The government of Yemen blamed the Iran-backed Houthi rebels of deliberately setting fire to more than 40 homes in three villages in southern areas of the port city Hodeidah, which is controlled by the Houthis. Most of the homes belonged to Yemeni citizens displaced by the fighting in the conflict with the Houthis. Homes were burned down in the villages of Markouda, Al-Shujaira and Al-Nakhilah.
Yemeni Information Minister Moammar Al-Eryani made the charge in a statement that he also tweeted, accompanied by photos of some of the burning homes. “The destruction of civilians’ homes by the terrorist Houthi militia in the villages south of the city of Hodeidah is an extension of its crime of destroying thousands of homes of state leaders, sheikhs, politicians, media professionals and military personnel who reject its coup in the various governorates under its control, and forcibly displacing their families, in flagrant violation of international law,” Al-Eryani said.
He called on the international community to designate the Houthis as a terrorist organization.