Houthis looting Yemen’s artifacts, ancient manuscripts

Ahmed Adel

The Houthi militia intends to erase Yemen’s history by selling the country’s artifacts and ancient manuscripts. This is painful for a country considered by everybody as one with the world’s oldest civilizations.

The Secretary-General of Yemeni capital Sana’a in the country’s legitimate government, Abdel Ghani Jameel, accused the Houthis of smuggling over 14,000 rare and ancient manuscripts out of Yemen along with hundreds of ancient artifacts.

He called on Oct. 27 on Yemen’s cultural elite to act against the practices of the Houthis and defend Yemen’s history and heritage.

Jameel said what the Houthis do amounts to what he described as “systematic” destruction of the Yemeni identity.

Yemen’s legitimate government accuses the Houthis of destroying a large number of the country’s ancient sites, especially in areas under their control. It says the Houthis were involved in the smuggling of ancient antiquities out of Yemen.

In March 2016, two ancient copies of the Torah were smuggled out of Sana’a which is controlled by the Houthis. The copies are believed to be between 500 and 600 years old.

A million manuscripts

Yemen’s public libraries burst at the seams with manuscripts, some of which date back to the 13th century, according to some researchers.

The legitimate government held the Houthi militia responsible for the loss or destruction of the manuscripts. It called on international organizations, including UNESCO, to play a role in protecting Yemen’s heritage.

Yemen’s heritage undergoes, meanwhile, the largest looting operation in Yemen’s history. This boils down to Houthi smuggling of artifacts out of Yemen.

Yemen’s Antiquities Coalition published in 2019 a list, containing more than 1,631 artifacts that were smuggled out of Yemen and landed at museums and auction houses in other countries.