RIYADH: The Yemeni minister of endowments has criticized the ideology adopted by Houthi militias in Yemen, which permits the killing of Yemenis and the destruction of the country.
Minister Ahmad Attiyah told “Al-Menbar Al-Yamaniyah” magazine that Houthi ideology has used religious edicts that view the killing of Yemenis and the destruction of the country as permissible.
Attiyah said that the Houthi Dar Al-Fatwa, or the group’s religious body tasked with issuing edicts, is made of members who hail from the same group, which means that no one is allowed to rule or issue fatwas except those who belong to it.
“Today they allow the destruction of all Yemeni cities using such fatwas,” Attiyah said, which deem the spilling of Yemeni blood as permissible.
He said that Iran-backed Houthi militias and their leader Abdel Malek Al-Houthi had allowed armed fighting against the state and the invasion of Yemeni cities, besieging the presidency and targeting Yemenis with airstrikes.
Attiyah said that the people of Yemen had two options: Either to choose legitimacy to ensure freedom and dignity, or to choose the path leading to Yemen’s division and descent into all-out war.
He said that the war in Yemen was merely political as it was aimed at controlling Yemen, but the Houthi militias had been trying to give it a religious cover.
He said that sectarian ideology from Iran, a staunch supporter of the Houthis, had used religion as a tool of extortion and wanted to spread such ideas across many countries, including Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon.
