The coup group seized more than a thousand trailers carrying two million cylinders of cooking gas, and prevented them from going to Marib to transport the monthly amount allocated to the areas under their control.
Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper said, quoting unnamed sources, that the Houthi militia aims to create a crisis through which it can bargain families over sending children to sectarian camps in exchange for obtaining a gas cylinder, and selling the quantities imported by the group’s merchants from abroad, which they sell at double the price. set by the Yemeni government.
The militia is setting up summer centers, amid a widespread popular reluctance to enroll Yemeni children in sectarian camps organized by the Houthis.
According to what residents of Sana’a told the newspaper, despite the assignment of neighborhood officials, school principals, and mosque officials, and the participation of recruiting supervisors in the city’s neighborhoods, these camps witnessed the reluctance of a very large segment of children, after they turned into sites to attract them to join recruitment camps and combat fronts. And they mentioned that some of the centers were attended by children with the number of fingers on one hand, and most of them were children of elements belonging to the Houthi dynasty.
These practices coincided with the assertion of the Yemeni Gas Company (Safer) that the Houthis are holding gas trailers in their areas of control, and are preventing them from reaching the company’s headquarters in Marib to load the allocated quantities of cooking gas for the areas under their authority.
The company said in a statement distributed to the media that it was surprised that the trailers were stopped in Sanaa and Al-Jawf, and drivers were prevented from reaching its headquarters in Marib.
According to the company, the trailers detained in Sana’a and Al-Jawf had transported their cargo in April, but the Houthis prevented them from reaching Marib again to transport the quantity allocated for the current month.
She explained that last month’s share exceeded 2.4 million cylinders, and asked station and trailer owners to quickly move to the (production department) to take the allocated quantities, and threatened to take “necessary measures.”
The Houthi militia used to fabricate artificial crises in domestic gas by detaining trailers loaded by the “Safer” company in Al-Jawf and delaying their arrival to unload their cargo, while blaming the government and the gas-producing company in Marib.
The Houthi militia applies an unfair distribution system for gas, as it confiscates large quantities of trailer loads and allocates them to the black market, forcing residents to obtain the substance at exorbitant prices, or to pay their children to participate in recruitment camps and sectarian courses in return for obtaining a gas cylinder periodically.
In an effort to counter the great reluctance of sectarian camps, Houthi leaders have intensified their visits to some of these centers, suggesting that there are those who still accept them. The group has also called for online campaigns on social media to promote them, and has accused those who oppose these camps of working for Israel, as directed Its leader made frequent speeches dedicated to these camps, as well as dedicating local television and radio programs to talk about them and their importance, but they nevertheless failed to attract the numbers that the Houthis were talking about.
