Qualla: Siege of Dammaj https://qualla.com/siege-of-dammaj en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:29 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Siege of Dammaj https://qualla.com/siege-of-dammaj Siege of Dammaj: Introduction https://qualla.com/siege-of-dammaj/ In October 2011, the Houthis accused the Salafi community in Dammaj of smuggling weapons to their Dar al-Hadith religious school and demanded the Salafis hand over the weapons and their military checkpoints. The Salafis refused. The Houthis closed the roads into the town. Dammaj, in the heart of Saada Governorate in northern Yemen, is perhaps 30 kilometers from the Saudi border. What followed over the next two and a half years, a siege, repeated ceasefires, shellings, attempts to bring aid through at the Houthi-held highway at Kitaf, more shellings, left more than 200 people dead, 600 wounded, and the Dar al-Hadith school reduced to rubble. Most of the dead were Salafi.

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]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/g/p/0/siege-of-dammaj-wp/sgp0-siege-of-dammaj-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Siege of Dammaj: The School in the Middle https://qualla.com/siege-of-dammaj/ The Dar al-Hadith institution at Dammaj was founded in 1979 by Imam Muqbil bin Hadi al-Wadi'i, a Yemeni scholar who had studied at the Islamic University of Medina in Saudi Arabia. Dammaj is in the heartland of the Zaydi Shia branch of Islam, a tradition that had ruled Yemen thro...

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]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/g/p/0/siege-of-dammaj-wp/sgp0-siege-of-dammaj-the-school-in-the-middle.mp3 0:06 2 full Siege of Dammaj: Proxies and Grievances https://qualla.com/siege-of-dammaj/ The Saudi state, Sunni, Wahhabi in character, supported the Salafi presence in Yemen. Saudi money funded schools, mosques, and scholarships for decades. Iran, the Shia theocracy on the other side of the Gulf, backed the Houthis, though the extent of direct material support in the...

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]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/g/p/0/siege-of-dammaj-wp/sgp0-siege-of-dammaj-proxies-and-grievances.mp3 0:06 3 full Siege of Dammaj: The Siege Begins https://qualla.com/siege-of-dammaj/ On October 15, 2011, the Houthis intercepted a letter in which Dar al-Hadith's Sheikh Yahya al-Hajuri urged a senior government security commander to fight against them. On the same day, Salafi students physically assaulted a 13-year-old Houthi supporter. The Houthis closed the r...

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]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/g/p/0/siege-of-dammaj-wp/sgp0-siege-of-dammaj-the-siege-begins.mp3 0:06 4 full Siege of Dammaj: Food, Truces, More Shelling https://qualla.com/siege-of-dammaj/ On December 3, the Houthis allowed Red Cross food aid to enter the town, though not its residents to leave. Salafi students accused the Houthis of keeping a third of the supplies. The Houthis denied it. The Houthis then shelled Salafi positions on Al Baraqa mountain, killing six ...

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]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/g/p/0/siege-of-dammaj-wp/sgp0-siege-of-dammaj-food-truces-more-shelling.mp3 0:06 5 full Siege of Dammaj: The Final Assault https://qualla.com/siege-of-dammaj/ On October 29, 2013, Houthi forces shelled a mosque and the Dar al-Hadith school. Four thousand Salafi fighters gathered in Dammaj to defend the town. The fighting spilled into Amran Governorate in December, and by early January 2014 it had spread to Saada, Amran, Al Jawf, and Ha...

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]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/g/p/0/siege-of-dammaj-wp/sgp0-siege-of-dammaj-the-final-assault.mp3 0:06 6 full Siege of Dammaj: What Was Lost https://qualla.com/siege-of-dammaj/ Over two and a half years, the siege killed more than 200 people and wounded 600, most of them Salafi. Those numbers were provided by Salafi sources; the Houthis never released their own casualty figures. Families lost homes, schools, and businesses. Foreign students, young men w...

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]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/g/p/0/siege-of-dammaj-wp/sgp0-siege-of-dammaj-what-was-lost.mp3 0:06 7 full