The Houthis have woven a complex network of connections to other terrorist and militia groups in the Middle Eastern region. A new article at Al-Ain Arabic media, which is usually based on good sources, reveals the role of one of the key figures in the Iranian-backed regime.
Al-Hassan al-Marani is named as “the Houthi man weaving a network of militia connections in terrorism.” The report says that “over the years, the Houthi militia has been weaving a complex network of relationships with terrorist organizations in its regional environment, and Hassan Al-Marani is responsible for this file.”
An article at the Counter Extremism Project, “Eyes of the Regime: How the Houthi Security and Intelligence Service Ensures Political Domination in Yemen,” described Marani as a key figure in the Houthi intelligence system.
“As early as 2017, Hassan al-Marrani was appointed director of the Intelligence Department in the National Security Bureau. In 2018, al-Marrani was also serving in the ostensibly benign role of director general at the Yemeni Economic Corporation. In this capacity, according to a leaked document, he worked to promote Houthi recruitment by calling ‘for the speedy preparation of lists of the names of employees who are ready to participate in the war and submitting them to administrative affairs for qualification, within three days.’”
Pivotal figure in managing Houthi relations with Al-Qaeda linked orgs.
Al-Ain says also that he “serves as the Houthis' deputy security and intelligence chief for the internal security sector and holds the rank of major general, has become a pivotal figure in managing the group's relations with al-Qaeda-linked organizations.” The new report says that he has become “the mastermind behind terrorist operations that extend beyond domestic operations in Yemen and the Horn of Africa.”
He was previously involved in economic issues. “In 2019, Al-Marani emerged in his true role as an agent of the Security and Intelligence Service (SNS), which the militias had built on the ruins of the former Political Security and National Security intelligence services. He was also a member of the Supreme Council for the Management and Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and International Cooperation (SCMCHA). During his tenure at SCMCHA, Al-Marani used humanitarian aid as a weapon of war, diverting it to the group's fighters rather than those who deserved it. He also engaged in various forms of extortion against local and international aid agencies,” the report adds.
He also has “direct oversight of operational and intelligence alliances between the group and terrorist organizations, most notably al-Qaeda. Al-Marani oversaw the release of dozens of al-Qaeda members after subjecting them to sectarian and military programs, in preparation for their re-employment in intelligence and military missions directed at the militias.”
The report goes on to say that Khaled Mohammed Hussein Mashhour Qadri, a former al-Qaeda operative, was recruited and linked to al-Marani and placed under the umbrella of security work for the Houthi security and intelligence apparatus. “In another example, al-Marani played a mediating role in September 2021 in recruiting al-Qaeda leader Abdullah Abdul-Ilah al-Mandhari, known as ‘Abu Ammar al-Mandhari,’ who in turn was tasked with convincing al-Qaeda leaders to withdraw from the al-Sawma'a district in al-Bayda and head towards areas liberated by the Yemeni government.”
The Al-Ain report quotes a Yemen research center as saying that Marani, along with several other Houthi figures, are responsible for “selecting potential terrorist elements, as well as organizing coordination and cooperation programs between the Houthi militias and al-Qaeda.”
It is worth noting that al-Qaeda is generally seen as a Sunni Islamist terrorist group with extremist roots that go back to the 1980s and 1990s. The Houthis are linked to Iran and Shi’ite proxy terrorist groups. In the past, al-Qaeda and other groups similar to it often targeted Shi’ites. However, over the years, there has been evidence that they worked with the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In 2021, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that “al-Qaeda has a new home base: it is the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Marani is also in touch with others. “Along with Houthi leader Brigadier General Abu Haidar al-Qahoum, they were responsible for ‘the terrorism sector, coordination, and communication with the Mujahideen in al-Shabaab, al-Qaeda's branch in Somalia,’ under the supervision of an officer from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.”
Marani is a “central conduit for recruiting al-Qaeda members in Yemen and Somalia and facilitating their movement to Sanaa to coordinate with the leadership of the Houthi security and intelligence apparatus. This makes him part of a broader network of leaders and intermediaries facilitating the transfer of terrorist elements to the heart of the group's areas of control.”