DEN, Yemen — Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi paramilitary has been lionized at pro-Palestinian protests around the world and on social media for its missile strikes on Israel over the Gaza war. In May, even U.S. President Donald Trump lauded the Houthis’ grit.
“We hit them very hard,” Trump said, in announcing the group had agreed to stop attacking ships in the Red Sea following weeks of U.S. strikes on them. “They had a great capacity to withstand punishment … You can say there’s a lot of bravery there.”
At home, many who have lived under Houthi rule have a starkly different view. In interviews with hundreds of Yemenis who have fled the Houthi-controlled part of this divided country, people described a militant group that silences critics, drives people into starvation, and has used international food aid to force parents to hand over children to be soldiers in its armed forces.
“People are between a rock and a hard place,” said Abdul-Salam, a 37-year-old farmer who lives in a displaced persons camp in Yemen after fleeing the Houthi-controlled part of the country. “The Houthis would give you a choice: be with them and take a food basket to stave off hunger, or get nothing.”
Like many interviewed for this story, Abdul-Salam spoke on condition that only his first name be used, saying he has family members still living under the Houthis.
Interviews with Yemeni civilians and dozens of aid workers, as well as a review of internal UN aid agency documents, reveal how the Houthis maintain their iron grip. They levy an array of taxes on their impoverished subjects, manipulate the international aid system and imprison hundreds. Human rights and aid organizations have faced waves of arrests: In late August, the World Food Program said 15 staff members were detained after Houthi authorities forced their way into the organization’s offices in Sanaa, the capital. This brings to 53 the number of aid workers currently being held in detention.
“People can’t breathe,” said Abu Hamza, who fled Houthi-controlled territory a few years ago. He spent a year in underground prison cells for speaking out against the Houthis during social gatherings, he said. “We are ruled by a militia cloaked in religion.”
Reuters wasn’t able to confirm all aspects of Abu Hamza’s account and those of others the news agency spoke to, but their stories about Houthi persecution were often similar and largely consistent.
Nasruddin Amer, deputy head of the Houthis’ media office, said Yemenis know that the group’s position on Gaza has subjected it to an “American-Zionist demonization campaign in which their tools in the region, such as the Saudi and Emirati regimes, and others, participate.”
Hunger is pervasive across Yemen, a country torn by a civil war that erupted in 2014. The leading global hunger monitor, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, announced in June that more than 17 million out of Yemen’s 40 million people were facing “high levels of acute food insecurity.”
Funding from donor countries for humanitarian projects in Yemen has been decreasing, in part due to ongoing diversion of aid by the Houthis. The situation worsened earlier this year when the country’s biggest source of humanitarian relief funding dried up after the Trump administration slashed foreign aid, ending many operations around the globe funded by USAID, Washington’s aid arm.
The White House didn’t respond to questions about Trump’s views on the Houthis or the aid cutbacks. The State Department said the Houthis’ “failure to allow the safe delivery of life-saving assistance is driving the rise in hunger in northern Yemen.”
Since the October 2023 attack by Hamas, Israel has delivered devastating blows to Hamas in Gaza and to Hezbollah in Lebanon, both part of Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance. It also targeted the Houthis, including an attack in August that killed the Houthi-appointed prime minister and several ministers. The Houthis also say dozens of civilians have been killed. But these strikes failed to deter the group from launching drones and missiles into Israel.
The Gaza war has empowered the Houthis, experts say. The group “realized it could exploit the Gaza war and became fond of its new regional and international image,” said Maysaa Shuja Al-Deen, a senior researcher at the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies. On the ground, she said, “popular anger toward the Houthis” has risen because Yemenis bore the brunt of Israeli retaliatory strikes.
Houthi spokesperson Amer rejected the idea that the group has exploited “the Gaza events.” This ignores “the fact that our official slogan since the first day of our movement has been ‘Death to America and Death to Israel’,” he said.
Personality cult
The Yemeni conflict has a multinational dimension. The Saudis and the United Arab Emirates back the internationally recognized government. Iran backs the Houthis. Riyadh views the Houthis as an Iranian proxy that poses a security threat given their control over territory on Saudi Arabia’s southern border. Inside Yemen, many define themselves as northerners and southerners, along a pre-1990 dividing line, when Yemen was two states.
The Houthi movement is rooted in the Zaydi sect of Shi’ite Islam, which once ruled the northern part of Yemen, which was an isolated and impoverished zone. Formally called Ansar Allah, or “Supporters of God,” the Houthis are popularly named after the family that formed and led the religious revival movement.
Leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi, in his 40s, has led the group for two decades and through a civil war that erupted in 2014 after the Houthis seized Sanaa. The Saudis, worried by Iran’s growing influence, led a loose coalition of Sunni states with Western backing against the Houthis.
A divided country
A long-running civil war has split Yemen into a Houthi-controlled area backed by Iran and a government-controlled area backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The war has shattered the economy and left many of Yemen’s 40 million people in poverty.
By the time the war abated, tens of thousands of Yemenis were dead and the economy was ravaged. The Houthis emerged with uncontested control of the north. The rest of Yemen is now governed by a patchwork of rivalrous militia leaders and proxies who are loyal to the Saudis and the UAE. These groups make up a ruling Presidential Leadership Council, a body that is internationally recognized but which analysts say is riven with competing political and regional interests, and reliant on Saudi funding.
Talk of government divisions “is exaggerated,” Yemeni Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said in response to questions. While “there are divergent views, there is a consensus on the main goal: restoring the state and ending the Houthi coup.”
“Without a salary, life was impossible … To make things worse, the Houthis would visit my home, demanding donations to fund their weekly pro-Gaza rallies.” –Abdul Malik, a schoolteacher
Al-Houthi, who never appears in public, delivers weekly speeches via TV screens to huge rallies in Sanaa’s main square. There, crowds chant the Al-Sarkha, which means “The Scream” in English:
God is Great,
Death to America,
Death to Israel,
Curse on the Jews,
Victory to Islam!
Al-Houthi rules through a small circle of trusted figures and family members, according to Yemen experts who study the group. And through fear: Thousands of Yemenis have been detained, held incommunicado and tortured by the Houthis, according to human rights organizations and several former detainees interviewed by Reuters.
By REUTERS
eporting by Maggie Michael. Photos by Amr Alfiky. Photo editing by Cynthia Karam and Simon Newman. Art direction by Catherine Tai. Edited by Peter Hirschberg.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
