![A family sits in a shelter in an impoverished area on the outskirts of the Red Sea port city of al-Hodeida on November 12th, 2017. [Abdo Hyder/AFP]](/cnmi_am/images/2018/03/19/11889-Yemen-Hodeida-family-700_496.webp)
The Iran-backed Houthis (Ansarallah) have adopted a scorched earth policy in response to their defeats on the ground in Yemen, targeting civilians along with their military adversaries, media professionals told Al-Mashareq.
On February 7th, two days after Yemeni forces liberated the city of Hays in al-Hodeida province from the Houthis, the militia attacked it with rockets, killing four civilians and wounding 11.
Three missiles fired by the Houthis hit a market in the city centre at noon, in an attack a local source described as a deliberate targeting of residents.
For the past three years, the Houthis have been laying siege to the nearby city of Taez, shelling its neighbourhoods with various weapons, political researcher Waddah al-Jalil told Al-Mashareq.
They have been "targeting its inhabitants of all ages with sniper fire, and planting mines in every area they pass through", he said.
This is the militia's modus operandi, al-Jalil said, noting that just like they did it in Taez, they are now doing it in Hays too.
They "reserve their brutality for the areas that fall out of their control or the areas they are unable to control", he said.
This is an indication of their "disregard for the lives of civilians", he added.
"They consider anyone who is outside the areas under their control as a target for their weapons, and thus an enemy, or at least they target him as punishment for not supporting them or for working with [Yemeni] forces," he said.
Al-Jalil said Iran is in large part to blame for the current situation in Yemen, as it is empowering the Houthis by smuggling various types of weapons to them, which they have used in these attacks.
Hays residents displaced
"The Houthis are applying a scorched earth policy with the cities that fall out of their control," researcher Yassin al-Tamimi told Al-Mashareq.
This has happened with Taez and later with al-Mokha and al-Khokha, and is happening now with Hays, whose residents have been displaced to al-Khokha, he said.
According to al-Hodeida province media professional Wadih Atta, the Houthis claim that Yemeni forces are entrenched among civilians, "while the truth is otherwise".
The soldiers are in their barracks on the outskirts of the city and have no military presence in the neighbourhoods and alleys, he told Al-Mashareq.
"Therefore the Houthis’ shelling of civilians was deliberate," he said.
"Since February 5th, more than 1,400 [Hays] families have been displaced to al-Khokha and its environs, driven out by the constant fear and panic caused by the brutal bombing of civilians," he said, accusing the Houthis of creating a "humanitarian crisis".
He continued, “Since February 5th until now, more than 1,400 families have been displaced to al-Khawkhah District and its suburbs because of continuous panic and fear due to brutal bombardment of civilians,” accusing Houthis of causing “a humanitarian crisis.”
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