Houthis exacerbate Yemen’s dire humanitarian crisis

The Houthi militias' restriction on gas from Marib is the latest in a series of actions aimed at squeezing the Yemeni government funds.

Oil exports, the government’s main source of revenue, have been stopped since last year when the Houthis launched drone and missile strikes on oil installations in the government-controlled provinces of Shabwa and Hadramout.

Government officials and the government’s gas company said the Houthis have seized hundreds of gas tanker trucks and stopped other loaded vehicles from entering their areas in Sanaa and Jouf, even as densely populated areas under their control experience severe shortages of cooking gas.

The Iran-backed militia has blocked cheap gas imports from Marib in favor of more expensive gas imported into Yemen through Hodeidah port, the government said.

This week, the Houthis barred a dozen lorries carrying flour from government-controlled Aden from entering their areas via a checkpoint in Taiz’s Al-Raheda, ignoring warnings from traders and locals that the critically needed commodities would be ruined, potentially costing traders millions of riyals.

Yemen’s Information Minister Muammar Al-Eryani said that the Houthis replaced the local cooking gas with more expensive imports from Iran, selling it to people in their areas at double the price, a move adds to the financial burdens of the locals but swells militia coffers.

He repeated accusations directed at Iran of fueling instability in Yemen, despite the Tehran regime’s recent vow to support peace efforts to end the war.

The Yemen Oil and Gas Corp. in Marib said that the Houthis seized 1,108 tanker trucks carrying 28,333 tons of gas heading from Marib to Houthi territories in April alone.

Yemen’s government sells most of the cooking gas from Marib fields to people living in Houthi-controlled areas, generating billions of Yemeni riyals per month in revenue.

As the Houthis suppress opposition and protest in their areas, people have taken to social media to express anger at the increase in cooking prices, complaining that gas is distributed only by Houthi representatives in their regions.