

Allahu Akbar (God is great)

Death to America.

Death to Israel.

God curse the Jews.

Victory to Islam.

The government maintained an almost complete media blackout during their wars.

The effects on the people of Sadaa have been devastating.

Um Zayd was one of the few women who stayed during the conflict.

She walks outside to the graveyard behind her house

UM:

We had surrendered to death, waiting for it to come at any moment.

UM:

We were besieged, they had besieged us for 7 to 8 months here in Sa’ada. No one demanded the siege to be lifted. All this injustice that’s fallen on Sa’ada. We’d done nothing to deserve it.

Um Zayd’s backyard became a cemetery, after artillery fire killed three children.

Pix of their graves

When we came to them, they were in shreds.

This child’s mother arrived but she couldn’t find his face. Just the remains of his ear, brain and a bit of his skull. We put it in a plastic bag and she tucked it in her pocket. She was never the same after that.

What will they tell God, those people? What have these children done to anybody?

These wars turned a small group of Houthi ideologues into a fully-fledged rebel movement.

Dhayf Allah offers to take me to the Saudi border. Houthis have just taken over the Yemeni government’s checkpoints.

This may be the limit of Houthi control – but their ambitions go way beyond it.

Dhayf:

The Houthis are part of the Muslim World. We can’t be defined by a sect or confined by borders. Our borders are the Holy Quran and the Islamic and Arab world. We will help oppressed people all over the world.

Safa:

So this barbed wire here means nothing to you?

Dhayf:

It means nothing. It represents nothing.

If the relationship between the Yemeni and Saudi Arabian people is strengthened, then it will ease the fall of the house of Al Saud. Yes it will be a painful surgical procedure, but in the end there will be healing from the sickness.

The Saudi’s accuse the Houthis of collusion with their regional archrival - Iran. There are frequent media reports of Iranian involvement.

Dhayf:

This is not true. These accusations have been made for a long time.

Safa:

No financial, military or moral support?

Dhayf:

No financial or military. If there is moral support, we support Chavez in Venezuela.

Why this insistence that we receive support from Iran? Other than wanting to turn the struggle in this country and the region into a sectarian one, based on the American and Zionist agenda?

The Houthis face a hostile Saudi Arabia to the north. In the south, they also face formidable opponents - the Sunni tribes and Al Qaeda.

MAP 3 Sadaa, down to Redaa, shadow pushing out of Sanaa towards Redaa.

23

I wanted to see how far the Houthis have managed to extend their control south.

MAP YEMEN

Houthi control

I’m on a road into what was recently the heartland of Al Qaeda, Al Bayda province.

This was one of the most dangerous roads in Yemen, notorious for bandits and thieves. Only a few months ago, it would have been impossible for me get here.

24

Now there are regular Houthi checkpoints.

Radaa’

25

Gunman:

Can I help you with anything?

26

An armed escort took us to Radaa’.

27

This is the Houthi frontline against Al Qaeda.

Three weeks before we arrived, they fought an intense battle to take the city.

28

Walid, a Houthi fighter shows us around.

31

Look here. This spot was the beginning of the battle for Radaa.

Walid on the rooftop

32

From this area and this area, here and here. Many people were killed here.

33

The battles are now behind these mountains in Khubza.

Al Qaeda ruled this city for four years with little intervention from the weak government.

This mosque was one of their headquarters.

36

Tariq Al Thahab, a powerful tribal leader brought Al Qaeda into the region and tried to declare it an Islamic Emirate.

37

This was the room of the leader of Al Qaeda, Tariq Al Thahab. The people of Radaa would come to this place to pledge allegiance commit themselves in the house of God to shed the blood of other Muslims. It was an allegiance for killing.

34

The Al Amriya mosque was built in the 16th century as a center for Islamic learning and religious study. Here, and throughout Yemen,

there was no tradition of sectarian hatred. But according to Waleed, Al Qaeda preached a creed of division.

35

This is Amriya. They Al Qaeda made this into a barracks, a fortress. They opened it in the name of Islam. But they spread the culture of sectarianism between Sunnis and Shia, Zaydi and Salafi. We’d never had this in Radaa, or even in Yemen before.

Waleed at mosque

39

Walid has also accused AlQaeda of breaking tribal traditions and targeting civilians.

40

In this place here, right here, the people of the town met with the members of Al Qaeda. They came under the protection of the tribes.

We had lunch together in this place, we broke bread together in this place, and the next day they opened fire on our homes with heavy weapons and snipers.

41

Walid was keen to take us to meet orphans whose families he says were killed by Al Qaeda.

Orphans inside the house

Children:

My dad. (pointing at their dead father’s pictures)

Dad.

My Dad.

Children and their father’s pictures on the floor

Safa:

What happened?

Boy:

Huh?

Safa:

What happened to you?

Boy:

They exploded us.

Safa:

Why did they explode you?

Boy:

My grandfather and I were leaving from the mosque and they blew us up.

Man at checkpoint:

Welcome.

Despite the Houthi presence, the city is still vulnerable.

42

Several weeks ago, a suicide bomber from Al Qaeda managed to reach the outskirts of Radaa.

Houthis being checked at checkpoint

43

The Houthis say a young child was put in the front seat to try to sneak the bomb past a checkpoint.

The bombing site

45

Father:

They had put a child in the car, a small child to trick us, and they came to this place here. But there was a checkpoint. He had no choice, he wanted to drive and destroy all these houses and kill the families.

But the car exploded here, and resulted in this. Children were killed.

Pans to destroyed home

46

Many of the locals I talked to were afraid of a Houthi retreat, fearing that Al Qaeda would seek revenge on the town.

But the Houthis seem determined to stay.

Safa filming the aftermath

47

Gunman:

I have a message for Islamic State (IS) - those extremists, those who betrayed the faith.

Who are not men enough to face us in battle. We will chase them into every cave, every neighbourhood, until we destroy every last corrupt mercenary traitor.

48

Walid wanted to prove to me that Al Qaeda will not be allowed to return.

50

This is the house of an IS member from Radaa.

He used to kidnap people from Radaa and bring them to this house to torture them,

then send them to an Al Qaeda centre in Manaseh. He was one of the leaders in Radaa who terrorised the whole town.

BBC team:

What’s the reason for this?

Walid:

To make an example out of him. Because it was a prison.

Ok. We are done.

One is enough, otherwise they will say we destroyed all the houses in Radaa.

52

After months following the Houthis, we wanted to meet those who oppose them and hear what they have to say.

AlQaeda and the Sunni tribes surrounding Ridaa’.

Kidnapping is a high risk in these areas, but after careful negotiations with tribal leaders, my team crosses to the other side of the frontline without me.

55

In the mountains beyond Radaa are the Sunni militias fighting the Houthis.

FIGHTER:

God is Great.

56

As our BBC team arrives, an argument breaks out over whether they are allowed to film.

57

Tribal man 1 outside the car:

Why is he filming me? He needs to stop filming me.

Tribal man inside the car:

He is filming us not you.

Leave! Just leave.

59

Tribal man2:

We want our cause to be known. Don't worry, ignore him.

Many of the Sunni tribes in Al Bayda province are allied to Al Qaeda - but not all. However, they are united in their fight against the Houthis.

60

Tribal fighter1:

They destroyed and burnt our houses. We are now homeless.

I call on the Sunni people, and the Yemenis, to fight to help us.

61

Tribal fighter2:

I am against all those Shia dogs.

63

Tribal fighter1:

We didn’t go to the Houthis, they came to us. They attacked our homes, they uprooted us and our farms.

64

Abdullah Al Khubzi was a commander under the Al Qaeda leader Tariq Al Thahab. He now leads several hundred men against the Houthis.

65

Abdullah Al Khubzi:

There were clashes for ten days, with just personal arms. After that, we had to withdraw from the town because we ran out of ammunition. Now we have incursions from time to time.

66

They question our faith but, in reality, they are the real enemy and danger to Islam.

67

We entered into many agreements with them but they would break them the next day.

68

Opposition to the Houthi advance is spreading across Bayda province.

The fractious Sunni tribes have come together. Thousands of fighters have joined this new alliance.

The head of that alliance, Ziyad Al Majdali, says he is not Al Qaeda but he is unequivocal that he has a religious duty to fight the Houthis.

69

I cannot accept, as a tribal man from Baydha, it is my religious responsibility as a Sunni, as a southerner…

As a Sunni southerner I can never accept the Houthis.

Ziyad Al Majdali

Head of AlBayda Tribal Alliance

70

Among its wrong and deadly policies they blow up mosques and schools, and then scream death to America, death to Israel. So this mosque where the words ‘God is Great’ are said, belong to America or Israel?

72

Let me be honest. Even if Al Qaeda and I have disagreements, if we are fighting in the same trenches against the Houthis, he becomes my brother, my brother in arms.

73

In other parts of Baydha province, some people feel Al Qaeda’s tactics simply haven’t worked.

Ahmad Khamis is a prominent

local jihadi with links to Islamist groups.

74

I am among those who love Al Baghdadi, and love IS Islamic State and ask God to make them victorious. Why? Because you see their victories with your own eyes. We used to put a lot of faith in democracy and nonviolence, but what has that done for us?

This is our hope, to be ruled by Islam and freed from occupation, from the Shia.

IS is a reality and they control land. They will take over districts and will engage in direct battle. They won’t retreat from battle, except tactically, as part of their operations, just like in Iraq.

112

Back in the capital, just a few weeks after the Houthi takeover, the mood has changed.

Their slogans are crossed out everywhere.

There are rumors the Houthis are forming alliances with several tribes and political groups, including the powerful ex-president, Ali Salah.

They are trying to consolidate their control – and that includes the media.

I join a press trip organized by the Houthis. They say they have uncovered an Al Qaeda bomb factory in Arhab, a village outside Sana’a.

115

AbdulKareem AlKiwani:

Look at these explosives. Look how they make explosives to stick under the cars.

It’s clear that the Houthis want to control the message the press is putting out.

117

MediaH2:

This is to booby trap cars, like the ones used in Tahrir Square.

This is an explosive belt for children, look here it is for children.

The Houthis media were also on hand to broadcast the official version.

119

Based on what was revealed today of the factories of death run by members of the CIA and documented by our cameras, the community should be grateful to the Houthis.

Masyira dude (Houthi TV channel) doing a PTC:

The Houthis say they have arrested these three men for running the bomb factory.

122

Safa:

They accuse you of making bombs in that place.

Prisoner:

I have nothing to do with them. It’s not our house and I don’t know them, I have nothing to do with it.

123

Safa:

What will happen to them now?

AK:

They will be taken for interrogation. Why are you asking me?

Safa:

You are the one who brought me here to film them.

AK:

Come, come.

124

As we leave Arhab we pass through the village of Yahis.

Two boys stop our car. They want us to film a house they say was demolished by the Houthis.

125

Boy1:

Film this!

AK:

Don’t film, don’t film.

Safa:

Whose house is this?

Boy1:

The house of Shiekh Mohamed Jabr.

Safa:

And why was it blown up?

B1:

They claimed he was from Al Qaeda and a terrorist and I don’t know what. And that he was from IS, did you hear them say we were IS?

At a bombed house

126

Safa:

Did he have women and children in the house?

B1:

Yes! The women were crying and they kicked them out.

Boy2:

Film this! We are already famous.

The boys weren’t sure why the Houthis had targeted their village.

127

What’s in Yahis? It has no diesel or fish or electricity or Jerusalem. Yahis is poorer than all other villages.

141

Meanwhile, in the capital there is evidence the houthis are taking over several sunni mosques and changing their Imams.

Outside a mosque in the sabaa’ neighborhood, I see many signs saying “the houthis are not the people”, and more crossed-out slogans.

Pix of the posters

#houthis are not the ppl

sub them

Call to prayer

142

And I hear the call to prayer – it’s been changed from the Sunni to the Zaidi one.

Inside the mosque, gunmen were guarding the new Houthi Imam - but he was preaching tolerance.

ATHAN

146

Anyone can come and pray and preach, we have no objection. But we do object to those who want to continue divisions and hateful sectarianism.

Some local residents told me the new Imam wasn’t as popular.

We went in search of the ousted Sunni imam, Nabil Iskandar.

147

He says the Houthis told him to leave the mosque - and his home of 14 years.

Nabil in his new apartment

150

If this is not a sectarian inspired project, why are our mosques attacked? Why are our rituals being changed; rituals that belong to the Sunni sect?

149

They don’t have the right to take over our mosques. How can I stay in a place surrounded by gunmen?

They used to say they were victims of injustice and marginalization but they are now practising what was done to them.

151

We also wanted to talk to the caretaker of the mosque to see how he felt about the change of Imam. But the Houthi gunmen didn’t want us to film.

154

Safa:

We have permission from yesterday. You are delaying our work.

158

We tried to interview the caretaker outside the mosque instead.

159

Rolling Safa.

160

But the Houthi gunmen follow us and try to take our footage.

161

Safa:

You are standing here with your guns terrorising us, demanding that we erase our footage, this is not right.

162

Leave the camera.

Please let go of the camera.

Leave it!

Leave it!

TAKE YOUR HAND OFF!!

Take your hand off!

We were detained by the Houthis for four hours.

They erased some of our footage.

Local human rights groups say they are becoming more oppressive. They accuse them of assassinating and torturing opponents.

I am on my way to visit the family of Wathah Al Hitari, a pharmacist who was shot and killed by a man with known links to the Houthis.

I asked the people in his neighourhood what they thought of him.

Safa:

Who knows Wathah?

Child1:

I know him.

Child2:

I know him.

Child3:

I know him.

Child 1:

He used to pray at dawn here, this is his house, there, in that building.

Safa:

Was he a nice man?

Child2:

He used to pray here in the last days of Ramadan, that is all he did.

Outside his place

Man:

He used to live in this shop here. He kept to himself.

The situation we are in now, we are threatened by both the Houthis and the terrorists.

Yassir is Wathah’s cousin. He was one of the first to hear of his death.

Someone in the pharmacy called and said Wathah was killed. I was surprised and quickly went there. I asked how was he killed? He said one of the Houthis suspected him of being a terrorist and killed him. They thought he was from Al Qaeda because of his beard.

The Houthis have denied responsibility for the murder of Wathah but, tellingly, they have offered his family blood money in compensation.

For three days, I have been trying to take it to court. Even if the Houthis don’t agree, or refuse to give up the killer,

we just wanted to bury Wathah and God will be their judge. But to take blood money is a great injustice.

Wathah’s mother refused to accept the money.

Mother:

I would be eating the flesh of my son by accepting their blood money.

Safa:

So you consider their money dirty?

Mother:

Yes. Where do they get their money from? They steal from people, don’t they?

May God curse them and take revenge from the seventh heaven. May they burn like they burnt me, with the loss of my son.

I receive some terrible news. There’s been another assassination in Sanaa – but this one is different.

The old man is well known.

Family pics

Safa PTC

Dr. Mohmed Abdulmalik Al Mutawakil was killed on Sunday.

I have been living in his house for over a month now. This was a shock to everyone.

The Doctor was one of the few men in Yemen who most would agree was a great and honest politician.

Picture

Dr. Mutawakul was on good terms with most political groups but Al Qaeda are suspected of killing him. No one has claimed responsibility.

I had wanted to film him at the end my visit, to help make sense of the events I’ve seen that are unraveling Yemen.

But instead I am filming his funeral.

I ask his daughter Ridyah how she felt about her father’s death.

From home getting into the

car

Radiyah:

My consolation is that he died quickly – he didn’t suffer. He died still clutching his prayer beads. My brother Raidan took them from his hand.

I will not be angry, just on a personal level, for my father’s death. It is the same anger that I feel for all the families of victims, so it can’t just be for my father.

Safa:

Are you not willing to give yourself the chance to be angry?

Radiyah:

Who can I be angry with? If the killer is unknown? If I am to be angry, it’s because it is an assassination. Even if I got angry, I can only direct my anger at the general situation in the country. There is no one to be angry with directly.

It’s now three months since the Houthis took over the capital.

The Yemeni government are still nominally in charge of the country - but few believe that.

There are mass protests in the cities of Taiz, ibb and Hudaida.

ADEN

I want to know how the areas outside Houthi control are reacting to them, so I’m heading for the South.

Map 4 Sanaa to Aden. Shadow spreads south towards al lahj. Aden on map – outside of shadow

I arrive in the largest city in the South, Aden.

For years, they has been a popular movement calling for separation from the North, which the government has tried to crush.

There is strong anti-Houthi sentiment everywhere.

Death to houthis graffiti

Abdulrahman Wajeeh Al Deen is in a difficult situation. He is one of the few Houthi journalists operating in the south. His life is at risk from Sunni opponents of the Houthis

and al Qaeda.

Death to houthis

AR inside the car:

The situation in Aden is that Al Qaeda, after they lost in the North, tried to declare an emirate in the Lahj region close to Aden. And, now here in Aden, they have spread to many neighbourhoods.

Safa:

Are you afraid they will assassinate you?

AR:

No, I’m confident I will kill them before I die. I don’t leave the house without my weapon.

Safa:

You are armed? Show me.

Walking to rally

Man on stage:

Do you want unity with the North?

NO!

Do you want unity with the North?

NO!

rally

An enormous rally in support of secession is taking place.

Rally

Chant:

Southerner, raise your voice!

Independence or death!

Protester:

We are tired of this! The South demands its freedom and independence!

I have never seen so much anger here.

Lift your head up high! You are an independent Southerner!

The rally turns into a march.

Abdulrahman and I follow the crowds as they spill out through the city.

It’s seems clear to me that across Yemen the political system is collapsing.

AR in back of truck:

We are not living at all in Yemen. There is a revolution in the North and a revolution in the South, there are reasons for this. The Yemeni people are strangers in their own country.

As the sun sets over the streets of Aden, we hear the sound of gunfire.

Government forces are shooting at the protesters.

Gunshot

At sunset

Protesters:

Shame, shame, shooting on peaceful protesters.

Film this, film this!

Getting out of the car:

Get down, get down.

AR:

The protesters reached the Governor’s building and were shot at with tear gas and live bullets, into the air over their heads.

I came here to find out what the Houthi takeover means for the people of Yemen.

It seems clear to me if they continue their march south, they will meet fierce resistance.

I have watched an already weak state fragment.

The rise of the Houthis has polarized the people and may push them into an even greater conflict.

BREAK FADE

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The South and the East of the country still fiercely resist Houthi control.

The President has fled Sana’a and called for a new government, based in Aden.

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There are reports that several Sunni tribes have declared allegiance to Islamic State.

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The Houthi Revolutionary Committee has become the de-facto government of the north of Yemen.

CREDITS