AL-MUKALLA: Hundreds of Houthi troops were sent to the Yemeni town of Radaa on Wednesday amid rising anger at the death toll from a militia attack on a residential area the previous day.
The Houthis on Tuesday blew up a home in Radaa, in the central province of Al-Bayda, killing nine members of a single family, and destroying at least four mud buildings nearby.
Four other people are said to have died when a Houthi rocket struck their home during a clash with residents trying to stop the militia from destroying their properties.
Nasser Ali Al-Sanae, a Yemeni activist from Radaa who fled Houthi repression and now lives in Marib city, told Arab News that friends reported seeing at least 30 vehicles from Houthi security and military units enter the town, hours after the militia suppressed a protest condemning the attacks.
“They have positioned soldiers in every part of town and shot live bullets at people who went out to protest the killing,” Al-Sanae said.
On Monday, tensions erupted in Radaa when a local tribesman shot and killed two Houthis suspected of murdering his brother.
The Houthis responded by surrounding the man’s home and destroying it with explosives.
In Sanaa, the Houthi Ministry of Interior said that the soldiers made a mistake by using “excessive force in an illegal way” while chasing “wanted criminals” who killed two of their troops.
In an attempt to defuse the rising outrage against the militia, the Houthis sent officials to Radaa to meet with relatives of the dead, vowing to compensate them and punish the security men who destroyed the house.
Houthi leader Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi said on Wednesday that the militia had compensated victims of the bombing and also questioned security personnel.
Since seizing control in Yemen by force in late 2014, the Houthis have demolished hundreds of opponents’ residences in a bid to quell any opposition, Yemeni activists and authorities say.
“Houthis have blown up hundreds of homes in the past. It’s a common practice and a tactic they use to humiliate their foes, silence dissent, and scare the community at large into submission,” Hisham Al-Omeisy, a Yemeni conflict analyst, said on X.
At the same time, Yemen’s government, the EU, and local and international rights organizations have condemned the Houthi destruction of homes in Radaa and the resulting fatalities, and urged the militia to bring the offenders to justice.
Yemen’s Prime Minister, Ahmed Awadh bin Mubarak, described the Houthi demolition of homes in Al-Bayda and their assaults on ships in the Red Sea as “fascist crimes,” and pledged to take action.
“We have no choice but to cut off and defeat this terrorist arm,“ bin Mubarak said on X.
The EU delegation and the French Embassy in Yemen also denounced the Houthi attacks on homes and the civilian deaths in Al-Bayda.
“We are deeply shocked by reports about the blowing up of a house in Radaa, Al-Bayda province, which killed & injured many innocent people, including women & children. This horrific crime is a serious human rights violation. It should be investigated & those responsible held to account,” the EU mission said on X.
