Trained by Years of Guerilla War, Yemen’s Houthis Want to Export Their Revolution to Palestine

Ayesh Atta arranges rings of long, light yellow Jasmine flowers into necklaces to give to the protesters and passers-by of his Mina Street flower shop in the coastal city of Hodeida. In the past, the 34-year-old Ayesh preserved the flowers in an icebox to sell in distant markets for Eid al-Fitr at a substantial profit. Now, despite desperately needing money, he’s decided to distribute the Jasmine necklaces for free to people who have taken to the streets in front of his shop in solidarity with the people of Palestine.

The Jasmine necklaces were one of the dozens of items adorning massive demonstrations in the streets of most major Yemeni cities in solidarity with the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Waving Palestinian and Yemeni flags, banners, and photos of resistance leaders, and hoisting Kalashnikovs in the air, demonstrators didn’t seem deterred by the armed drones and military aircraft of the Saudi-led Coalition that hovered over the massive crowds.

The recent Israeli aggression against Palestinians in Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank, and Gaza came at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and in the wake of Israel’s forced expulsion of dozens of Palestinians from their homes in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. The timing of the move has agitated the Yemeni public, who share a strong sense of solidarity and kinship with the Palestinians on religious grounds and through a shared sense of brotherhood borne of having to endure violence and oppression with little support from the international community.

 

United Yemenis take the streets in solidarity

In Yemen’s capital city of Sana’a, hundreds of thousands of residents from the suburbs and neighboring towns gathered at Bab al-Yemen, the city’s main square, carrying Palestinian flags and holding banners encouraging Hamas to continue its campaign of pressure against Israel. In Hodeida, hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets despite the ever-present threat of incoming artillery shells, snipers’ bullets, and Saudi warplanes hovering above.

The demonstrations, organized by the Ansar Allah (Houthis), also took place in Sana’a Province in northern Yemen, where hundreds of thousands rallied. Ibb, al-Jawf, Reimah, Dhamar, Amran, the northwest province of Hajjah, the central province of al–Mahweet, and Taiz overlooking the strait of Bab al-Mandab (which was closed in the 1973 war between Egypt and Israel by Yemeni forces supportive to Egyptian forces) also saw large mobilizations of protesters.

The protests drew crowds from across Yemen’s social and political divides. Military field commanders in the Yemeni missile force joined with the Left Party members alongside dozens of Palestinians, including representatives from Hamas.