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Houthis must pay for using civilians as shields

Group has military barracks in residential areas and stores ammunition in mosques, banks and hotels.

The use of civilians as human shields in war-torn countries is an abomination that no culture condones. All international rules governing conflict situations are pretty clear on this issue too. However, the practice persists in different forms and the latest instances of gross violation of rules regarding this have happened in Yemen. The Houthi militias and renegade troops loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh have used civilians as human shields with absolute impunity, putting at risk the lives of thousands of ordinary people, including women and children. This is in addition to indiscriminate bombardment of civilian areas and other violations of human rights in utter disregard for international law.
The tactics used by the militias are nothing new. They built military barracks in residential areas and stored ammunitions in mosques, banks, hotels, schools and hospitals even as the Yemeni National Resistance Forces continued to advance with the help of the Arab coalition forces. The best known evidence of this came from Taiz, where they laid siege to the city and used residential localities for launching offensives against the Resistance. Prior to this, in August - September 2014, they employed the same strategy in Sana'a where they besieged the city for three weeks.
The attack on factories owned by the Ikhwan Thabit Group in Hadida governorate brought out the barbarity of the militias into full media glare. The provocation began when the Houthis demanded that factory owners be allowed to store weapons inside the factories. They also demanded money. The owners refused to concede to these demands. This infuriated the Houthis to such an extent that they bombed the factories into smithereens, killing and wounding scores of innocent people. Close on the heels of this barbarity, there was news of the staff at Al Thawra hospital in Ibb Governorate going on strike demanding the exit of Houthi elements from their premises, fearing that they would be caught in the crossfire between the Houthis and the resistance forces. Similar reports came from the Al Jamhouri Hospital in Sana'a and the 45th Street mosque in which the Houthis and Saleh loyalists held emergency meetings.
The Houthis invaded the Dhamar Governorate in December 2014, in collaboration with pro-Saleh military forces and tribesmen. They turned Dhamar into a military base for expansionist expeditions into Al Baidha, Ibb, Taiz, and Adaline Governorates, and further on to Lahej and Aden Governorates. Credibly documented reports stated that Houthis and Saleh forces were deployed at Jabal Hirran and set-up anti-aircraft guns, using Hirran Park as an ammunition storage and jail for their opponents. In the exchange of fire that followed on May 21, 2015 between them and the resistance, 11 detainees who were used as human shields lost their lives.
Journalist Hussein Al-Esa , who survived his detention as a human shield there, had this to say about the situation: "My colleagues Abdullah Qabil and Yousuf Al Aizari were abducted along with me by Houthi militia and Saleh-affiliated forces from the check-point in front of Dhamar University. They took us to the Hirran Mountain. The next day, when we heard the sound of coalition airplanes, we realized we were being used as human shields. After a while, the places we were in was struck. I was lucky to have survived, thanks to a paramedic who rescued me from the wreckage of the building. Before that, my son and uncle had come looking for me, but the Houthis denied my existence and asked them to leave immediately."
The use of public and residential premises as military camps by the militias has been a serious source of consternation for the general public. This has also slowed down the advances of the Resistance Forces for they were careful not to incur any civilian casualties. In fact, a large number of such war crimes and gross violations of international law have been documented by citizen-activists in different parts of the country. This is in addition to the arbitrary detention and forced disappearance of thousands of Yemeni citizens in various governorates. The war crimes committed by the lawless militias must be prosecuted and duly punished if the perpetration of such gross atrocities is to be preempted in other conflict zones.
What the Houthis and renegade troops loyal to Saleh did in Yemen has been nothing less than barbaric crimes against humanity. And they should not go unpunished.
malzarooni@khaleejtimes.com