Al-Islah betrays Yemenis’ cause

Sara Rashad

The Iran-backed Houthi militia is coming short of controlling Yemen, despite the presence of an arms arsenal in its possession.

In the last few days, the Houthis sent military reinforcements, including brigades made up of women fighters, to different areas to disperse protests by Yemeni activists who hold the Shiite militia responsible for the problems happening in Yemen at present.

On Sunday, there were reports that the Houthis had stolen humanitarian aid sent to Yemen by international aid organizations. They took the aid, the reports said, and sold it to ordinary people.

There were other reports about al-Islah, the political arm of Yemen’s Muslim Brotherhood group, hammering out an alliance with the Houthis.

Yemeni activists accused the party of betraying the Yemenis. They said party members had stolen foodstuff sent to Yemen by the Saudi-led alliance and gave it to the Houthis.

The same activists accused the Brotherhood of working to serve Qatari and Turkish interests in Yemen.

Al-Islah had stolen 671 food bags sent to the southwestern Yemeni city of Taiz by King Salman Humanitarian Aid Center, the activists said. They added that the Muslim Brotherhood party had also stolen a staggering 1 billion Saud riyals that were allocated for medical services.

Al-Islah also stole 3 billion riyals that were allocated for the liberation of Taiz, the activists said. They added that the party had stolen additional 100 million riyals and given them to the Houthis.

These policies had driven around 10 million Yemeni citizens to the brink of famine, the activists said.

This is why more and more Yemenis are out on the streets to protest against the Houthis and the Brotherhood.

Yemeni analyst Mahmud al-Taher said these protests aim to correct the mistakes of the Arab Spring protests that erupted in Yemen in 2011.

“The Arab Spring brought nothing but unrest to Yemen,” al-Taher said.

Confusion

The Houthis are totally confused as public anger against them increases. They enlisted help from women to disperse protests by disgruntled Yemeni women. On Monday, female Houthi militias broke into the home of one of the female protesters and arrested her.

A day earlier, Houthi women and men raided the campus of Sana’a University and arrested 50 female students protesting against Houthi policies.

According to the official Yemeni news agency Saba, Houthi women dispersing the protest used electric prods.