The policy of starvation and subjugation... Houthi miscalculations turned into a spark of popular anger

Over the past years, the Houthi militias, Iran's arm in Yemen, have been pursuing a policy of starvation and subjugation to impose their grip and consolidate their influence against the residents of the governorates under their control.

With the deterioration of the situation and the increase in the severity of famine among citizens, and the continued theft of employees’ salaries over a period of 8 years, this failed policy became the spark of anger that incited the people to raise their voice to demand stolen rights despite the threats and intimidations issued by the Houthi leaders against those who demand their rights.

Houthi intransigence and the refusal to pay employee salaries, especially the salaries of male and female teachers, academics and administrators at government universities in Sanaa, created a broad public and trade union movement, the first of its kind since the militia’s coup in 2014, in light of the worsening suffering in the areas of the coup and the continuation of the truce that did not bring any tangible positive results in the lives of Population.

For the eighth week in a row, the comprehensive strike of male and female teachers continues in response to the call of the “Teachers Club,” which confirmed the continuation of peaceful protests to demand the regular payment of salaries on a monthly basis and the rest of the dues and bonuses that have been cut off for years.

The teachers' strike coincided with great popular discontent and repeated demands to reject the policy of starvation and subjugation pursued by the Houthi militias to achieve their own goals and agenda. This discontent aroused the ire of the Houthi leaders, who were quick to issue provocative statements against those demanding the payment of their salaries.

The leader, Muhammad Ali Al-Houthi, from within Saada Governorate, described those demanding salaries as “foolish and crazy,” while the group’s leader, Mahdi Al-Mashat, described the movements of those demanding salaries as “demagogues, traitors, agents, and fools,” vowing to “deter them.”

The public emotional statements of the first-ranking leaders of the Houthi gang did not come out of nowhere. But it stems from its feeling of serious threats as a result of popular pressure led by unions and professional clubs for teachers and academics in Sanaa. These statements also confirm the state of confusion and anxiety that the group is experiencing after the failure of the policy of subjugation and starvation that it has pursued over the past years.

Houthi intransigence is matched by a popular pledge to escalate and expand the strike to extract rights by legitimate means. While activists launched calls on social media to organize protests and popular demonstrations to support the uprising of teachers and academics to obtain their cut salaries.

The area of popular discontent and disapproval has expanded into a real clash on the ground, an indication of the state of collective rejection of the Houthi project, which spreads false and sectarian ideas imported from Iran.

The sources said that worshipers at the Sunnah Mosque in the village of Dhuqaban in Al-Asha District, Amran Governorate, expelled a Houthi supervisor from the mosque after he attempted to give a lecture after the Maghrib prayer, pointing out that citizens refused to continue with the lies and quackery promoted by the Houthi militias and their sectarian leaders.

The sources added that the supervisor returned with military crews loaded with armed elements to storm the mosque, looted the mosque’s library, arrested four people from Dhu Qa’ban, and took them to the Al-Asha District Security Department. This mobilized the tribes of Dhuqaban to reject this oppressive policy before a calm mediation took place between the tribes and the militias.

In Al-Jawf, robberies and plundering of citizens’ lands and farms and attacks against tribesmen led to To an armed revolution against the Houthi militias. Violent clashes recently broke out between armed groups from the Hamdan tribes, “Al Saleh,” and the so-called security forces of the Houthi militia, led by the dynastic leader known as “Abu Najib Al-Sharif,” in the vicinity of Al-Hazm Market, the center of Al-Jawf Governorate (northeast of Yemen).

The clashes took place with various types of weapons near the Hamadan Bridge, south of Al-Hazm Market. It escalated when the militia attacked citizens’ homes in the Al-Safiya area, southwest of the city. Amidst the tribes' mobilization to confront the Houthi attacks, which led to the killing of a number of Houthi members and the burning of their military vehicles.

The escalating tribal rejection of the violations has reached Saada Governorate, the main stronghold of the militias. Armed confrontations renewed between the Bani Hudhayfah tribes and Houthi groups affiliated with the leader “Abu Ali al-Hakim,” in Dahyan, Majz District, Saada.

The clashes came after an attempt by the so-called “Abu Ali Al-Hakim” to seize the lands of the Bani Hudhayfah tribes located on the outskirts of Dahyan. This attempt faced a harsh reaction from the tribes, causing the death of one of the ruler’s companions and three others, in addition to a number of wounded.

The tribal unrest continues in Saada, amid the influx of a number of supporters and advocates of the Bani Hudhayfah tribe to support their sons and work to prevent the Houthi leader, “Abu Ali al-Hakem,” from controlling the farms.

المصدر: نيوزيمن