Iron and fire; this is the only language the Houthis can speak as they undermine coexistence and religious freedom in Yemen through persecution and suppression. By virtue of the grave violations and the horrific massacres perpetrated by Houthi fighters against those who disagree with them, many Yemenis have welcomed “Operation Decisive Storm”, despite its terrible impact on the security of ordinary citizens and their economic activities, as well as on the military structure, which is supposed to be the property of the Yemeni people.
The Houthis are conducting a war of liquidation through which they are persecuting other groups, including other Muslims who do not subscribe to their own interpretation of Islam. There are many stories of sieges, abuse, fighting, murder, bombings, displacement and banishment, kidnappings, larceny and looting. The Qur’an and Hadith teaching centres, the University of Iman and the University of Qur’an and Islamic Sciences have been attacked, as have other intellectual and religious institutions as well as the homes of scholars, teachers and mosque imams.
Indeed, the Houthi militias are guilty of a number of crimes perpetrated against coexistence and religious freedom in which they have been backed by Iran and supported by deposed president Ali Abdullah Saleh and his followers.
He who is not with us is an ISIS affiliate and an agent
The militias cry, “God is great, death to America, death to Israel, curse the Jews, victory for Islam”, leaving us with the impression that they are Islam’s formidable fortress while everyone else – usually those with whom they disagree – are lackeys of America and Israel. They even chant this slogan while bombing mosques, Qur’an schools and the homes of their opponents in order to give the impression that by doing so they are only supporting Allah’s cause; and that the mosques, Qur’an schools and the homes they bomb are centres of US and Israeli intelligence. Those they kill, in this logic, are American and Israeli “spies”.
The Houthis choose sensational terminology deliberately as a means of drawing a veil over their ugly facade and despicable acts. To begin with, they called their unlicensed body “the faithful youth” and then it changed it to “Supporters of Allah”; they describe their followers as “mujahidin” (strugglers in the path of God) while perpetrating horrific crimes and grave violations under the banner of what they describe as “The Qur’anic March”.
They also seek to discredit those who are affiliated with other Islamic schools of thought, accusing them systematically of treason and accusing them of very serious acts and calling them the worst of names, which damages social harmony in the country. Not content with importing weapons and doctrines alien to Yemeni society, the militias also use terminology from Iraq, Lebanon and Iran against the millions of Yemenis who do not share their narrow, racist outlook. This includes the aforementioned “US and Israeli lackeys”; “tools of Saudi intelligence”; “ISIS elements; “enemies of the House of the Prophet”; “takfiris (those who accuse others of heresy)”; “Al-Qaeda”; “foreign fighters”; “hypocrites”; “kharijites”; “allies of the Jews and the Christians”; “allies of the oppressors”; and so on. Such name-calling is aimed at excluding all others; it confirms that the Houthis do not recognise coexistence, religious freedom or freedom of thought.
Of the many contradictions within the Houthi group is that while it does all of the above and abuses and discredits the leaders and prominent figures of others, Houthis do not tolerate any criticism of their own doctrines or the discrediting of any of their leaders. They inflict severe punishment on those who do so; one 20 year-old man was stabbed by one of his Houthi neighbours who could not tolerate hearing him curse the Houthi leader. The young man was hospitalised for several days.
According to Salim Allaw, head of Nidal Organisation against Detentions and Kidnappings, the Houthi militias kidnapped a man and detained him in the Al-Wahda area within the Yemeni capital. When the organisation demanded his release his kidnappers refused, using the pretext of charging him with verbal abuse of the leader of the Houthis. Such abuse of their leader is a red line not to be crossed, said the Houthi official in charge of security.
Ahmad Muhsin, a former kidnap victim snatched because of his intellectual activities, claimed that he was warned during his interrogation against continuing to criticise the Houthis. “The mujahidin are a red line,” he was told. “You are not allowed to utter a word against them.”
Blowing up the foundations of coexistence
The Houthis’ dislike of coexistence and religious and intellectual freedoms led to them killing 71 Salafist students in Damaj; 170 others were wounded in the same attack and siege that lasted 68 days in 2011. In late 2013, the Houthis again attacked the students and their families, killing 207, of whom 29 were children; 610 were wounded, including 72 children. The same attack created 100 orphans and destroyed 364 homes and a hospital; thousands were forced to flee after a siege that lasted 100 days.
The students at the Hadith School in the Ktaf region were also attacked by the Houthis; 300 were killed, 500 were wounded and 420 families were displaced, while 150 houses were looted and 19 others were destroyed. A similar school in Anis was blown up and 13 Qur’an schools in other areas were destroyed. On 20 September they stormed into the University of Qur’an and Islamic Studies and looted it; the losses are estimated to be in the millions. The militias refused to hand back what they had taken until the university paid several millions as “protection” money and signed a document absolving them of responsibility for looting it in the first place.
At Al-Iman University, the Houthi militias killed 12 students and staff; they wounded 23 others, claiming that there was a “bomb factory” on the campus. Resources valued at 2.2 billion Yemeni riyals were looted and all of the faculties were closed down, depriving around 5,000 students of their education. Hundreds of other students at Al-Iman Centre for Learning the Qur’an were kept away; 540 staff members were left unpaid while the media department was set on fire. Student records were confiscated and 1,500 students were evicted from their university accommodation, along with 235 families from the married quarters and 130 families of academic staff. The militias lodged more than 50 Houthi families in their place, although they left when “Decisive Storm” was launched as they feared that they would be targeted by the coalition forces. The details of these atrocities were revealed by university staff and students in a press conference a few days ago. The university, meanwhile remains occupied by the Houthis.
The new Mongols
In a crime reminiscent of what the Mongols did to the manuscripts and scientific heritage of Baghdad in the 13th century, the militias set fire to two of the biggest libraries in the country in Damaj and the University of Al-Iman. Films and recordings of lectures and lessons, and two decades’ worth of scientific records were also burnt. Research documents and academic theses were among the items lost. The Houthis also set fire to three libraries in Arhab; the losses are put at
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