A formal split of the centers occurred in 2000, and the board of management was no longer capable of administering them. The split highlighted the division within the Zaydi Shi‘i elite in Yemen. Armed with his rebellious and charismatic personality, and inspired by the revolutionary ideas of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the organizational strategies of Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah, al-Houthi began to radicalize a growing number of Zaydi youth