Yemen’s coup plotters intend to create an additional entity to take care of the families of their dead and wounded

The Houthi putschists intend to establish a new entity in the name of caring for the families of their dead and wounded, in addition to the entity called the “General Authority for the Care of Martyrs’ Families,” which they established more than two years ago. Where the coup media announced the implementation of Ramadan projects worth seven billion riyals (the dollar is about 560 riyals) in the areas controlled by the putschists.

At a time when public servants in the areas controlled by the putschists are suffering from the interruption of their salaries for the seventh year in a row, parallel entities and Houthi institutions have started monthly sponsorship projects for the families of the dead, wounded and missing, as they paid sums of money to 51,000 families, according to the group’s media.

Houthi leaders called for what they described as “integration of efforts and official, societal and popular cooperation with the authority to advance projects to care for the families and children of martyrs and missing persons,” which was prepared by commercial sources presented for a campaign of new levies targeting businessmen, companies and shops during the month of Ramadan and the following two months.

According to those sources, the Houthi militia will work to collect the largest amount of financial resources under the pretext of providing Ramadan and Eid aid to the families of those killed, wounded and missing during the month of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.

The file of the dead and wounded fighters of the Houthi group is one of the most important means of collecting and collecting resources on the one hand, and enabling Houthi families, some of whose members have fallen in military confrontations, to obtain privileges on the other hand. However, on the one hand, it represents a haunting obsession, especially because of its attempt to satisfy the families and tribes that pushed their children to participate in the fighting.

Although it did not publish accurate and official statistics, the militias estimated the number of their dead in the war that they ignited more than eight years ago, at more than 90,000 dead, in announcing the activities of their institutions to provide aid and financial and food assistance to their families, in efforts to satisfy them after they lost their dependents. in fights.

In late February, a number of Houthi leaders submitted to the militia-controlled parliament a draft law on pensions and bonuses for the armed and security forces. According to Houthi media, the law was prepared to replace the law in force since before the coup.

Sources in the capital, Sana’a, interpreted this measure as the Houthi militia’s desire to obtain more control over financial resources and spend them for the benefit of their loyalists, by displacing the cadres of the armed and security forces, depriving them of their entitlements, and replacing them with members.

This procedure is similar to a previous Houthi procedure by marginalizing the “General Authority for the Care of the Martyrs and Fighters of the Yemeni Revolution,” which is one of the state institutions, and establishing the “General Authority for the Care of the Families of Martyrs” as a parallel entity, in the context of overthrowing the system of symbols and principles of the Yemeni state, and removing its cadres and stripping them of their services. society, and the establishment of an alternative system for militias.

The same sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Houthi militia is managing this file with great care and diligence. As it made it a justification for levies and obtaining huge financial resources, it imposed it on the sales of a number of commercial commodities, and obligated companies and wholesalers to pay it periodically, in addition to allocating part of the resources of a number of institutions it controls in favor of this file.

When the militias took control of Saada governorate, they established the “Martyr” Foundation, following the example of the “Hezbollah” institution in Lebanon.

The name of this institution was changed after the coup and the increase in the number of Houthi militia deaths to the “Martyrs Foundation for the Care and Rehabilitation of Martyrs’ Families”, and it is currently headed by the Houthi leader Taha Gran, who at the same time heads the entity called “The General Authority for the Care of Martyrs’ Families”.

The Houthi militia transferred the file of caring for the families of its dead to the state institutions it controls, such as the Insurance and Pensions Authority, and established other entities parallel to it. The responsibility for caring for the families of those he describes as “martyrs” is assumed by government agencies and the General Authority for the Care of the Families of “Martyrs”, which he also heads.

This became clear later through the assignment of the activities of state institutions controlled by the militias to serve the file of war dead, and the influence of the “Martyrs” Foundation on a number of institutions, such as the General Authority for Insurance and Pensions, and their cooperation in this regard, and the inclusion of the names of the dead among the beneficiaries of pension salaries, while The authority is concerned with caring for retired state employees.

Sources in the capital, Sana’a, explain that, as a result of the duplication of the duties of the Houthi leader, Gran between the “Martyrs” Foundation and the “General Authority for the Care of Martyrs’ Families,” and the latter was granted the status of an official institution by the militias, it has facilitated the transfer of files of thousands of militia dead from the institution to the Authority, so that they can be taken care of. Their families are from the resources of state institutions controlled by militias.

In recent years, the Martyrs Foundation has shifted to engaging in propaganda activities in favor of the militias, such as providing sectarian lessons for children in summer centers, managing periodic activities for the children and families of the dead, strengthening their loyalty, organizing burial and funeral ceremonies, supervising and decorating cemeteries, and carrying out advocacy activities for the militias inside cemeteries, including The call to fight and self-sacrifice.

The name of the Houthi “Martyrs” Foundation was mentioned in a report of the “Regen Yemen” initiative late last year as one of the parties importing free oil from Iran to circumvent the sanctions imposed on the Iranian regime, which the regime provides in support of its militias in the region.

In addition to the “Martyrs” Foundation, there are also other institutions that play close and complementary roles, given the enormity of the file, and the multiplication of the numbers of militia dead, wounded, and missing persons, whether from ideological individuals; Likewise, those who were recruited by enticement and enticement by obtaining salaries and privileges, or by extortion and forcing their tribes and families to recruit them, and among these institutions: the Institution for the Wounded, the Institution for Prisoners, “Building”, and “Orphan”.