There was a time in the country’s recent past when that might not
have come as such a surprise: Contrary to popular belief, Yemen,
like its neighbor Saudi Arabia, was not always as conservative as it is
today. Prior to 1978, the year that Saleh seized power, tribal customs prohibited domestic violence, ostracizing any man who dared raise his
hand against a woman. But in order to consolidate his rule, including
in communist South Yemen after the fall of the Soviet Union, Saleh
made common cause with more-reactionary Sunni Muslim religious
groups, despite being a Zaydi Shiite himself, like the Houthis.