Yemen’s Hujour Tribes Defend their Positions
Hujour tribes battled on Friday to subdue Houthi
militias that have besieged Kashar directorate in the northwestern Yemeni
province of Hajjah.
Several tribal leaders have pledged to fight the
Houthis tooth and nail.
On Thursday, the United Nations expressed for the
first time concern over the developments in Hujur, calling for calm and
self-restraint.
“Our colleagues in Yemen (working in the
humanitarian field) are alarmed by the military activities in Hujur and the
humanitarian consequences resulting from a continuation of violence on
civilians,” said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for the UN chief.
“We call on the parties to exercise restraint and to
refrain from any acts that lead to further escalations,” he told reporters in
his daily press briefing in New York.
Yemeni Information Minister Muammar Al-Iryani has
urged the UN and the international community to salvage Hujour tribes from the
crimes committed against them by the Houthis for the past 50 days.
He warned that the residents of Kashar directorate
would meet the same fate of Yazidis in Iraq if no action was taken to help
them.
According to tribal sources, the militias have
killed around 70 people and injured more than 200 others since the start of
confrontations in Hujour.
But the tribes remain steadfast against the attempts
of insurgents to control the area, the sources said.
