Houthi militias deliberately starving Yemenis

The Yemeni government on Sunday condemned Houthis for obstructing the delivery of food and goods shipments coming from the port of Aden and the liberated areas, saying the militias’ behavior is part of an economic war staged against the government and an attempt to force merchants to divert their imports to the port of Hodeidah.

Yemeni commercial sources said dozens of trucks loaded with food, iron, wood and other goods are still banned from passing towards Houthi-controlled areas and are stopped at militia checkpoints.

On Sunday, Yemen’s Ministry of Industry and Trade denounced with the strongest words the Houthi militias for deliberately starving the besieged population of the city of Taiz and other militias-controlled regions. It added that the Houthi measures have further exacerbated the Yemenis’ humanitarian misery.

Houthi militiamen have been holding 180 trucks loaded with wheat flour for nearly one month in the region of Arrahida, the southern entrance of Taiz governorate, where Houthis staged a checkpoint to impose illegal levies and blackmail traders and raise food prices.

Separately, Yemen’s Minister of Information, Cultural and Tourism Muamar al-Eryani warned of a new humanitarian tragedy in Marib, where Houthis’ military escalation has caused a fresh wave of displacement from the Harib district, south-east the province.

In a statement to Saba, al-Eryani said the Executive Unit for Managing Displacement Camps published new statistics, revealing that 2,198 civilians, mostly women, children and elderly people, were displaced from the Harib district due to the Houthi shelling.

He said militias ignored all calls for appeasement in the district and for not further complicating the humanitarian conditions, especially during the holy month of Ramadan.

Al-Eryani demanded the international community, the UN and US envoys to take serious steps to stop the Houthi military escalation, particularly that the militia group is shelling houses and villages in the district with rockets and mortars.