Siege of Dammaj

Part of Shia insurgency in Yemen and Yemeni Revolution

Dar al-Hadith in Dammaj

Date

15 October – 22 December 2011
(First phase)
October 2013 – January 2014
(Second phase)

Location

Dammaj, Saada Governorate, Yemen

Result

Decisive Houthi rebels victory

Ceasefire implemented
Salafis are driven out of Dammaj
Destruction of Dar al-Hadith

Belligerents

Salafi fighters
People's Committees
Al-Qaeda Emirate in Yemen

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula

Houthis

Commanders and leaders

Yahya al-Hajoori

Abu Ismail

Abu Ali Abdullah al-Hakem al-Houthi

Saleh Habra

Dhaifallah al-Shami

Mohammed Abdulsalam

Strength

7,000 students

Unknown

Casualties and losses

+250 killed and 500 wounded

+130 killed

+830 people killed in total

Decisive Houthi rebels victory

Salafi fighters
People's Committees
Al-Qaeda Emirate in Yemen

The Siege of Dammaj started in October 2011 when the Houthis, a Shia Zaidi rebel group which control the Saada Governorate, accused a Sunni Salafi loyal to the Yemeni regime of smuggling weapons into their religious center in the town of Dammaj and demanded they hand over their weapons and military posts in the town. When the Salafis refused the Houthis imposed a siege on the town. The town is controlled by the Houthis and the fighting was mainly centered on Dar al-Hadith religious school, which is run by Salafis, although its founder (imam Muqbil bin Hadi al-Wadi'i) rejected Osama bin Laden in the 1990s. The Salafis from Dammaj and the current imam of Dar al-Hadith, Sheikh Yahya Hajoori are totally against al-Qaeda and all that they stand for.

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