The Houthi group in Yemen announced the allocation of about $10 million to spend on the families of those killed, wounded, and missing in the military escalation within one week, in a measure that raises widespread condemnation within the areas under its control, which have witnessed a severe living crisis and the interruption of public employee salaries for years.
Late last month, the General Authority for the Care of Families of the Group’s Dead launched a broad program to spend on the group’s followers and the families of its dead and wounded, at a total cost of about $9.34 million (5 billion and 443 million Yemeni riyals, as the group imposes a fixed price for the dollar equal to 530 riyals), as part of its annual activities, which it calls “Martyr Week.”
Spending includes food and medical projects and the provision of cash aid. According to the speech of Houthi leader Saleh Hamza, Vice President of the Commission, during the inauguration event, the announced projects aim to commemorate the anniversary of the group’s dead, as well as implementing regular care and economic empowerment programs, and expanding areas of support directed to the families of the dead, wounded, and missing.
In addition, the group aims to distribute food baskets worth $3.36 million (1.8 billion riyals), and symbolic gifts worth $2.61 million (1.4 billion riyals), in addition to economic empowerment projects and periodic care directed exclusively to the group’s members and their families.
In recent years, the Houthi group has doubled the use of financial and economic resources in serving its project, as leader Hamzah spoke about harnessing billions of riyals during the past year to implement cash, health and food projects directed exclusively to the families of the dead, wounded and missing.
The group is accused of employing state resources and revenues from the “Zakat” and “Endowments” bodies, two parallel entities it established over the past years, to enhance military mobilization and political loyalty, instead of directing them to alleviate general economic suffering.
Residents in Sanaa believe that the group continues to waste money on projects targeting the families of its dead and wounded, in parallel with holding events that promote its sectarian ideas, while ignoring the suffering of millions who face harsh living conditions, in light of a humanitarian crisis that worsens year after year.
A public employee in Sanaa, who asked to conceal his name, says that, while he is unable to provide the basic needs of his family, which includes five children, the group is allocating billions to the families of those killed, and programs that do not extend beyond its followers, which raises an extreme feeling of bitterness for him and the thousands who cannot meet the needs of their families.
He denounces the deprivation of millions of Yemenis of food, treatment, and education, in exchange for allocating these amounts to a limited number of families because of their loyalty.
Observers believe that the group seeks to win over poor families and exploit their living conditions to strengthen their loyalty and convince them to push more of their children to join the fighting on the front lines.
For his part, the head of a poor family expresses his regret at hearing about billions being spent on the group’s activities and projects, while poor families are faced with harsh choices. Between reducing their basic needs or going into debt, in the absence of stable sources of income and declining opportunities to obtain aid.
In the countryside of the kidnapped capital, Sana'a, an educational employee says that the continued interruption of salaries has prompted thousands of teachers to search for alternative jobs to provide the minimum needs of their families, at a time when mobilization campaigns and Houthi spending on followers continue, pointing to the inability of teachers to provide for the needs of their children after many years spent in the service of education.
This targeted spending comes at a time when the United Nations classifies the situation in Yemen as one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, as millions of people in areas under Houthi control suffer from food insecurity and the deterioration of basic services.
Local and international medical organizations working in Yemen recorded a noticeable increase in the daily rate of victims of the Houthi military escalation to 132 people, compared to about 93 victims during the past week. Lahj Governorate topped the list of affected governorates as a result of the continuing battles and the Houthis’ bombing of population centers with missiles and drones.
The latest report by the “Health Cluster” showed that the total number of victims registered with the Health Emergency Operations Center until the end of last October amounted to 9,730 people (7,959 injured and 1,771 deaths), an increase of 658 cases in just 5 days.
Lahj Governorate (southwest) witnessed 309 cases, constituting 47 percent of the total new victims, while Marib Governorate recorded the highest death rate with 36 deaths out of 172 victims (a rate of 21 percent), including 117 victims (including 20 deaths) recorded on October 30 alone in the districts of Al-Juba, Harib, and Al-Jawf Front.
On the field and humanitarian levels, the report issued by the cluster (which includes 31 health sectors) warned of the deterioration of services on the West Coast. The three partner-supported health facilities in Al Wazi’iyah District were closed, and it was not possible to collect October data in Dhubab District due to access restrictions.
This coincided with the number of displaced people exceeding 320,000 people, according to the International Organization for Migration, most of them concentrated in the past two months.
The Al-Mudaraba and Al-Ara district in Lahj has witnessed the displacement of 43,000 people since the beginning of last year, and Aden currently hosts more than 56,000 displaced people, while the prices of basic goods in Taiz have multiplied between 3 and 5 times.
The report monitored the emergence of 28 new or reopened sites for displaced persons housing 21,273 people without any specialized management or humanitarian supervision, in addition to 105 sites housing 74,456 people in the western districts of Taiz, control of which was transferred to the Houthis during the same month.
The humanitarian response faces a severe deficit; The World Health Organization funds only 9 mobile medical teams out of 30 to 40 targeted teams, and 4 fixed centers out of 25 to 35 centres, amid an urgent need to coordinate with the camps’ executive unit to identify suitable gathering points to provide services.
On the epidemiological side, a continuous decline in cholera infections was recorded in the five most affected governorates, declining from 639 cases in the fortieth week to 443 cases in the forty-third week, noting that the data for the forty-fourth week is incomplete by 23 percent.
Accordingly, WHO has identified 23 districts, with a population of 2.25 million people, as a priority to request a single dose of oral cholera vaccine from the International Coordination Group.
At the level of supplies and funding, restrictions disrupted the movement of aid, as air bridge flights to Sanaa, scheduled for October 29 and November 3, were cancelled, and the organization’s second experimental medical shipment (weighing 10 tons) is still awaiting coordination with the World Food Program to transport it to Taiz.
This comes in light of a stifling funding crisis, as only 12 percent of the humanitarian plan, which covers 90 days, has been funded. The World Health Organization received $3.7 million of the $31 million requested, leaving a shortfall of $27.3 million.
Even if additional support worth $7.3 million is approved, which is being discussed with European donors and the Central Emergency Fund, 65 percent of the plan will remain unfunded, threatening the continuity of the response beyond the end of the year.
The report concluded by pointing out 4 missing and unfunded links in the casualty care chain. These include: a patient referral system, provision of a second-level surgical site, expansion of intensive care units (including fuel for 77 health facilities), as well as post-discharge rehabilitation services.
He stated that the absence of rehabilitation services after discharge leads to patients overcrowding in surgical departments because they cannot be safely discharged, which reduces the capacity of hospitals and deprives new cases of receiving treatment.
