Yemeni Minister of Endowments and Guidance Ahmad Attia slammed Iran for training and brainwashing loyalists with radical ideology on its territory. Houthi militia leaderships are attending Iran-tailored intensive courses abroad and are then being sent back home to Yemen, he said.
“Houthi loyalists and followers are being schooled in terrorist-run programs in Lebanon,” Attia said in a phone interview with Asharq Al-Awsat.
Selected recruits undergoing the program often leave Yemen to Lebanon with no visas, and are later trafficked into Iran to wrap up their conscription for sectarian extremism.
“Most of those sent to Hezbollah do not get visas that allow them to leave Yemen and enter Lebanon… they are later sent to Iran via different ways to complete their indoctrination,” Attia said.
Hezbollah is a notorious Iran-controlled proxy based in Lebanon, and is designated as a terrorist group by several countries around the world.
“Disagreements between Yemenis and Houthis are cause by the latter refusing coexistence under a single government or political partnership,” Attia explained.
“This is an issue that is not recognized by the international community,” he warned.
According to Attia, the reason behind a failed integration and finding a peaceful solution to the war-torn country is because the Houthis are largely driven by ideology with no national political plan in sight.
“They have no political dimension, but follow Iranian ideology, so it is difficult for this group to engage with any party in Yemen,” he said.
Chances for a political settlement are slim given Houthi intransigence and stalling at peace negotiations.
Attia said those pushing for dialogue, like UN Special Envoy Marttin Griffiths, are surprisingly overlooking the Houthis’ negative history at peace talks.
“If this group (Houthis) was even offered to enter a fair partnership with the internationally-recognized government, they will not accept this-- they believe that they have a divine right to rule Yemen alone,” he said.
Attia drew attention to how the Houthis, since the early days of their coup, butchered the country’s instilled academic curricula. They introduced pro-Iranian programs and sectarian books.
Curricula now document the nation’s history as told by the coup-leading Badreddine al-Houthi family, and religious textbooks have been altered to fuel more sectarian strife in Yemen.
Houthis employ a Hezbollah-styled model of undermining national institutions and consolidating their militia rule within their territory.
The minister's statement rings a strong bell across all Yemeni territory with social groups accusing Houthis of coercive indoctrination of the public.
Mosques have also not been spared from the militias’ heavy shelling.
A local report said that during four years, mosques in Houthi-run Saada province and Sanaa have received the largest share of militia violations.
At least 282 mosques have been looted in Sanaa and 115 in Saada, while the number of mosques blown up by Houthis is a staggering 80. Another 157 mosques have been transformed from a place of worship to weapon warehouses and military barracks.
