SANAA
A Friday constitutional declaration has brought a little-known man to the top of decision-making in Yemen.
The man, Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, who is a close associate of the leader of the Shiite Houthi group, Abdel-Malak al-Houthi, is now in control of the new national assembly and the presidential council.
The declaration gives Yemen's reins to the so-called Higher Revolutionary Council, which is headed by Mohamed himself.
The fact is that nobody knows the other members of the council, which gives credence to assumptions by analysts that the council would be a mere front for people who will rule Yemen from behind the curtains.
Soon after the constitutional declaration was announced on Friday, Mohamed started acting as a ruler.
He ordered the formation of a higher security council to be headed by Yemen's Defense Minister Mahmoud al-Subaihi. The committee will also contain 14 other members, including seven Houthi field commanders.
Mohamed also appointed Jalal al-Ruweishan, who is close to the Houthi group, as the minister of defense.
Yemen's state television, which has been controlled by the Houthis for a whole month now, on Saturday broadcast footage from a meeting Mohamed held with some new security leaders.
Defense Minister al-Subaihi was present in the meeting. He was rumored to have been forced to attend the announcement of the constitutional declaration at the presidential palace in Yemeni capital Sanaa on Friday.
Little known
Mohamed is little known to the vast majority of the Yemeni people. The man is only known to be a nephew of Houthi leader Abdel-Malak al-Houthi.
Some people close to the group say Mohamed was put in jail by the intelligence of ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh for years before he was released after a Saleh-sponsored war against the Houthis came to an end.
These people add that Mohamed had also joined Iran's revolutionary Guard before he returned to Yemen yet again.
Soon after Houthis controlled Yemeni capital Sanaa on Sept. 21 of 2014, Mohamed was appointed as the head of the Revolutionary Council.
The council took up the mission of fighting "corruption" inside state institutions and government offices.
He then formed revolutionary committees inside ministries and administrative offices in the various provinces with the aim of bolstering Houthi control over these institutions.
Decisions were only taken inside the ministries and the offices after approval from the members of the revolutionary committees.
The committees fired a large number of civil servants and appointed people loyal to the Houthi group instead. This was done under the pretext of fighting corruption.
The committees also issued a ban against the travel outside Yemen of some government officials.
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