Barran Press
The Houthi group, internationally designated as a terrorist organization, amassed its forces on Saturday at the entrances of the village of "Hammat Sarar" in the Qifah Walad Rabie' district of Al Bayda governorate (central Yemen), preparing for an assault. The move comes amidst a government warning of potential retribution against the villagers and expressions of dismay from human rights groups over the international community's silence.
Local sources told "Barran Press" that the Iranian-backed group has imposed a tight siege on the residents of "Hammat Sarar," preventing the entry of food supplies and prohibiting villagers from accessing their farms or selling qat (a stimulant plant).
Sources indicate that, as of 4:00 PM on Saturday, the Houthis have been firing heavy machine guns towards the village to intimidate the residents. Meanwhile, tribal mediators are attempting to de-escalate the situation. The Houthis are demanding the surrender of several villagers, a request met with defiance by the residents, who are armed and prepared for a confrontation.
As the Houthis prepare to potentially inflict harm on the residents of "Hammat Sarar," the Minister of Information, Culture, and Tourism in the internationally recognized Yemeni government warned against the group committing "another massacre against civilians, children, and women, extending their pattern of systematic killings and ingrained terrorism against Yemenis since the coup."
In an official statement published by the state-run Saba news agency, the Minister, Muammar al-Eryani, stated that field reports indicate the Houthis are deploying a force equipped with heavy weaponry, including tanks, artillery, and Iranian-made drones, to storm "Hammat Sarar." This follows the killing of two villagers by Houthi elements at a checkpoint days prior.
The Minister highlighted that since their coup, the Houthis have "attacked hundreds of villages and districts in various areas under their forceful control, escalating their crimes and violations against civilians, including killing, displacement, and the bombing of homes. They have perpetrated atrocities against them in an attempt to break the will of the Yemenis and subjugate them to their coup project and extremist ideas imported from Iran."
Al-Eryani called on the international community, the United Nations, its special envoy, and human rights organizations to "condemn the Houthis' heinous crimes explicitly, immediately begin the process of classifying the group as a global terrorist organization, dry up their financial, political, and media sources, and dedicate efforts to supporting the government in political, economic, and military aspects to impose its control, establish security, and ensure stability across all Yemeni territories."
On Friday, 113 Yemeni human rights organizations signed a statement condemning the Houthi group's "blatant attack and suffocating siege on the village of Hammat Sarar, near the city of Rada'a in Al Bayda governorate."
The statement from Yemeni civil society organizations explained that since last Wednesday, the Houthis have been surrounding "Hammat Sarar" with tanks and armored vehicles, amassing their forces around the village's entrances and exits. The situation has escalated to the point of drones flying over the village and the bombing of the mosque's minarets.
The human rights organizations accused the Houthi group of escalating its crimes and violations against civilians, including killing, displacement, and the bombing of homes, in hundreds of villages and districts across the Yemeni governorates under their control. They described this as an attempt to break the will of the Yemenis and subjugate them to their project and extremist ideas.
Yemeni human rights organizations described the Houthis' firing of bullets and shells at civilians, targeting women, children, and populated areas, as a "war crime, a blatant violation of national and international laws and customs, and a clear disregard for all international and regional initiatives aimed at establishing peace in Yemen."
The organizations expressed their regret over what they described as 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.
They called on the Security Council and the international community to assume their responsibility towards the systematic and ongoing attacks and terrorism against women and children in the Qifah and Rada'a areas, which highlight the Houthi group's terrorist nature and its vicious behavior in tormenting and killing Yemenis.