Day after day, the danger of Houthi summer boot camps for children grows, according to the internationally recognized Yemeni government, which also warned against the Iran-backed militia exploiting tens of thousands of Yemeni minors for plotting future suicide attacks.
Through summer camps, Houthis are skewing curricula administered to Yemeni kids, who are ultimately being brainwashed.
While a prominent Houthi leader confirmed that set up camps can accommodate between 500,000 and 600,000 young cadets in insurgency-run areas, the Yemeni information minister warned of the “disastrous risks” of running such indoctrination centers.
“Houthi militias have pursued this dangerous scheme to brainwash the minds of hundreds of thousands of children in its areas of control,” said Muammar Al-Eryani, adding that the group is seeking to birth a generation that listens to hostile slogans and promotes a culture of death and hatred.
Going against the grain, Houthi guerrillas and warmongers are ignoring international calls to end the war and establish peace.
“They are carrying out this dangerous escalation that threatens the very social fabric and civil peace in Yemen and the values of coexistence among Yemenis for decades to come,” explained Eryani.
The information minister further encouraged Yemenis to save their children from being used as cheap bargaining chips by militias that do not care for their future.
Yemenis living under Houthi control must “preserve their families instead of handing them over as a cheap commodity to terrorist militias that have no regard for their lives,” urged Eryani.
He accused Houthis of deploying child soldiers to contact lines in the strategic northeastern governorate of Marib, where the pro-Iran group is using them as cannon fodder in an “aimless” war that sows both havoc and chaos in the battle-weary country.
“The international community and UN and US envoys need to carry out their legal and moral obligations regarding such practices,” noted Eryani, adding that Houthis must be pressured into ending their exploitation of Yemeni children.
