Houthi’s female battalion to storm weddings in Yemen
The Houthi militia began training more than 100 women in secret places in Sana’a on raids and incursions into neighbourhoods, homes, and halls.
Sources in Sana’a revealed that the Houthi militia has started training a new women’s battalion called Al-Batoul.
It is part of the so-called Zainabiyat Brigades, whose mission is to directly supervise women’s clothing during social events in homes and wedding halls.
The sources indicated that militia leaders entrusted the task of preparing, training, and leading the newly created battalion to women leaders, including Umm Aqil al-Shami and Umm Muhammad Jahaf. They are among the most prominent female Houthi leaders in what is known as the Zainabiyat Brigades.
Houthis recruited more than 100 women during previous courses (from Sana’a countryside and Hajjah governorate) to use weapons and various martial arts and carry out raids and incursions into lanes, homes, and halls.
The sources explained that the Houthi militia is seeking to suppress and blackmail Yemeni women through a new series of incursions and raids on homes and wedding halls in the cities they control, implementing a recent circular related to preventing artists from attending events and weddings.
It is noteworthy that Yemeni women – according to Yemeni activists – represent the biggest target of the coup group, especially with the series of practices and crimes it recently carried out against women’s gatherings and activities in Sanaa and several
Yemeni cities.
Over the past years, the Houthi militia formed the Zeinabiyat faction, arming and training it in combat and intelligence, and then assigned it several duties and tasks, such as raiding homes, arresting and abducting women and girls, and carrying out espionage and repression of women activists.
