Yemen monitor / reporting unit / special:
” Our going out to demonstrate does not mean that we are supporters of the group or support the run of its authority , they have failed for nine years, ” said a demonstrator in Sanaa came out last Friday to the largest demonstration squares in the Houthi-run capital.
Mohammed Al-Saraji, 32 years old, spoke to” Yemen monitor ” along with more than a dozen of people and government officials in Sana’a, who say that they do not like the group’s authority, but the US-UK bombing on Yemen is provocative and provokes anger; because the Israeli crimes in Gaza Strip exceed human imagination.
Tens thousands of people get out in Sanaa weekly to demonstrate against the US-UK attacks on Yemen, and the Houthis say they are supporting them and their authority.
Puffing his cigarette, Al-Saraji says: it means nothing for us what they have been saying for 10 years, they have been lying on our behalf, it doesn’t matter anymore, we went out to demonstrate showing our rejection of the American provocation and to face the possible invasion, supporting the victory of our “brothers” in Gaza.
Al-Saraji points to one of his friends saying that eventhough one of my friend’s family members has been detained by the Houthis for years, he feels angry with the Americans and the British. The difference is that the Americans and the British bombed Yemen, and it would have been better to stop the Gaza war and end the Houthis than to wage war on us.
In Al-Sabeen Square, where the demonstrators are coming out, the Houthis are distributing their banners to the demonstrators and chanting their slogans in an attempt to win the loyalty of the people who are coming out. “They are provoking us and increasing hatred and anger against them, I will not carry the Houthi slogans until I die,”Al-Seraji said.
A businessman in Sana’a told Yemen monitor: “the Houthis refuse to raise prices, but at the same time they share everyone’s livelihood with high levies accompanied with an increase in the value of the dollar checks to more than 850 riyals, which is a great value compared to reality, where the value of the dollar does not exceed 520 riyals. Therefore, the current situation with rising shipping and insurance prices will make negotiations with the leaders of the group difficult.
“Non-payment of salaries caused the economic cycle to break, people do not have money to buy,”he points out.
In most parts of Sana’a, people talk about the new war, ridicule of the Americans and the British, but they are wary of the Houthi’s authority, who impose levies and threaten to raise prices with the absence of paying salaries for years. Residents of the capital intelligently talk about events, follow the news from TV and social medias.
The Houthis repeat their slogans, adopting popular slogans that glorify the family of “Badr al-Din al-Houthi”, the father of the Houthi’s leader, and calls for Death to the Americans and the West.
Independent Yemeni media deemed disloyal by the Houthis are banned from operating in Sanaa, and journalists can be arrested if they report news that does not comply with the armed group’s policy. Therefore, this report was carried out away from the eyes of the Houthis.
In the few weeks leading up to the brutal Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip on the seventh of October, the Houthis were mobilizing their supporters from all governorates to Sana’a,they equal only 10% of those who come out today, according to a Houthi official responsible of the organization.
Demonstrators in Al-Sabeen Square said that most of them had incurred costs to participate in the demonstration, while in the past the Houthis had covered all expenses, along with food rations from UN relief that the Houthis were distributing.
A Houthi official who was part of the organizing team of the demonstration in Al-Sabeen Square told Yemen monitor:”the size of the demonstrations has increased more than tenfold, this is a torrent that I have not seen during the war years. Admitting that many do not fulfill the authority of the group but “stand against the American and the Israeli”!
Al-Seraji and his comrades say that it is offensive to consider what is happening an increase in the popularity of the Houthis, adding: everything remains the same only that the Israeli crimes and American provocations are bad and can unite everyone, but I don’t think anyone wants the Houthis to stay in power, we have tried them for nine years, that’s enough.
Return the situation to a state
The Houthis have been fighting a war against the internationally recognized government forces backed by a loose Saudi-led coalition since 2014, which has led to a major split in society in the Houthi areas between pro-government and rejecting to its existence.
In the recent years, the Houthis have been facing increasing discontent with their tightening grip on power, refusal to pay salaries to government employees since 2016, increased levies, and corruption in power has increased to unprecedented levels, prompting the group to negotiate with Saudi Arabia to pay salaries and avoid public anger.
A member of the group’s Political Council told “Yemen monitor” that the situation before October 07”was bad with increasing divisions and people’s anger, but participating in supporting our brothers in Palestine contributed to reducing the tension of the community and angry tribesmen”.
But Al-Saraji, three of his friends and ten others,we spoke to, in Sanaa said that “the end of the Zionist aggression on Gaza would return the situation to it’s state if the Americans stop and leave the Red Sea”.
“We will not accept their rule.”
While Yemenis are skeptical about the impact of naval attacks on their daily lives, they partially support the attacks despite their distrust of the Houthis. “My support for Ansar Allah’s (Houthi) attacks against Israeli ships or rejection of American attacks does not mean that I will give up my salary, which I have not received for years,”said Mohammed Al-ta’aqri, 48 years old, a former government employee. He added: I do not accept the way they rule and the corruption that they have been doing for nine years.
The residents of Sana’a speak with strangers cautiously fearing spies of the Houthis, so despite their indignation they call the Houthis by the name they like to be called “Ansar Allah”.
Al-Saraji says: people may lose their interests, or be subjected to hostility by the group’s leaders if someone constantly speaks ill of them or has fighters with “aggression” – referring to the internationally recognized government and the coalition.
In recent years, anger against the Houthis has been rising and voices have been raised against the group on the streets of Sana’a and other cities. The Houthis arrested more than 1,000 demonstrators last September who came out to demonstrate on the anniversary of the Yemeni revolution “September 26” and accused the Houthis of being an extension of the hereditary Imamate priestly system.
Voices within the group had rised up demanding reforms within the system of government and power quickly and to fight the corrupt prompted the leader of the Houthis to announce what he called “radical changes” to calm the street and preserve the unity of the group.
A former Houthi leader who spoke to “Yemen monitor”:everything was postponed, but the American attacks and the aggression on Gaza came to save the current leaders from implementing the commitments.
Yemeni researcher Mohammed Ali Thamer goes even further, saying that the Houthis may be trying to”distract attention from their responsibilities towards Yemeni people”.
“Instead of working to achieve a long lasting peace in Yemen, ensuring the payment of government employees’ salaries and the formation of a national government, they seem to be prioritizing symbolic sympathy from the Arab and Muslim world,”Thamer said.
A U.S. gift
The former commander adds that he expects that his group only postponed popular anger until after the war. “People have tried US for 9 years and we failed, and without major reforms and a peace agreement, there will be a bigger internal war, if we had supported Gaza before our failed administration, they could have accepted us, but now after our experience for such a long time, they will not accept us,”he said.
Most of their counterparts in the region and political analysts agree that the US administration gave the Houthis what they needed to get away of everything.
As a result, others are angry at the Houthis saying that it as a big conspiracy. On board of an SUV to Taiz city, Mohammed Al-Shara’abi, who owns a grocery store in Sana’a, said that “what is happening is a US-UK game with the Houthis to save them from the indignation of the people and push the tribes more to accept the Houthis as they are fighting.
Getting to the city of Taiz was very difficult as the road from the last Houthi-controlled point in “Al-houban” area took more than 7 hours instead of 6 minutes due to the Houthi siege on the city . All along the way, passengers were talking about the US bombing, showing anger at the behavior of the Americans and the British, and predicting an invasion as happened in Iraq, but this does not mean that their anger at the Houthis has receded or the group has become more popular.
