Human Rights Network Documents 18,000 Houthi Abuses in Yemen’s Dhamar

A home destroyed by the Houthis in Yemen's Dhamar. (Social media)
A home destroyed by the Houthis in Yemen's Dhamar. (Social media)
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Human Rights Network Documents 18,000 Houthi Abuses in Yemen’s Dhamar

A home destroyed by the Houthis in Yemen's Dhamar. (Social media)
A home destroyed by the Houthis in Yemen's Dhamar. (Social media)

A Yemeni human rights report revealed on Tuesday that the Iran-backed Houthi militias have committed over 18,000 violations against civilians in the Dhamar governorate during seven years.

The Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms said that from December 1, 2014 to October 30, 2021, it documented 18,413 grave Houthi violations ranging from killings, physical assaults, kidnappings, raids, looting of public and private funds and other crimes.

Dhamar is located 100 kilometers south of the Houthi-held capital Sanaa.

The Network stated that during the past seven years, the Houthis committed 474 extrajudicial killings and injured 218 people in the governorate.

It documented 19 assassinations, 1,183 kidnappings, 72 enforced disappearances, 614 arbitrary arrests of travelers, 315 threats and exclusion from public office, nine cases of rape and forced prostitution, 274 cases of physical and psychological torture and 105 physical assaults of civilians.

It accused the militias of carrying out 48 bombings that affected houses, shops and places of worship, in addition to carrying out 1,459 raids and looting and burning of homes, 69 cases of confiscation and looting of private and public property, and 80 cases of appropriation of private lands and sale of state property.

In addition, the report documented 237 Houthi attacks on places of worship and educational and health facilities, and 24 cases of looting of party headquarters and charities.

“The Houthi militias forced more than 2,143 families to flee and they recruited 5,481 child soldiers in Dhamar, mainly orphans,” the Network report revealed, adding that the mentioned violations do not represent all the crimes that were committed by the Houthis in Dhamar.



US Military Strikes Iranian-Backed Militia Targets in Syria

The US has about 900 personnel in Syria to assist partnered forces in conducting missions against ISIS militants. (Reuters file)
The US has about 900 personnel in Syria to assist partnered forces in conducting missions against ISIS militants. (Reuters file)
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US Military Strikes Iranian-Backed Militia Targets in Syria

The US has about 900 personnel in Syria to assist partnered forces in conducting missions against ISIS militants. (Reuters file)
The US has about 900 personnel in Syria to assist partnered forces in conducting missions against ISIS militants. (Reuters file)

The US struck nine targets at two locations in Syria Monday to hit Iranian-aligned militias that had launched attacks on US personnel over the last 24 hours, US Central Command said.

No US personnel were injured in the attacks, but as of late Monday the Pentagon did not provide further details on what US sites in Syria had been attacked or what sites the US struck in return.

The US has about 900 personnel in Syria to assist partnered forces in conducting missions against ISIS militants. In February it launched a massive attack on Iranian-backed militia sites in Syria in response to a drone attack in Jordan that killed three US service members.

Since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas in Israel, and Israel's large-scale response in Gaza, Iran-backed fighters who are loosely allied with Hamas have carried out drone and rocket attacks on bases housing US troops in Iraq and Syria.