There is currently an armed conflict going on between two sects in the Saada Governorate in northern Yemen. They each believe they are right and the other is wrong and must be confronted. Each sect has its own religious and political supporters, locally and regionally.

The first is represented by the Houthis of the Ansar Allah movement, which is a religious/political armed movement that belongs to the same doctrine espoused by Iran.

The other camp is represented by the Salafists who belong to a Sunni religious group espousing Wahhabism, the official Saudi Arabia doctrine. The country supports its members outside, such as Salafists in Yemen, especially since it denounced its alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood and following the establishment of the Rashad Union Party in March 2012. This is not to mention the different political stances about what is happening there.

Both Salafists and Houthis participate in the political process in Yemen as part of the National Dialogue Conference. However, each camp calls the other names that primarily have religious connotations. For Houthis, Salafists are takfiris, while Salafists perceive Houthis as “Rafida” [defectors]. These are terms that have been employed by the warring religious and political factions since the beginning of the 17th century, although the term takfiri is of recent origin.