A number of Marib sheikhs including advisor to Interior Minister brigadier general Mubarak Al-Mashan arrived in Saada on Sunday to declare their loyalty to the Houthi Group after a meeting with Houthi leader in Jawf Province two days ago, sources reported.

The source quoted tribal sources as saying the sheikhs, mainly from the Jahm tribe, wanted to meet the field leader of the group Abdul Malik Al-Houthi.

While the Houthi information bureau has not made any comment about the issue, the sheikhs were said to have been received warmly and have already met with Al-Houthi in Dhahyan district.

Local sources in Marib, in northeastern Yemen, were also quoted as saying the move by the sheikhs came because of the years-long confrontations between the army and the Houthi Group in the far north.

It is worth to mention that Al-Mashan was the first person to kidnap foreigners in Yemen when he took hostage the financial attaché at the U.S. embassy in 1992. He was jailed on kidnapping charges and released later.

The Houthi Group launched an armed rebellion against the government in 2004, and since then sporadic wars continued between the army and the group until they reached a ceasefire in February 2010.