Houthis threaten to shut Sanaa schools to enforce military mobilization

The Houthis are threatening dozens of private schools in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, with fines and closure for refusing to pull students and teachers out of classrooms for rallies promoting the militia's military escalation in Taiz and other battlefronts and glorifying its leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi.

School sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Houthis had ordered private schools in Sanaa and its outskirts to hold at least three student marches and rallies a week, both on school grounds and in nearby streets, cutting into classroom hours and turning schools into platforms for political propaganda and military mobilization.

Since seizing control of Sanaa, the Houthis have revised school curricula and introduced sectarian and mobilization activities, drawing warnings from human rights groups and the United Nations over the ideological indoctrination and military recruitment of…