Yemen’s Houthi-speared court in Sanaa sentenced three citizens to death after convicting them of collaborating with pro-government forces and being affiliated with al-Qaeda. The sentence brings the number of people put to death by Houthis to 12 in the first week of Mehdi al-Mashat succeeding Saleh al-Sammad.
Mashat has been appointed as the coup’s head of the governing council after Sammad’s death.
Coup militias are ramping up death sentences, implementing Mashat’s new policy rooted in spreading fear to enforce order within coup ranks, Sanaa-based sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Mashat called a number of tribal leaders around Sanaa to a meeting yesterday in a secret place where he was hiding for fear of being targeted by the alliance supporting the legitimacy, other tribal sources reported.
He threatened to target tribal leaders if he felt “the slightest sense of an attempted inner coup against the Houthi insurgency or any foul play in favor of the legitimate government and the coalition supporting them”.
According to sources, Mashat ordered tribal leaders to mobilize more followers to demonstrate loyalty, and demanded that tribes raise money and prepare food convoys to be sent for militia fighters on the fronts.
Mashat promised no leniency, vowing to act unlike his predecessors and avoid soft polarization policy.
A Houthi news agency urged tribal leaders to “improve the alignment and cohesion and promote cooperation to overcome obstacles.”
On the other hand, Houthi leaders are being terminated one by one, as field sources confirmed the killing of the coup’s Second Brigade Border Guards Commander Sabri Abdel Karim Salimin along with a number of his companions.
Salimin was killed north of Saada by a raid carried out by the Saudi-led Arab Coalition backing government ground troops.
Houthis also announced the death of Military Zone Seven Commander Mahmoud al-Naqib, along with three of his associates in Al Bayda Governorate.
Reports added that another commander leading Houthi forces in Hays District, Commander Abu Abdu al-Qa'ud, was killed in clashes with Tariq Saleh forces west of Taiz.
