Houthis using women as a weapon against Yemen’s tribal leaders

Rubeir al-Fares

The Iran-backed Houthi militia increased dependence on what is known as the Zainabiat Team, a group of female vigilantes that control women in the areas the militia controls.

However, the practices of the members of this team bespeak the lack of any ethics among the Houthis, in general.

According to tribal sources, the members of the team lured three chieftains into adultery recently with the aim of slandering them.

They told the news site “al-Mashhad al-Yamani” that the members of the group used unethical means to slander the tribal chieftains.

They then filmed the chieftains in their underwear to force them to be involved in immoral acts, the sources said.

They added that the Houthis used the same footage to force the chieftains to campaign against the legitimate Yemeni government and for the Houthi militia.

The militia is using these lewd methods to make up for the shortage it faces in recruits, the sources said.

Meanwhile, the Houthi militia organized a training course for around 50 tribal figures in some of Yemen’s and put pressure on them to join its members on the battlefields.

Media reports refer at the same time to increasing activities by Houthi official Sultan Zabin.

The same reports say Zabin acts as a link between Houthi leader Abdel Malak al-Houthi and a group of women made up of the wives and sisters of top Houthi commanders.

The group, the reports said, made the nucleus for the Zainabiat Team, especially in the Houthi stronghold of Sa’dah.