Houthis Seek to Confiscate UNICEF Allowances for Teachers

A woman wearing a mask in Sanaa. Reuters file photo
A woman wearing a mask in Sanaa. Reuters file photo
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Houthis Seek to Confiscate UNICEF Allowances for Teachers

A woman wearing a mask in Sanaa. Reuters file photo
A woman wearing a mask in Sanaa. Reuters file photo

Iran-backed Houthi militias intend to seize cash incentives offered by UNICEF to 130,000 teachers in the areas under coup control, Yemeni educational sources in Sanaa said.

From late 2018, UNICEF, with Saudi and UAE funding, had been handing out allowances for teachers in Houthi-controlled areas.

The international organization earmarked a $50 monthly allowance for teachers in insurgency-controlled areas. Houthis had frozen the salaries of public sector employees, including teachers, in militia-run areas.

Under orders from Yahia Badreddin al-Houthi, who is the brother of Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, militia leaders started meeting with UNICEF officials to pressure the international body to replace teachers with Houthi members.

Sources accused the insurgents of setting out to destroy whatever is left of the education sector by confiscating cash incentives intended to help teachers who have struggled for four years under Houthi rule without salaries.

A school principal in Sanaa, who requested anonymity, told Asharq Al-Awsat that militia leaders are arguing that education had been brought to a halt due to coronavirus precautionary measures which makes teachers undeserving of the money.

The principal denounced the Houthi move, saying that it denies teachers their rights.

“The Houthi group can easily pay the salaries of educators and employees from the huge revenues it earns from taxes, royalties, customs, and other sources, but instead it now plans to rob teachers of the crumbs provided by UNICEF,” they said.

The Houthis have transformed schools into arenas for recruiting and mobilizing minors.

According to official government reports and other reports of local and international human rights organizations, there are about 4.5 million Yemeni children who have been denied education since the militia’s nationwide coup.



Lebanon Detains Several People on Suspicion of Firing Rockets at Israel

A view shows a damaged site in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of south Lebanon, in Lebanon, February 19, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows a damaged site in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of south Lebanon, in Lebanon, February 19, 2025. (Reuters)
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Lebanon Detains Several People on Suspicion of Firing Rockets at Israel

A view shows a damaged site in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of south Lebanon, in Lebanon, February 19, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows a damaged site in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of south Lebanon, in Lebanon, February 19, 2025. (Reuters)

The Lebanese military said it has detained a group of people linked to firing rockets into Israel last month.

In a statement issued late Wednesday night, the army said it had detained several people, including a number of Palestinians, who were involved in firing rockets in two separate attacks toward Israel in late March that triggered intense Israeli airstrikes on parts of Lebanon. Lebanon’s Hezbollah group denied at the time it was behind the firing of rockets, The Associated Press reported.

The army said that a vehicle and other equipment used in the rockets attacks were confiscated and the detainees were referred to judicial authorities. The army said it had carried out raids in different parts of Lebanon to detain the suspects without giving further details.

On Thursday, the state-run National News Agency reported that Gen. Rodolph Haikal briefed a weekly cabinet meeting about the security situation along the border and the ongoing implementation of the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war.

Three security and one judicial official told The Associated Press that four Palestinians linked to the Hamas group are being questioned.

A Hamas official told the AP that several members of the group were detained in Lebanon recently and released shortly afterward adding that they were not involved in firing rockets into Israel. He said in one case authorities detained a Hamas member who was carrying an unlicensed pistol.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Hezbollah started launching attacks on Israel a day after the Israel-Hamas war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023 with the Palestinian militants’ attack on southern Israel. The war that left more than 4,000 people dead in Lebanon and caused wide destruction ended in late November with a US-brokered ceasefire.

Since the ceasefire went into effect in late November, Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes that left dozens of civilians and Hezbollah members dead.

On Tuesday, the office of the UN high commissioner for human rights said that at least 71 civilians, including 14 women and nine children, have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since a ceasefire took effect.