The legitimate Yemeni government accused the Iran-backed Houthi militias of burning the archive of the Awqaf Ministry in Sanaa in their attempt to cover up their looting of its funds.
A major fire had erupted at the archive on Wednesday. It was likely caused by the Houthis to destroy documents on the Awqaf’s properties and allow the militias to seize these properties.
Witnesses told Asharq Al-Awsat that the ministry building stored thousands of documents.
Firefighters doused the fire and managed to salvage what they could, they added.
Security sources in Sanaa told Asharq Al-Awsat that the arson was linked to the dispute between militia leaders over the Awqaf’s funds and properties.
So-called Houthi political council chief Mehdi Mshat had intervened over a week ago in order to contain the dispute. He also plotted the looting of the Awqaf Ministry.
The legitimate government’s Awqaf Ministry condemned the Houthis’ arson, describing it as a systematic criminal act committed by the militias.
In an official statement obtained by Asharq Al-Awsat, it slammed the burning of important documents and files, saying this was another crime that can be added to the militias’ long list of violations.
It accused them of seeking to cover up their rapid decline on all fronts, especially in Saada, where the national army was surrounding the militias and ready to raise the national flag on top of the Mira Mountains.
The burning of the Awqaf documents and archive is part of the Houthis’ attempts to seize the ministry’s properties in various regions in Yemen, it charged.
It warned the militias against violating what remains of the archive, holding it responsible for its crimes.
It also called on the United Nations and concerned international powers to condemn the arson and pressure the militias to refrain from violating national property.
The Houthis had since their capture of Sanaa in 2014 sought to destroy state archives in an attempt to distort Yemen’s identity and establish a new sectarian phase in its history.
