Informed Yemeni sources reported that a number of ballistic missiles fell in various areas under the control of the Houthi group, after their launches failed or deviated from their paths, which, according to the sources, caused civilian casualties and damage to homes, property and facilities.
The sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that many of the missiles failed to launch and fell inside or near populated areas, causing material damage and a state of panic among the population. Local sources and circulating reports also spoke of civilian deaths and injuries in some of these incidents.
These facts highlight the risks to which residents of Houthi-controlled areas are exposed as a result of the launching of ballistic missiles from populated areas. Failed launches could turn into a direct threat to residents, facilities, and agricultural lands within the group’s areas of control.
The most recent of these incidents was the fall of a Houthi ballistic missile in the village of “Al-Ayana” in the Khamer District in Amran Governorate. According to circulating information, the missile fell caused damage and losses in the area, amid talk of civilian casualties.
Days before the Khamer incident, a Houthi missile fell in the middle of this month near farms in the village of Beit Shalwan in the Bani Sarim District in Amran Governorate, resulting, according to local sources, in the killing of a farmer and the injury of others, in addition to damage to lands and agricultural equipment belonging to citizens.
Residents in the area said that after the incident, Houthi security personnel rushed to cordon off the site of the missile fall, in an attempt, according to residents’ accounts, to prevent access to the site and limit the circulation of details of the incident.
Incidents of rockets falling within the group's areas of control continued, with two ballistic missiles failing to launch in two separate incidents that occurred at the beginning of this month in the Ibb and Hodeidah governorates, causing, according to sources, damage and destruction to civilian homes. In Ibb Governorate, a Houthi missile fell in the “Al Majmaah” area northwest of Ibb city after its launch failed, which led to the destruction of more than five homes and the injury of a number of residents, including women and children.
In another incident, a missile fell in the village of Mahwa Talha, east of the city of Zabid in Hodeidah Governorate, after its launch failed, causing destruction and damage to a number of civilian homes.
The two incidents were preceded by the fall of a third missile launched by the group at night on agricultural land near the villages of “Shabal” and “Al-Nubi” in the Jableh District, southwest of Ibb, after the failure of its launch from a mobile platform towards the city of Mokha on the western coast, which sparked a state of panic among the residents.
According to the Yemeni “Yemen Daily” platform, the Houthi group failed to launch seven ballistic missiles during the period from 7 to 27 August, and they ended up falling inside areas under its control.
Experts link these failures to several possible factors, most notably the loss of a portion of experienced foreign personnel, especially Iranian and Lebanese, who were carrying out specialized technical and training tasks in operating this type of weapon. According to their estimates, this led to the assignment of some of these tasks to local Houthi elements who lack the experience and technical competence necessary to operate missile systems efficiently.
The recurrence of these incidents coincides with the group’s continued use of residential villages, farms, and mountainous areas in a number of areas under its control as sites for launching ballistic missiles and drones, taking advantage of the geographical nature of these areas, according to local sources and observers.
Observers believe that launching missiles from populated areas not only doubles the risks to civilians in the targeted areas, but also puts the residents of the launching areas themselves in danger, especially when the launches fail or the missiles deviate from their paths.
On the eve of the 64th anniversary of the September 26 revolution, the hijacked Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and the areas under the control of the Houthi group are experiencing a state of security and intelligence tension, and strict restrictions and censorship measures are being taken to prevent popular celebrations, and their effects have spread to social media platforms, while the group arrested more than 30 people in Dhamar Governorate for updating their personal photos on the “WhatsApp” application with the slogan of the anniversary of the revolution, which sparked a massive wave of anger on the platforms. Social networking.
Local sources in Dhamar (100 kilometers south of Sanaa) told Asharq Al-Awsat that Houthi checkpoints in the governorate then began searching the phones of car drivers and passengers in search of slogans, pictures and phrases celebrating the anniversary of the revolution, causing a state of anxiety among the population, the majority of whom resorted to hiding these appearances from their phones or not moving around with them in the streets for fear of arrest.
Sanaa and a number of cities under the control of the Houthi group witnessed strict measures to restrict the population and prevent any demonstrations to celebrate the anniversary of the revolution that overthrew the rule of the ancestors of the group’s leader in 1962.
The preemptive security measures were not limited to field movements and the arrest of dozens of activists and residents due to the manifestations of the celebration of this anniversary, but also extended to social networking sites that are witnessing controversy between those who adhere to the identity of the revolution, and those loyal to the group that fears the occasion turning into a popular uprising.
In light of this, other sources in Sanaa revealed that the group obligated neighborhood officials known as “neighbourhood heads,” which are semi-official positions, to update residents’ data and inform police departments and security agencies about new residents, and force property owners to hand over complete data on all families who rent their homes.
According to what the sources reported to Asharq Al-Awsat; The group's requests include disclosing everything related to the new tenants, their activities and movements during recent weeks, and their phone numbers and accounts on social media sites.
According to the sources, the group is tightening its control over every individual who does not have an account in his name on social media sites, due to its suspicions that he has accounts under pseudonyms to escape censorship.
Mahmoud Abdel-Daem, a pseudonym for an academic researcher specializing in politics and media at Sanaa University, believes that the group has been able in recent years, due to its repressive practices and measures to restrict freedoms, to limit the celebrations commemorating the Yemeni revolution, but the same practices and measures have doubled the Yemenis’ faith in this revolution.
He explained to Asharq Al-Awsat that the group, according to internal discussions that he learned of through his colleagues belonging to the group, faced two options: either allowing the residents to celebrate to relieve their tensions due to deteriorating living conditions and poor services, or preventing them with all possible means of force and tightening the screws on them.
He points out that the first option was linked to the possibility of the population being content with celebrations as an outlet for pent-up collective anger, especially if the group contributed to these celebrations and sponsored them. However, the second option prevailed due to the security and repressive mentality of the group, which believes that allowing the expression of popular anger opens the door to the possibility of it turning into a massive uprising that is difficult to control.
Informed sources had revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the security campaigns to restrict celebrations commemorating the “September 26 Revolution” began with competition between wings within the group to implicate each other in crises that would cause a decline in its influence.
According to the sources, a number of the group’s leaders who were dissatisfied with the empowerment of Ali Hussein al-Houthi, the son of the group’s founder, to lead a new intelligence service called the “Police and Counter-Terrorism Intelligence Service,” recommended implementing the largest of these campaigns immediately after the establishment of the agency two years ago, which resulted in the arrest of thousands of residents within a record period of time.
Instead of this Houthi campaign causing discontent within the group, and leading to a reduction in the influence of Ali Hussein al-Houthi, due to fears of societal reactions and the impact on the group’s reputation, the opposite happened, and his practices were well received by his uncle Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the group, and the environment surrounding him.
Although the group's actions have significantly limited the spread of popular celebrations of the anniversary of the Yemeni revolution, social networking sites are still witnessing an expansion of celebratory manifestations, as personal pages have turned into murals in the colors of the country's flag, red, white and black, and hundreds of thousands have organized a campaign to change their personal photos and install frames dedicated to the anniversary as a kind of peaceful challenge.
The discussion went beyond the historical dimension to relate to the deteriorating living reality. The posts focused on sharp comparisons between the era before the Houthi coup and the current situation, and users focused on the changes that the country has witnessed since the group’s control, such as the interruption of public employee salaries, the cessation of school construction, the disruption and privatization of electricity service, the increased imposition of taxes, and the looting of public and private property.
On the other hand, accounts loyal to the group moved to demonize this virtual movement, accusing its participants of being “traitors and mercenaries” implementing external agendas to stir up chaos.
During the past years, the anniversary of the “September 26” revolution has turned into a political and national symbol of rejection of the Houthi rule, as Yemenis compensate with celebrations through the virtual world for what they were deprived of expressing in the streets and public squares of the cities.
