Geneva - SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties has stated that the Houthi group continues its systematic violations against the residents of Hama Sarar village (which is part of Qifah Al-Mahdi area in Wadi Rabi district of Al-Bayda Governorate) since last Wednesday, August 7. They have imposed an armed siege on the village from all directions, using all kinds of weapons, including tanks and drones, following the killing of a villager by members of a Houthi checkpoint at the village entrance. This incident escalated into armed clashes, adding to the group's repressive and bloody record against civilians in Al-Bayda and other provinces under their control.

Tawfiq Al-Humaidi, President of SAM Organization, stated: "There is no justification that the Houthi group can rely on for killing civilians from Hama Sarar at the checkpoint, nor for the subsequent killing of Houthi members in retaliation in an area that has witnessed ongoing tensions between its residents and the Houthi group. The latest incident was the explosion of nine homes in the city of Rada during Ramadan last month. The Houthi group must stop the violations against the people of Hama Sarar, lift the imposed siege, and allow citizens to move freely without restrictions."

Al-Bayda Governorate has experienced severe violations since the Houthis took control of the capital, Sana'a, and other provinces. According to the report "Life of Oppression" issued by the Monitoring Center for Rights and Development in Al-Bayda in 2023, 340 violations were recorded during the year. Among the violations perpetrated by the Houthi group are the establishment of security checkpoints at the entrances to villages, including Hama Sarar, and the conversion of the village mosque, named "Hama Sarar Mosque," into a military barracks. Furthermore, the governorate has witnessed ongoing tensions for various reasons, including marginalization and harassment of the villagers, leading to clashes, the latest of which was the explosion of nine homes in the city of Rada on March 19, 2024.

SAM Organization for Rights and Freedoms has contacted activists and eyewitnesses from the area via WhatsApp during the developments on August 10, 2024, obtaining insights from those knowledgeable about the events and present during their occurrence. The organization has also reviewed a video showing military reinforcements sent by the Houthi group to Hama Sarar, along with photos of civilian casualties and damage to the mosque's minaret following clashes with citizens whose relatives were killed at the checkpoint.

The media and rights activist Nasser Al-Saeed (a resident of Rada) informed Sam: "On August 7, at 9 AM, a citizen, Maqbul Nasser Al-Sarari, was passing by on his motorcycle in front of a Houthi checkpoint in the middle of the village (Hama Sarar, Al-Wadi Rabi district, Qifah). This checkpoint is one of several armed points established by the Houthi group over the past years at the area’s entrances and exits. The Houthi members stationed at the checkpoint opened fire on Al-Sarari under the pretext of speeding past the point, resulting in severe injuries. In response, his friend, the young man Saif Mardas Maqbul Al-Sarari (who was also on another motorcycle), attempted to assist him and bandage his wounds, but the Houthis opened fire on him too, killing him instantly."

Al-Saeed indicated that this incident ignited the anger of the locals, who rushed to the scene and clashed with the Houthi checkpoint members, causing them to flee and take refuge in the minaret of the village mosque (a large mosque with a very tall minaret that the militia had turned into a military barracks and headquarters for its members since 2015, following the group's invasion of the village). The clashes continued, resulting in injuries to two villagers, including the young man Mahfouz Al-Sarari. The fighting then expanded between the villagers and the Houthi members holed up in the mosque’s minaret, where three of them were killed and one was injured, and during the clashes, a fire broke out on the minaret's wooden staircase.

Sheikh Abdullah Al-Sarari, a member of the Al-Sarari tribe, reported to Sam that the Houthi group sent large armed reinforcements from the nearby city of Rada to the outskirts of Hama Sarar, led by the appointed Houthi commander of the so-called Central Security in Al-Bayda, Ali Al-Rasas Al-Bahji. A tribal mediation involving several sheikhs from Qifah and the Al-Arash and Al-Riyashi districts in Rada intervened between the two parties, leading to a cessation of hostilities and convincing the villagers to allow the removal of the bodies of the Houthi dead and wounded from the mosque's minaret late Wednesday afternoon.

Through the analysis of various videos and images circulated on social media platforms, it appears that the Houthi group has sent heavy military reinforcements to the Hama Sarar area, raising fears that the group might carry out retaliatory actions against the villagers in response to the killing of their members. Media activist Abdullah Saleh Al-Abdali confirmed to the Sam Organization that the Houthis sent new reinforcements from the direction of Ans in the Dhammar Governorate to tighten the siege around the village from the western side.

International law prohibits targeting civilians and the use of excessive force that results in loss of life and damages to property. International humanitarian law mandates the protection of civilian properties, such as homes, hospitals, and schools, from attacks and destruction. Considering the behavior of the Houthi group towards many areas previously, such as Qifah village, homes in Rada in Al-Bayda, Hajour in Hajjah Governorate, and Al-Haymeh in Sana'a, it reinforces fears of widespread violations, such as demolishing wells, blowing up houses, and extrajudicial killings, as the Houthi group seeks to implement retaliatory campaigns, fearing that other villages might escape their control, especially in light of unverified reports about arrests carried out by the Houthi group targeting civilian youth and children from the qat farms located outside the village.

The organization noted a tweet by the journalist close to the Houthi group, Osama Sari, published on August 10, in which he made serious accusations against the residents of Hama Sarar, labeling them as members of Al-Qaeda and comparing them to Israelis. The content of the tweet was: "Al-Qaeda elements in Qifah are just like Israelis; they want to kill you and burn you in the minaret of the mosque, then hang your bodies from the top windows of the minaret, film it, and hold an international media celebration for this criminal achievement. The next day, when the state moves from its responsibility towards its citizens to discipline him and seek retribution for the crime he committed, you will see them wailing and crying and turning into frightened rats." This inciting and dangerous rhetoric comes amid a tense atmosphere and a regional context charged with conflict, where the village's residents are alternately classified as "rats" and "Israelis," increasing tensions and threatening the safety of the local community.

SAM indicates that the crime in Hama Sarar is not an isolated incident and cannot be viewed apart from the Houthi group's repressive strategy, as the group has previously committed horrific violations and crimes against civilians in Al-Bayda in an attempt to subjugate them and force them to accept their project, which is based on their claimed political right to rule under what they call "divine selection." Thus, opposing this project is considered a rebellion and unforgivable enmity from the Houthis' perspective.

SAM Organization calls on the Houthi group to immediately lift its siege of Hama Sarar and cease the intimidation and repression policies it has practiced against civilians in its controlled areas for the past ten years. The organization urges international bodies and organizations to positively engage in condemning the practices of the Houthi group, which may rise to the level of war crimes, and calls on the international community to take serious and deterrent measures to compel the group to stop its repressive practices against Yemenis.