SANA, Yemen — Abu Raad strutted through the streets of the Yemeni capital as if he owned them. His obvious glee, at a time of crisis in the country, bordered on naïveté. But he had his reasons to be happy.
Growing up as a Houthi in the northern province of Saada, he experienced years of war and brutality while fighting for the rights of his Zaydi sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, against the government. He described being tortured by military captors who dragged his clutched fists over splintered wood, pushing the sharp pieces under his nails. He was a teenager then.
But now, he was the one in power, embraced by many of the uniformed men who once gave their allegiance to the state.
“We are in this together,” said Abu Raad, 21, who refused to give his real name for security reasons. He pointed to Fathi Ali, a soldier standing guard outside Parliament, saying that Mr. Ali had spent 30 years in Yemen’s armed forces without being promoted beyond the rank of soldier.
“Yes, so far, we are in this together,” Mr. Ali, a Sunni, repeated.
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Abu Ali, who is a colonel in the armed forces, said he seized the army vehicle himself and was now using it to extract concessions from the state. In September, the Houthis successfully pushed back against a government plan to reduce fuel subsidies, earning them added credibility.
“I swore allegiance to God, to the country and to the revolution, not to any specific leader,” he said. “The revolution started in 2011, but the real revolution is this one.”
As he made his rounds, Abu Raad stopped at a charming, but dilapidated building. The sign in front said it was a museum, long abandoned by the state, it appeared. The Houthis were using it as an office. They placed a couple of concrete barricades, painted in their green color, in front of the entrance.
“We are going to give it back,” Abu Raad said. “Look, we never removed the sign. We want it to be a real museum.”
Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington, and Shuaib Almosawa from Sana.
