Fares Manaa

Fares Mohammed Manaa (Arabic: فارس محمد مناع; born February 8, 1965)[1][2] is a top Yemeni arms-dealer,[1][2] businessman,[3] rebel commander and politician.[4] He is said to be Yemen's most famous arms-dealer.[5] Manaa was born on February 8, 1965, in the northern city of Saada.[2] He was an ally of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and member of his ruling GPC party[4] and served as head of his presidential committee and as head of a local council tasked with mediating a peace-deal between the Yemeni government and Houthis during the Shia insurgency in Yemen. His brother was the governor of Saada Governorate at the time.[3][6]

His name was put on a UN Security Council list of people accused of trafficking arms to Somali Islamist insurgent group Al-Shabaab,[1][2] which is considered as a terrorist organisation by the United States[7] and is accused of with al-Qaeda.[8] This led to his assets being frozen by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.[9][10] He was also accused of receiving millions in funds from the then Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi,[11] spying for Libya and supplying arms to the Houthis.[10] Manaa denied these charges claiming that arms had been stolen by Houthis from an arms deposit he owned. In October 2009[12] was put at the top of a blacklist of Yemeni arms-dealers, after which he was put under surveillance.[1][2][10]

In late January 2010, Manaa was arrested by Yemeni authorities[12] leading to protests in Sa'dah by tribal chiefs and the resignation of his brother, Hassan Manaa, as governor.[13] In May, a mini-bus driver was killed and a policeman and a civilian woman were injured[12] as a group of Manaa's men attacked the car in which he was being transported to a penal court. This resulted in his trial being delayed by 25 days.[10][12] He was eventually released on June 4,[12] after which his relations with President Saleh soured.[4]

On March 19, Houthis attacked the city of Sa'dah,[14] starting a battle with pro-government al-Abdin tribesmen,[4] led by Yemeni lawmaker Sheikh Othman Majali.[15] During the battle, rebels joined forces with Fares Manaa[10] and after their victory,[4][15] set up a local committee, composed of rebels, residents and defected military commanders,[16] which appointed him as the new governor of Sa'dah on 26 March, after the pro-Saleh governor Taha Hajer fled to the capital Sanaa.[4][15] He led the Houthis independent administration in Saada governorate[15] until December 2014.[17]