Houthi Militia Concludes Training in Ibb to Expand Informant Networks

The Houthi militia has concluded a training course in the Ibb governorate, aiming to enhance its security grip and broaden community surveillance networks. The initiative targeted local leaders, sheikhs, dignitaries, and social figures from the Al-Radmah and Yarim districts, with explicit calls for increased security cooperation and reporting of what the militia describes as "suspicious cells."

The closing ceremony was attended by the Houthi-appointed governor of Ibb, Abdulwahid Salah, along with Abdul Fattah Ghalab, who holds a position within the militia's general mobilization apparatus, as well as the acting security director and intelligence chief, Zaid Al-Mu'ayyad. The three-day course involved 98 participants.

According to statements made by militia leaders during the event, the training focused on elevating "security vigilance" and strengthening coordination between the community and security agencies. Activists, however, interpret this as an attempt to transform sheikhs and dignitaries into surveillance tools serving the Houthi security and intelligence services.

Governor Abdulwahid Salah urged participants to intensify mobilization activities, rallies, and demonstrations, and to rally behind the militia's leadership. Concurrently, Abdul Fattah Ghalab emphasized the importance of expanding public and cultural activities aligned with the Houthi ideological and political discourse.

Observers note that the militia increasingly relies on establishing informant networks within neighborhoods, villages, and districts. This involves recruiting local and social figures and assigning them roles in observation, reporting, and monitoring population movements, amid growing concerns over escalating crackdowns and repression against dissenters in Houthi-controlled areas.

These training sessions also reflect the militia's direction toward militarizing society and repurposing traditional social structures into security instruments to serve its agenda, under the guise of "mobilization," "mobilization," and "protecting the internal front."

The closing event featured the chanting of sectarian slogans in support of Iran and the so-called "axis of resistance," alongside calls to continue popular and media mobilization against the United States and Israel. This rhetoric is consistently employed by the militia to justify its domestic security and mobilization policies.