The author of the article examines the causes and the course of a many-years armed conflict between the supporters of Zeydite spiritual leader al-Khusi and the governments troops. As a result of military operations the Saadah province is experiencing a human disaster. Every year since 2004 hundreds of people perish there, thousands of the wounded do not get medical aid, and about 100 thousand people have gathered in refugee camps. The blockade established by the authorities prevents the normalization of life in the province and the activities of International humane organization. As one of the main causes of this crisis is named the factor of militant Islamism which appeared in Yemen as a result of proselytism, that is the spreading there of the religious ideas of Wahhabism (the state religion of the neighbouring Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). There have been the signs of the transformation of Wahhabism into a factor of state policy in Yemen since the middle of the 1990-s, which has violated the traditionally peaceful relations between the state and the main traditional religious communities (the Shaf//tes and Zeidites). This factor has a negative influence on the complicated political processes in Yemen which became a one state only in 1990. Besides the religious aspects the author touches upon other components of the crisis: the involving of tribes of the both sides in it, the illegal circulation of weapons with the participation of corrupt officials, the inconsistency of the state's policy in these questions and so on.