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Comment by mamonster | Hacker News Reader

>Ansar Allah (Houthis) is a terrible Islamist group

IMO this is kind of bad framing because it suggests that they're the minority in Yemen, when in reality they basically are the government of 70-80% population of Yemen and absorbed 60+ percent of the Yemeni regular army.

They are basically at this point the de-facto Yemeni government

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> when in reality they basically are the government of 70-80% population of Yemen and absorbed 60+ percent of the Yemeni regular army.

sure, they took this by force while killing those who disagree. Its part of Sunni vs Shia confrontation, and Yemen is majority Sunni.

Ansar Allah isn't even close to a majority of the population of Yemen. Yemen is majority-Sunni. Ansar Allah is a militant Zaydi revivalist movement, and what they're attempting to revive is a Zaydi caste system.

>Ansar Allah isn't even close to a majority of the population of Yemen.

I never said that. The areas they control have about 70-80% of Yemen's population though.

Yes, that sounds about right. And it's very, very bad.

Their size - gained by brutal conquest - does not increase their legitimacy, it’s an Islamist group.

I decry the legitimacy of my coffee table, but my toe still hurts when I kick it.

Brutal conquest is a pretty well traveled path to legitimacy.

Power is taken, and regardless of the ideals of the takers, enough power grants legitimacy.

So is taliban, yet they both rule a country.

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