Residents of recently liberated districts of al-Hodeida have been tearing down pro-Houthi (Ansarallah) posters and painting over the group's graffiti and slogans, local officials tell Al-Mashareq.
Joint Yemeni forces backed by the Arab coalition on June 13th launched an offensive to retake al-Hodeida from the Iran-backed Houthis, who have held it since 2014.
A recent video shows residents removing Houthi slogans from the walls of an area on the outskirts of the port city of al-Hodeida, as part of a popular campaign along the Red Sea front, al-Arabiya reported June 7th.
"Residents have expressed their joy in their areas' liberation from the Houthis in various ways," said Hamad Fatini, a government employee from the province's al-Tahita directorate.
![Pro-government forces backed by the Arab coalition are seen during their battle against the Houthis near al-Hodeidah airport on June 19th. [Stringer/AFP]](/cnmi_am/images/2018/06/27/13228-Yemen-Hodeida-coalition-700_496.webp)
Pro-government forces backed by the Arab coalition are seen during their battle against the Houthis near al-Hodeidah airport on June 19th. [Stringer/AFP]
"The joy will be complete when salaries to government employees in these areas are resumed, and when sufficient aid and relief materials are brought in for all residents of these districts," he told Al-Mashareq.
Residents of these areas have suffered at the hands of the Houthis, and as result of the fighting to liberate them from militia's control, he said.
Documenting Houthi crimes
"It is natural that residents should remove all things that remind them of the Houthis after they have been driven out," political analyst Waddah al-Jalil told Al-Mashareq.
The campaigns aim "to remove all signs of the Houthis' presence", he said, and are spurred by the public's suffering under the Iran-backed militia's rule.
"These campaigns are not enough, but they are important," he said, noting that it will also be important to document the group's crimes in the area.
The campaigns to remove Houthi slogans from the streets are "a sign of joy in the liberation from the Houthi gang's rule", said Abdul-Wali al-Madhabi, executive director of the General People's Congress affiliated Yemen Today TV.
"Other signs can be seen in the increasing enlisting of people from Tihama [coastal plain] in the formations of national resistance and Republican Guard with great enthusiasm and firm determination to root out this gang," he told Al-Mashareq.
