The Houthi militia is reportedly exploiting recent airstrikes on Sanaa Airport's runway to implement a new financial levy, ostensibly for supporting their missile and drone forces. This action highlights a continued strategy of leveraging military events to fund their operational activities at the expense of the civilian population.
Subscribers to mobile networks Yemen Mobile, YOU, and Sabafon in Sanaa have reported receiving repeated text messages urging contributions to support the missile and naval forces. These messages direct users to a designated number, from which 100 Yemeni Rials are deducted per call.
Several subscribers have confirmed that these deductions are being made arbitrarily, without explicit consent or prior authorization. They view this mechanism as a form of mandatory taxation imposed under the guise of "support" campaigns, in the absence of any legal or financial oversight concerning the collected funds or their allocation.
This campaign is part of a long-standing series of funding measures employed by the militia, which includes imposing arbitrary taxes, fees, and deductions on citizens, merchants, and businesses, alongside mandatory donation drives under various pretexts related to the war effort.
Analysts suggest that the timing of this campaign indicates the militia's intent to capitalize on the media attention following the targeting of Sanaa Airport, converting it into a rapid revenue stream to bolster their military capabilities, rather than directing resources towards addressing the escalating humanitarian crisis in their controlled territories.
These practices have drawn widespread criticism, particularly as hundreds of thousands of state employees have not received salaries for years, while residents face severe economic and living conditions due to declining purchasing power and high poverty rates, making new levies an additional burden on citizens.
Observers assert that the militia's reliance on direct funding campaigns through telecommunications companies reflects the expanding array of collection tools used to secure resources for the war effort. This occurs while public revenues and local resources continue to be diverted towards military activities, neglecting fundamental obligations to the population, notably salary payments and the improvement of public services.
