Houthis Continue to Target Yemen’s Higher Education Sector

Supporters of the Houthi movement shout slogans as they attend a rally to mark the 4th anniversary of the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen's war, in Sanaa, Yemen March 26, 2019. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
Supporters of the Houthi movement shout slogans as they attend a rally to mark the 4th anniversary of the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen's war, in Sanaa, Yemen March 26, 2019. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
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Houthis Continue to Target Yemen’s Higher Education Sector

Supporters of the Houthi movement shout slogans as they attend a rally to mark the 4th anniversary of the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen's war, in Sanaa, Yemen March 26, 2019. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
Supporters of the Houthi movement shout slogans as they attend a rally to mark the 4th anniversary of the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen's war, in Sanaa, Yemen March 26, 2019. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

Houthi militias continue to disrupt the higher education sector across Yemen by introducing and enforcing sectarian academic material and dismissing opposing faculty members at universities.

Several public universities have been disturbed in Houthi-held provinces such as Sanaa, Ibb, Dhamar, Umran and Hajjah.

University students, speaking under the conditions of anonymity, revealed that Houthis have imposed a new curricula a few days ago.

The new syllabuses, according to the students, are sectarian and will impact universities negatively.

At the University of Sanaa, Houthis introduced the following courses: Military Media, Contemporary History of Yemen, The Arab-Israeli Conflict and National Education.

The new material, according to sources, has been largely imported from Iran and linked to the legacy of Hussein al-Houthi, a key Houthi military leader.

It is worth noting that campus life has also been disrupted by Houthi-placed university professors who insist that students chant some of the group’s most violent slogans in exchange for academic leniency.

The Houthis’ endgame across university campuses in Yemen is to transform them to recruitment hub for the group, local academics in Sanaa speaking under the conditions of anonymity noted.

“The militias, since their disastrous coup, have transformed universities in areas under their control from a prominent academic edifice into an arena for carrying out their activities, goals, and sectarian, religious, programs,” academics said.

Houthi practices have cost multiple universities, especially the University of Sanaa, their regional and national ranking and accreditation.

Houthis, beyond tailoring curricula, have also sought to control university boards and removing chairmen and replacing them with figures from the group’s loyalists.

Since storming Sanaa University, the group has cut about 300 academics, faculty, assistants and employees from their work and replaced them with Houthi loyalists, sources said.



Austin Tice's Mother in Damascus, Hopes to Find Son

Debra Tice, mother of journalist Austin Tice who disappeared while reporting in Syria in 2012, speaks after an interview with Reuters in Damascus, Syria January 18, 2025. REUTERS/Yamam Al Shaar 
Debra Tice, mother of journalist Austin Tice who disappeared while reporting in Syria in 2012, speaks after an interview with Reuters in Damascus, Syria January 18, 2025. REUTERS/Yamam Al Shaar 
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Austin Tice's Mother in Damascus, Hopes to Find Son

Debra Tice, mother of journalist Austin Tice who disappeared while reporting in Syria in 2012, speaks after an interview with Reuters in Damascus, Syria January 18, 2025. REUTERS/Yamam Al Shaar 
Debra Tice, mother of journalist Austin Tice who disappeared while reporting in Syria in 2012, speaks after an interview with Reuters in Damascus, Syria January 18, 2025. REUTERS/Yamam Al Shaar 

The mother of American journalist Austin Tice, who was taken captive during a reporting trip to Syria in August 2012, arrived in Damascus on Saturday to step up the search for her son and said she hopes she can take him home with her, according to Reuters.

Tice, who worked as a freelance reporter for the Washington Post and McClatchy, was one of the first US journalists to make it into Syria after the outbreak of the civil war.

His mother, Debra Tice, drove into the Syrian capital from Lebanon with Nizar Zakka, the head of Hostage Aid Worldwide, an organization which is searching for Austin and believes he is still in Syria.

“It'd be lovely to put my arms around Austin while I'm here. It'd be the best,” Debra Tice told Reuters in the Syrian capital, which she last visited in 2015 to meet with Syrian authorities about her son, before they stopped granting her visas.

The overthrow of Bashar al-Assad's regime in December by the Syrian opposition has allowed her to visit again from her home in Texas.

“I feel very strongly that Austin's here, and I think he knows I'm here... I'm here,” she said.

Debra Tice and Zakka are hoping to meet with Syria's new authorities, including the head of its new administration Ahmed al-Sharaa, to push for information about Austin.

They are also optimistic that US President-elect Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated on Monday, will take up the cause.

Her son, now 43, was taken captive in August 2012, while travelling through the Damascus suburb of Daraya.

Reuters was first to report in December that in 2013 Tice, a former US Marine, managed to slip out of his cell and was seen moving between houses in the streets of Damascus' upscale Mazzeh neighborhood.

He was recaptured soon after his escape, likely by forces who answered directly to Assad, current and former US officials said.

Debra Tice came to Syria in 2012 and 2015 to meet with Syrian authorities, who never confirmed that Tice was in their custody, both she and Zakka said.

She criticized outgoing US President Joe Biden's administration, saying they did not negotiate hard enough for her son's release, even in recent months.

“We certainly felt like President Biden was very well positioned to do everything possible to bring Austin home, right? I mean, this was the end of his career,” she said. “This would be a wonderful thing for him to do. So we had an expectation. He pardoned his own son, right? So, where's my son?”

Debra Tice said her “mind was just spinning” as she drove across the Lebanese border into Syria and teared up as she spoke about the tens of thousands whose loved ones were held in Assad's notorious prison system and whose fate remains unknown.

“I have a lot in common with a lot of Syrian mothers and families, and just thinking about how this is affecting them - do they have the same hope that I do, that they're going to open a door, that they're going to see their loved one?”