Yemen Monitor/Newsroom
Yemeni civil society organizations expressed deep concern on Saturday over the Houthi escalation in the central Yemeni governorate of Al Bayda.
In a joint statement, they condemned in the strongest terms the armed group’s actions since Wednesday, August 7, 2024, when they launched a brutal and unjust siege on the village of Hamat Srar in the city of Radaa, Al Bayda governorate. The village has been surrounded by tanks and armored vehicles, and Houthi forces have mobilized around the village’s entrances and exits. The situation escalated to the point of drones flying over the village and blowing up mosque minarets.
Tensions in the area, which falls under Al Bayda governorate, escalated after armed Houthi elements killed a citizen named Saif Mardas Maqbil Ahmed Al-Sarari, aged 28, in addition to killing another citizen from the village of Srar at a Houthi checkpoint at the entrance to the village. This prompted the families of the victims to demand retribution, but the Houthi militia responded with suppression and intimidation.
The Yemeni civil society organizations that signed the statement stated that the Houthi terrorist militia has attacked hundreds of villages and districts in various Yemeni governorates under its control since its coup. It has escalated its crimes and violations against civilians, including killing, displacement, and blowing up houses, and has committed atrocities against them in an attempt to break the will of the Yemeni people and subjugate them to its extremist project and ideas.
The statement considered the Houthi militia’s continued firing of bullets and shells at civilians, targeting women, children, and populated areas, a war crime and a flagrant violation of national and international laws and customs, and a clear disregard for all international and regional initiatives aimed at establishing peace in our country.
Yemeni civil society organizations expressed their regret at the silence of the international community and international organizations in the face of these violations, which threaten and undermine all efforts to achieve peace and stop the war.
Yemeni civil society organizations also called on the Security Council and the international community to assume their responsibilities towards what the Qifah and Radaa area is exposed to, namely systematic and continuous attacks and terrorism against women and children, which confirms the Houthi terrorist nature and its vicious behavior in torturing and killing Yemenis.
In their joint statement, Yemeni civil society organizations called on the international community to assume its responsibilities for these crimes and to deal decisively and seriously to deter the Houthi militia.
They also called on all local and international human rights bodies and organizations to condemn this crime and expose it to the local and international public opinion, and to pressure the Houthi militia to stop its attacks on civilians and hold the killers and those involved from the Houthi militia leaders accountable.
