Yemen’s children paying the price of the Houthis’ ambitions

Fatma Abdelghani

The children of Yemen pay with their lives for the ambitions of the Iran-backed Houthi militia in this restive Arab state.

Although the Houthis vowed previously that they would stop recruiting children, they continue to follow this policy on a wide scale. This is causing the death of hundreds of children and the injury of thousands of others.

Children surviving the war will be badly in need of long-term rehabilitation to help them get over the trauma of the experiences they witnessed in the past years.

Yemeni Information Minister Muammar al-Ariani called on the United Nations and the international community to take action to protect the children of Yemen.

He asked them to put pressure on the Houthis to stop what he described as the “massive cleansing” of the children of Yemen.

The minister of information accused the Houthis of recruiting the children in the areas they control. Al-Ariani even lashed out at the international community for staying silent while this crime was happening in his country.

He estimated the number of children recruited within the ranks of the Houthi militia since the Houthis staged their coup in Yemen in 2014 at tens of thousands.

He said the Houthis took these children from their homes and their schools, using multiple methods, including threats.

They pushed them into the war inferno, al-Ariani wrote on Twitter.

He added that the children had ended up either dead, injured or waiting to face any of these two fates.