Houthis’ All-Female Militia Granted Military Ranking

Arab World

January 30th, 9:51am

Sanaa - Asharq Al-Awsat

Zeinabeyyat raising weapons in Sanaa (Getty Images)

Iran-backed Houthi militias continue to suppress women in areas falling under their control in Yemen using an all-female militia called Zeinabeyyat. The female military group has been part of implementing Iranian ethics in the war-torn country through coercion.  Well-informed sources in Sanaa, speaking under the condition of anonymity, revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the Houthis recently granted military ranks to its Zeinabeyyat security personnel. Houthi female recruits, according to sources, were granted military ranks such as lieutenant, major and lieutenant colonel. Apart from acquiring military ranking, members of the group received intensive training. Sources confirmed that Houthis, during the past year, managed through intimidation and sectarianism to recruit hundreds of Yemeni girls in the capital, Sanaa, and other cities. Local and other educational sources in Sanaa revealed that at the beginning of this week, the group organized about six training camps in the capital for female soldiers who had been enrolled at the start of 2020. This time, females who joined the militia for training included school girls. They underwent training on all types of weapons and driving vehicles, which means, according to the sources, that they may venture to use these newly acquired skills in future hostilities. Although the role of the Zeinabeyyat is to storm houses, search them, intimidate families and harass demonstrators against Houthi militias, they have gone beyond that and are now looting homes, especially gold and jewelry. They even steal children's toys. A so-called Women’s Committee in the Houthi group, which answers to orders from one of Abdul-Malik al-Houthi's sisters, oversees the radicalization and recruitment of Yemeni girls from schools, universities, poor families, vocational training centers, and even from prisons. Sources reported that the insurgents subjected at least 180 women working in the field of security to investigative courses related to gathering evidence, interrogation, and the use of weapons at the group's police college in Sanaa. The female militants were given graduation certificates.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2106721/houthis%E2%80%99-all-female-militia-granted-military-ranking