By Faisal Abu Bakr | 2025-06-15

ADEN -- Hundreds of Dahm tribesmen have formed a new alliance in Yemen's al-Jawf province following a spate of brutal attacks carried out by the Houthis that killed tribal leaders and their families and shocked the region.

Gathering in al-Rayyan on June 1, the tribesmen established the Dahm Tribal Alliance, appointing Sheikh Abdulrahman Marii as leader and Sheikh Mohsen al-Assar as secretary-general.

The new alliance represents a strategic province bordering Amran, Sanaa, Marib, Hadramaut and Saada.

The Dahm tribes, part of the historic Bakil confederation, vowed to "reunite under a single umbrella and mobilize energies to reclaim all their lands in al-Jawf province from the Houthi militias."

The decision was taken after Houthi militias killed tribal sheikh Ahmed Farqaz al-Mansouri in Bart al-Marashi district on May 25, media outlets reported.

A day earlier, Houthis stormed the home of tribal sheikh Ahmed Amer al-Mansouri in the same district, killing his wife and three children after the family resisted land seizure, according to the news reports.

The attack on al-Mansouri's home and family "clearly embodies the criminal nature of this militia," Yemen's Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said.

The Houthis "believe in violence, killing and bombing as a means of imposing control, reject all forms of coexistence and partnership," he said.

Popular uprising

"The tribe in Yemen has always been a pillar of social and political balance, with customs that govern peace and war," said Fahmi al-Zubairi, director general of the human rights office in Sanaa.

The Houthis seek to undermine these customs "because they stand as an obstacle to their sectarian and authoritarian project," he told Al-Fassel.

Al-Zubairi described the tribal uprising as "a true expression of accumulated popular anger" after years of broken promises and the Houthis' failure to provide services while turning al-Jawf into "a battlefield of war and looting."

"Tribal unity sends a strong message that Yemen does not belong to the Houthis, nor to Iran's sectarian project," he said.

The tribal action is "a cry from within that enough is enough," political analyst Mahmoud al-Taher told Al-Fassel, adding that the tribes revolted because they could no longer tolerate the Houthis' oppression, plunder and discrimination.

The newly formed alliance shows "the Dahm tribes have had enough," Deputy Minister of Justice Faisal al-Majeedi told Al-Fassel.

It sends a clear message "that the possibility of resistance is growing because the Houthis are a minority who do not represent a national project," he said. "Rather, they are a tool for implementing Iran's agenda."