Riyadh Daily, 16 November 2017 – The local Iranian militia in Yemen, the Houthis, have turned the northern province of Saada into a storehouse of the choicest weapons, including some classified as weapons of mass destruction. They include ballistic missiles made by Iranian and Hezbollah elements outside Yemen. These elements assembled the weapons in Saada after smuggling them into the country in knocked-down condition, a Yemeni military official has confirmed to Al-Riyadh.
Saada, 240 km from Sanaa, is the Houthis’ administrative centre. A military official has confirmed that Iran seeks to turn it into a staging point for militarily penetrating across the Yemeni borders.

  
In the 1980s, Iran succeeded in cultivating Hussein Al-Houthi, the founder of the Houthis Movement. Along with a number of other figures, he was invited to study in Iran and later return to his stronghold in northern Yemen. In addition to this region, there are notorious Yemeni arms markets in Saada, foremost among them being the Dahyan market where various kinds of weapons – light, medium and even heavy artillery — can be bought. The Houthis have been profiteering by the weapons trade based in Saada.
Saada is along the Saudi-Yemeni border which the Iranians find suitable to stockpile weapons in this region. Saada is also known for being the route for commercial caravans connecting the south and north of the Arabian Peninsula. The governorate has a rugged terrain, high mountains and deep valleys that provide ideal cover for hoarding illegal weapons. 
Yemeni military sources said that the Houthi militias began stockpiling weapons in Saada after the return of the Houthi Movement founder from Iran. Hussein Al-Houthi made Saada his headquarters to establish the movement under Iranian command. From then onwards, the militia began accumulating weapons in phases.
The first phase was from 1990 to 2003 when the initial plans were being laid for building the movement and developing its militant capabilities. When the war between the Yemeni government and the Houthi rebels broke out in June 2004, the arms build-up in Saada gathered further momentum. This was when the militia had open dealings with illegal arms dealers who even found the region a perfect place to indulge in the shady weapons trade. This included the Dahyan market.
Over time, the Houthi movement established strong relations with one of the most notorious arms dealers, Fares Manna. The Houthis later appointed him governor of Saada after they took complete control of the province, away from the authority of the central government. Manna, who is a wanted man in Brazil, ranks among the ten biggest arms smugglers around the world.
The second phase of the Houthis stocking weapons was when the government forces launched a military operation to crush a rebellion sparked by Hussein Al-Houthi in the Maran district of Saada. He and his fighters killed a number of soldiers. The rebels succeeded in evicting the security and administrative machinery from the province.
This phase continued during the second and third wars, right up to the sixth war. This phase ended with the full control of the Houthis over Saada. All government camps were looted and dismantled. Military sources have estimated 12 military camps to have been destroyed, with their weapons snatched with the help of the toppled Yemeni President Abdullah Saleh. The former president had announced the cessation of his own military operations, after mediation efforts by Qatari agents. At that time, Saleh wanted to weaken the military units affiliated to the First Armored Division led by Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar, who was believed to be an opponent of Saleh’s eldest son’s possible rise to power.
A military truce between the Yemeni army and the Houthis was declared in the phase following the sixth war – from 2009 to 2013. But the Houthis were fighting their own war against the Kushr tribe in Saada and other tribes in Jouf. This was the period when large-scale smuggling of Iranian weapons flourished. This became all the more evident when the Yemeni government forces captured the Iranian vessel, Ceyhan, in January 2013. The ship, which was loaded with weapons, was on its way to the Houthi-controlled port of Midi. According to a statement issued by the Yemeni Ministry of Interior, the vessel was carrying 48 tons of weapons, missiles and powerful explosives. The consignment included Sam 2 and Sam 3 anti-aircraft missiles. It was then that the Yemeni government appealed to the Security Council to intervene and investigate the matter.
After Saada was wrenched out of the control of the central government at the end of the sixth war, Iran stepped in to exploit the political stalemate. The Yemeni revolution against Saleh in 2011 added to the turmoil. At that time, the Gulf states tried to help and stop the collapse of the Yemeni state. The result was the Gulf Initiative that was signed by all Yemeni forces, except the Al-Houthi group, under directions from Iran. The Gulf Initiative was a compressive, peaceful arrangement for the political transition process, led by President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
In 2014, Iran engineered a rebellion against the government. This was when the third phase of the arms build-up in Sadaa began, according to the Yemeni military official.  The Houthis seized 80 percent of the Yemeni army camps and arms depots, including ballistic missiles. They moved the weapons from Sanaa, Hodeidah and Amran to Saada.
Following a request made by the lawful Yemeni president to the Gulf countries to intervene and save the Yemeni state and restore the legitimate authority, they responded and launched the military campaign, “Operation Decisive Storm,” led by Saudi Arabia. More than 10 Arab countries formed part of this Arab alliance, which soon succeeded in controlling the Yemeni airspace.
The fourth phase included turning Saada into an even bigger weapons stash. Large-scale smuggling of weapons across the Yemeni borders and the Hodeidah Port flourished under Iranian command. During this phase, Saada witnessed a massive surge in its arms stockpile with an assortment of modern weapons, including Iranian ballistic missiles.
The Houthi militias even established a factory to manufacture explosives and mortars under the supervision of Iranian experts and elements of the Hezbollah terrorist group. They carried out their shady operations despite UN Security Council resolutions that called for a complete arms embargo against the Houthis.