Looting reported in Yemen’s Mocha after city was seized by Houthis — Asharq Al-Awsat
In the Yemeni coastal city of Mocha, after it was seized by the Houthis a week ago, reports have emerged of looting of homes, government institutions and humanitarian organizations, while thousands of residents have left the city fearing reprisals. This was reported by Asharq Al-Awsat, citing local and humanitarian sources.
Raids on homes and institutions
According to local sources, Houthi fighters carried out raids on dozens of houses and apartments in the Al-Khali district, from where they removed furniture, household appliances and other belongings by truck. Sources also claim that government offices, the headquarters of Mocha’s local authorities and a branch of the Central Bank of Yemen were looted. Documents, files and computers were taken from there.
Sources also described events at the city’s civilian airport. After the Houthis arrived there, the site was taken over by armed masked men whom the publication’s interlocutors believe to be representatives of the group’s intelligence service. Later, a group of people in civilian clothes appeared at the site and, according to the sources’ description, dismantled equipment and packed it into boxes and bags. Subsequently, equipment, documents and registration records reportedly disappeared from the airport.
Suspension of aid and service problems
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs condemned the seizure of a humanitarian complex in Mocha where UN agencies and international organizations had been working. According to the office, after storming the complex, the Houthis confiscated eight vehicles belonging to the UN humanitarian center.
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Human rights sources estimate that raids against humanitarian and charitable organizations affected about 18,000 families that had received food aid from the UN and local entities. Due to hostilities, property seizures and the suspension of organizations’ work, support for 30 medical facilities in six coastal districts of Taiz and Hodeidah provinces also stopped. This affected the supply of medicines and medical materials, as well as the payment of employees’ salaries.
Rising prices and displacement of journalists
More than 1,500 humanitarian workers were left without work or income after several organizations suspended their activities, the publication’s interlocutors said. Residents of Mocha also complain about an almost complete cessation of electricity supply. The price of a household gas cylinder, according to the cited data, rose from about 5,400 to 18,000 Yemeni rials.
The Marsadak Media Freedom Observatory reported that in September, 117 journalists, media workers and employees of media organizations were forced to leave their homes. Most of them, according to the observatory, left out of fear of arrest or abduction; there were also reports of raids on journalists’ homes and the looting of their property.
