Houthis Accused of Exploiting Beirut Blast to Raise Donations for Hezbollah

A general view shows the damage at the site of Tuesday's blast in Beirut's port area, Lebanon August 5, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A general view shows the damage at the site of Tuesday's blast in Beirut's port area, Lebanon August 5, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
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Houthis Accused of Exploiting Beirut Blast to Raise Donations for Hezbollah

A general view shows the damage at the site of Tuesday's blast in Beirut's port area, Lebanon August 5, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A general view shows the damage at the site of Tuesday's blast in Beirut's port area, Lebanon August 5, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

Yemeni activists accused Houthi militias in Sanaa of preparing to raise funds for the Lebanon-based Hezbollah against the background of the Beirut port explosion which struck the Lebanese capital and left around 100 people homeless.

On social media, Yemeni activists accused the Iran-backed Houthis of exploiting the Beirut blast to steal more funds from Yemenis and direct those funds into their war effort and financing the Lebanon-based Hezbollah. All this is taking place at a time Yemenis struggle to secure their daily meals.

Houthi leader Abdul-Malik Badreddin al-Houthi had ordered the group’s leaders to arrange for a donations campaign. Consequentially, Houthis sent out SMS texts asking people to donate to a specific bank account.

Yemeni activists slammed the behavior of the Houthi group, saying that it does not fathom the size of the disaster lying ahead for Yemenis because of the ongoing war, famine and disease. While the payroll of Yemeni public servants remains frozen, Houthis are rushing to aid Hezbollah under the presumption that it is to help the Lebanese people.

This is not the first time Houthis raise donations for the Lebanon-based Hezbollah. Last year, it raised around $132,000 through the Sam radio station after the international sanctions against Iran resumed.
Tehran’s funding of Hezbollah, since the sanctions, has been diminished significantly.

Yemeni activists say that the money gathered by the Houthi militias for Hezbollah confirms their involvement with Iran’s regional agenda.

The new Houthi campaign to collect donations for Iran angered residents of the capital, Sanaa, as many of them expressed to Asharq Al-Awsat their disdain for the group’s behavior, which is more keen on the interests of the Lebanese Hezbollah than for the benefit of Yemenis and alleviating their suffering.

“We are not surprised by the Houthi sectarian-inspired action to back its allies in the region,” a Yemeni activist in Sanaa said, adding that what is surprising is that those donation campaigns are being run while Yemenis are starving.



Bodies of Eight Red Crescent Medics Recovered in Gaza, One Still Missing

Members of the Palestine Red Crescent and other emergency services carry bodies of fellow rescuers killed a week earlier by Israeli forces, during a funeral procession at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on March 31, 2025. (AFP)
Members of the Palestine Red Crescent and other emergency services carry bodies of fellow rescuers killed a week earlier by Israeli forces, during a funeral procession at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on March 31, 2025. (AFP)
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Bodies of Eight Red Crescent Medics Recovered in Gaza, One Still Missing

Members of the Palestine Red Crescent and other emergency services carry bodies of fellow rescuers killed a week earlier by Israeli forces, during a funeral procession at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on March 31, 2025. (AFP)
Members of the Palestine Red Crescent and other emergency services carry bodies of fellow rescuers killed a week earlier by Israeli forces, during a funeral procession at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on March 31, 2025. (AFP)

The bodies of eight Palestine Red Crescent medics who came under fire in Gaza just over a week ago have been recovered, though a ninth worker is still unaccounted for, the Red Cross said.

In a statement late on Sunday, the International Committee of the Red Cross said it was "appalled" at the deaths.

"Their bodies were identified today and have been recovered for dignified burial. These staff and volunteers were risking their own lives to provide support to others," it said.

The Palestine Red Crescent said it also recovered the bodies of six civil defense members and one UN employee from the same area. It said Israeli forces had targeted the workers. Red Cross statements did not apportion blame for the attacks.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said one worker from the nine-strong Red Crescent group was still unaccounted for. The group went missing on March 23.

The Israeli military said on Monday that an inquiry had found that on March 23, troops opened fire on a group of vehicles that included ambulances and fire trucks when the vehicles approached a position without prior coordination and without headlights or emergency signals.

It said several fighters belonging to the Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups were killed.

"The Israeli army condemns the repeated use of civilian infrastructure by the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip, including the use of medical facilities and ambulances for terrorist purposes," it said in a statement.

It did not comment directly on the deaths of the Red Cross workers.

The incident was the single most deadly attack on Red Cross Red Crescent workers anywhere since 2017, the IFRC said.

"I am heartbroken. These dedicated ambulance workers were responding to wounded people. They were humanitarians," said IFRC Secretary General Jagan Chapagain.

"They wore emblems that should have protected them; their ambulances were clearly marked," he added.

According to the United Nations, at least 1,060 healthcare workers have been killed in the 18 months since Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

The global body is reducing its international staff in Gaza by a third due to staff safety concerns.