Houthis close Saada province, set conditions for entry

The Houthi militia have closed the main stronghold in the northern Yemeni province of Saada for weeks in the face of Yemeni citizens and prevented them from entering, in conjunction with the successive defeats they have suffered recently at the province border.

Hundreds of citizens have been stranded in the city of Saada, some of them looking for work, others working on their own or in shops, after the Houthis prevented their entry, except under certain conditions.

Yemeni citizens are being subjected to major violations at the security points and many are forced to return to Sanaa.

Workers, employees and other citizens suffer from racial discrimination by Houthi elements at their security point in the Al Ammar area, at the southern entrance to the city, where travelers are detained and denied access to Saada.

Witnesses confirmed that the militias prevented hundreds of citizens from the other governorates from entering Saada, forcing them to return to their provinces, while dozens of them are still stranded and were not allowed into the stronghold of militias that isolated Saada as if it became another country.

Those who have returned from the border of Saada said that the Houthi militias require those who wish to enter the city without their children to provide a trade permit from their employer or provide a guarantor from the people of Saada.

Others from the provinces of Taiz and Rima confirmed that they had been denied access and had been attacked by Houthi gunmen, subjecting them to acts of extortion and racial discrimination by the Houthis, after they confiscated their possessions forced them to return from where they came from.