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]