Yemen between war and security chaos

The family of an 18-year-old girl, called Hamas al-Qadri, resorted to offering a financial ransom of one million Yemeni riyals ($1,700) to an armed gang that has been kidnapping the girl since Monday, in the Al-Sayani district, south of Ibb Governorate.

The Houthi authorities in the district refused to respond to the requests of the girl’s family, accusing the Iranian-backed group of complicity with the gang.

A security source said that the incident of Hamas al-Qadri coincided with the kidnapping of another child named Bayan Shaalan in the Jiblah district, Ibb governorate, which is under the control of the Houthis.

However, the child’s parents have managed to thwart the gang’s attempt, to relocate the child to another place and ask for a ransom for his release.

People of Hubaysh district, northwest of Ibb governorate, found late Monday evening the body of a woman who had been brutally killed, according to the same security source. It pointed out that the perpetrators mutilated the body, put it inside a plastic bag and threw it in a nearby valley.

The three consecutive crimes occurred in one day and in one governorate by an unknown person or gang, the source added.

Dozens of kidnappings of girls and children are on the rise in Houthi-controlled areas, in addition to similar incidents in the governorates of Taiz and Marib, being ruled by the Houthi group and armed militias affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.

The residents of these districts expect an increase of security chaos, due to preoccupation of the influential authorities there with boosting their power at the expense of public security.

Last June, Abdul Rahman Ghaleb left Sanaa for Aden governorate, in the south of the country, after he received threats of arrest due to his refusal to allow his 13-year-old son Younes to join a training camp, to which the Houthi group recruited hundreds of school students.

Younes was one of them had it not been for his father’s decision to leave Sanaa and move to Aden.

Abdul Rahman said that he chose to move to Aden, given the stable security situation in this city, pointing out that his relatives also advised him to travel to Al Makha District.

Makha and Aden have the same level of security and freedom, and many people have moved to live in Al Makha district.

Over the past years, tens of thousands of families have flocked to Aden and Makha districts, coming from Taiz, Marib and the areas under the control of the Houthis, as the two port cities enjoy stable security, economic, and political state.

This disparate situation deepens in light of the continuation of the state of war in the areas and provinces in northern Yemen controlled by the Shi’ite Houthi movement.

Meanwhile, the areas controlled by the Presidential Leadership Council in the south and west of Yemen, are witnessing remarkable stability and security.

Hence, millions of Yemenis, who are unable to leave the country to Arab capitals such as Cairo, prefer to live there in a bid to escape the hell of war.

The international community should exert more efforts to reach peaceful solutions in Yemen through bringing together the parties of the conflict at the negotiating table; otherwise, the situation will remain as it is for an unknown period.

Yemen has become the site of grievous civilian suffering amid an intractable civil war.