Yemeni Child Recruits Undergoing Rehab Visit Marib’s Historic Dam

Child soldiers with Houthi fighters hold weapons during a demonstration in Sanaa on March 13, 2015. PHOTO: Reuters
Child soldiers with Houthi fighters hold weapons during a demonstration in Sanaa on March 13, 2015. PHOTO: Reuters
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Yemeni Child Recruits Undergoing Rehab Visit Marib’s Historic Dam

Child soldiers with Houthi fighters hold weapons during a demonstration in Sanaa on March 13, 2015. PHOTO: Reuters
Child soldiers with Houthi fighters hold weapons during a demonstration in Sanaa on March 13, 2015. PHOTO: Reuters

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center organized on Monday a recreational trip for children undergoing rehabilitation in Yemen’s Amran governorate.

The children were inhumanely recruited by Houthi militias to fight on battlefronts. KSRelief had previously committed to a program to rehabilitate child soldiers recruited during Yemen’s war.

The trip included a visit to the Great Marib Dam and waterfalls in Ubaida Valley in Marib and the practice of diverse games, entertainment, and cultural competitions, reported the Saudi state-owned news agency SPA.

In the first phase of the program, at least 40 children from the provinces of Marib and Al-Jawf have been rehabilitated.

Child Psychologist Dr. Mahioub Al-Mekhlafi explained that the recreational trip "is one of the most important forms of psychological support for children qualifying for the second phase of rehabilitation.”

Mekhlafi said that the excursion provided the children with an atmosphere away from the hostility and difficulties they had experienced.

On that note, KSrelief has distributed 2,500 food baskets in Al-Hamli area in Mozea Directorate of Taiz governorate as part of the emergency relief project carried out by the center in liberated areas of the West Coast for the relief of citizens and displaced people.

Center representative Abdulaziz Bawazeer said that aid being offered to displaced people in Al-Hamli and adjacent areas comes within the context of the center’s relief program of liberated areas on the west coast—an area which has not been reached by anyone yet.

Bawazeer pointed out the center has laid out a plan of emergency humanitarian relief response to help west coast residents and will benefit a large number of citizens and displaced people.

A number of citizens have expressed happiness and gratitude over the arrival of much needed humanitarian assistance. Yemenis delivered their thanks to King Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and the Saudi people.

The Center is the first international organization to reach Al-Hamli after Houthi militias were driven out.

This coincided with the Adra American organization distributing dry food to displaced people in Taiz and Aden governorate.

“The Adra organization began distributing dry food to 775 displaced families from in areas close to clashes in Taiz governorate and Aden. The displaced person is given a voucher of 27,000 riyals and receives from the supermarket selected needs," said Dr. Yassin Abdel-Alim al-Qabati.



Cash Crunch Leaves Syrians Queueing for Hours to Collect Salaries

Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
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Cash Crunch Leaves Syrians Queueing for Hours to Collect Salaries

Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP

Seated on the pavement outside a bank in central Damascus, Abu Fares's face is worn with exhaustion as he waits to collect a small portion of his pension.
"I've been here for four hours and I haven't so much as touched my pension," said the 77-year-old, who did not wish to give his full name.

"The cash dispensers are under-stocked and the queues are long," he continued.

Since the overthrow of president Bashar al-Assad last December, Syria has been struggling to emerge from the wake of nearly 14 years of civil war, and its banking sector is no exception.

Decades of punishing sanctions imposed on the Assad dynasty -- which the new authorities are seeking to have lifted -- have left about 90 percent of Syrians under the poverty line, according to the United Nations.

The liquidity crisis has forced authorities to drastically limit cash withdrawals, leaving much of the population struggling to make ends meet.

Prior to his ousting, Assad's key ally Russia held a monopoly on printing banknotes. The new authorities have only announced once that they have received a shipment of banknotes from Moscow since Assad's overthrow.
In a country with about 1.25 million public sector employees, civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs to make withdrawals, capped at about 200,000 Syrian pounds, the equivalent on the black market of $20 per day.

In some cases, they have to take a day off just to wait for the cash.

"There are sick people, elderly... we can't continue like this," said Abu Fares.

'Meagre sums'
"There is a clear lack of cash, and for that reason we deactivate the ATMs at the end of the workday," an employee at a private bank told AFP, preferring not to give her name.

A haphazard queue of about 300 people stretches outside the Commercial Bank of Syria. Some are sitting on the ground.

Afraa Jumaa, a civil servant, said she spends most of the money she withdraws on the travel fare to get to and from the bank.

"The conditions are difficult and we need to withdraw our salaries as quickly as possible," said the 43-year-old.
"It's not acceptable that we have to spend days to withdraw meagre sums."

The local currency has plunged in value since the civil war erupted in 2011, prior to which the dollar was valued at 50 pounds.

Economist Georges Khouzam explained that foreign exchange vendors -- whose work was outlawed under Assad -- "deliberately reduced cash flows in Syrian pounds to provoke rapid fluctuations in the market and turn a profit".

Muntaha Abbas, a 37-year-old civil servant, had to return three times to withdraw her entire salary of 500,000 pounds.

"There are a lot of ATMs in Damascus, but very few of them work," she said.

After a five-hour wait, she was finally able to withdraw 200,000 pounds.

"Queues and more queues... our lives have become a series of queues," she lamented.