(Paris) Houthis from Yemen are fighting in Ukraine alongside Russia via a company involved in arms trafficking, according to a Swiss investigative NGO, which confirms close contacts between the rebels and the Kremlin.
Posted at 6:57 a.m.
Washington has for months accused Moscow of wanting to supply weapons to the Yemeni Houthis, rebels allied with Iran who have been disrupting international trade for a year by attacking ships in the Red Sea.
Moscow and Tehran, united in particular by their enmity towards Washington, have de facto become considerably closer.
According to Lou Osborn, of the Swiss NGO Inpact (“Investigations with impact”), the contracts between these often penniless mercenaries and the Russian army go through a company based in the Sultanate of Oman linked to Abdul-Wali Abdo Hassan Al-Jabri , a Yemeni parliamentarian who sided with the Houthis.
“He is involved in the arms trade between Russia and the Houthis,” she assured AFP on Wednesday, corroborating a Financial Times investigation this weekend.
Contacted by AFP on Tuesday, the Houthis did not respond.
“We have no proof,” noted a Ukrainian diplomat on condition of anonymity, believing that the Russians had “no limits”.
Rebels have for months targeted commercial ships they believe are linked to Israel, the United States or the United Kingdom. They say they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in the context of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
In January, an official Houthi delegation visited Moscow to discuss the “need to intensify efforts to pressure” the United States and Israel to end the war in the Gaza Strip, according to a rebel spokesperson.
The latter, Mohammed Abdelsalam, had specified on X that his delegation had been received by the Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mikhail Bogdanov.
In September, the United States accused Moscow of discussing arms transfers with those who now control a vast part of Yemeni territory, at the end of a civil war which has lasted for more than 10 years.
According to Lou Osborn, “some fighters are recruited in Amman, Jordan while working in restaurants” and have no real military experience.
“We promise them $10,000 initially then $2,500 per month. But when they arrive, they are welcomed by the Russian army and are paid 260 dollars per month,” she says, referring to a few hundred people.
The fighters transit through the Sultanate of Oman before being sent to Russia. Inpact did not have additional information Tuesday on their possible training before being sent to the front and on the management of language translation.
