Houthi Summer Camps For Children Teach Jihad For The Sake Of Allah, Hatred Of The West

Since the 1990's[1] Ansar Allah, the Shi'ite Houthi movement in Yemen, has held yearly summer camps for school-age boys and girls.[2] The Houthi leadership ascribes great significance to these summer camps, whose motto is "Knowledge and Jihad," as a means of instilling its religious and political values in the younger generation, with the goal of ultimately recruiting them to fight against its Arab and Western enemies.

According to Houthi Youth and Sports Minister Muhammad Al-Mu'ayidi, this year's summer camps were attended by 1.1 million children.[3] The participants were indoctrinated in extremist and anti-Western ideologies in the spirit of the Iranian Revolution and the Houthi slogan "Allah Akbar, death to America, death to Israel, curses upon the Jews, victory for Islam!"[4] This slogan was featured prominently in signs displayed and uniforms worn by the camp participants, who were also given Quran lessons and taught about jihad and martyrdom. In addition, they were trained in the use of firearms and carried rifles in marches and parades.[5]

Senior members of the Houthi leadership, and particularly Houthi leader Abdulmalik Badreddine Al-Houthi, who attended the opening and closing ceremonies of many of the summer camps,  underlined the importance of "jihad for the sake of Allah" and stated that Yemen is leading the "enterprise of liberation from the [nation's] enemies,"[6] including the U.S., Britain, Israel, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Camp participants carrying rifles at the closing ceremony of the Sanaa summer camp (Image: Saba.ye/en, June 9, 2024)

This report will present details about the Houthi summer camps of 2024, and criticism voiced against them by Yemeni officials and individuals.

Houthi Leader Abdulmalik Badreddine Al-Houthi: The Summer Camps Are Meant To Build An Islamic And Jihadi Civilization; It Is Part Of The "Enterprise of Liberation" From The Nation's Enemies

This year's summer camps took place between April 20 and June 9. At the camps' central opening ceremony,  Houthi leader Abdulmalik Badreddine Al-Houthi said that the goal of the movement's education system is to raise a conscientious generation that will take part in the "enterprise of liberation from the enemies," and added: "What characterizes the summer camps in our country is that they are based on the religious identity of our country and our nation and are part of the enterprise of liberation, in the fullest sense of the word. [This enterprise] places our nation and our country at the forefront of the [Islamic] nation due to our approach to liberation and independence, and [the goal is] to be liberated from the subjugation and submission to the enemies and from [any] cultural or ideological ties to them…

"Allah willing, the benefits [we will reap] will be manifest in [producing] a generation of young people that will build an Islamic civilization with a jihadi orientation. This will be a generation that wants its Muslim nation to be strong and to not rely on its enemies for energy, food, and means of existence – a productive and powerful nation that will attain everything it needs through its [own] spiritual and material strength and means… This generation will be immune to the soft war [being waged against us], [for] all the misled groups that are close to the Satan [i.e. the U.S.], chief of them global Zionism, target the young generation, the children, and all of humanity."[7]  

Houthi News Agency On The Summer Camps: They Shape The Consciousness Of The Youth As Part Of The War Against The U.S., Britain, Saudi Arabia And The UAE

An article published June 6, 2024 by the Houthis' Saba News Agency explained that the summer camps serve to protect children from "the infiltration of degenerate Western civilization… which seeks to corrupt societies by means of smartphones, the internet and social media." It went on to say: "The war of consciousness being led by the leader Sayyed Abdulmalik Badreddine Al-Houthi is no less important than the military war against Yemen's enemies, [which include] America, Britain, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE… The Houthi leader stressed that the Muslim nation can succeed only if it [behaves] like it did at its inception. He noted that the ignorance in the present era among many of society's elites is far more dangerous than the ignorance that prevailed during the first jahiliya [i.e. the pre-Islamic era], due to the inverted and mistaken ideas that the enemies have injected into the nation." The article added that the youth must "return to the path of the Quran" and be educated in the "spirit of jihad" and of "the unity of the nation in the face of the challenges it faces."[8]

These messages were echoed at the summer camps' central closing ceremony, held in Sanaa on June 9, 2024, which was attended by many senior Houthi officials including the head of the presidency Ahmad Hamed;[9] Deputy Prime Minister Mahmoud Al-Junaid; Shura Council Deputy Speaker Daifallah Rassam; the director of the Leader's office Safar Al-Sufi, Information Minister Daifallah Al-Shami, Guidance Minister Najib Al-Aji and Youth and Sports Minister Muhammad Hussein Al-Mu'ayidi.

At the ceremony, Al-Mu'ayidi underlined the importance of the summer camps in protecting the young generation from the West's "ideological and cultural invasion," in shaping their consciousness as part of the "conflict against the nation's enemies" and in raising a generation "armed with Quranic culture."

At the end of the ceremony, the camp graduates swore allegiance to Houthi leader Abdulmalik Badreddine Al-Houthi, and one graduate delivered a speech in which he said: "We are aware of the dangers awaiting the nation and are prepared to fly the flag of jihad and confront the enemies of Allah."[10]

The Houthi summer camps' central closing ceremony held in Sanaa on June 9, 2024 under the slogan "Knowledge and Jihad." The ceremony was attended by several senior Houthi officials. In the center of the photo is the head of the Houthi presidency Ahmad Hamed (Image: Saba.ye/en, June 9, 2024)

Houthi officials at the ceremony in Sanaa (Image: Saba.ye/en, June 9, 2024)

Uniformed summer camp graduates carrying rifles and a Palestinian flag during the closing ceremony in Sanaa (Image: Saba.ye/en, June 9, 2024)

Camp graduates march in formation at the closing ceremony in Sanaa (Image: Saba.ye/en, June 9, 2024)

Graduates at the closing ceremony in Sanaa. The badge over the left pocket of their uniforms bears the Houthi slogan "Allah Akbar, death to America, death to Israel, curses upon the Jews, victory for Islam"; on their sleeves are the flags of Yemen and Palestine (Image: Saba.ye/en, June 9, 2024)

The closing ceremony in Yemen's Ta'az province. Thegraduates hold Qurans and photos of Houthi leader Abdulmalik Badreddine Al-Houthi, as well as signs bearing the Houthi slogan and others calling for the boycott of American and Israeli products. (Image: Ansarollah.com.ye, June 10, 2024)

A vehicle procession held during the closing ceremony in Yemen's Ta'az province. On the leading vehicle's windshield is a sticker bearing the Palestinian flag, an image of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and the caption "You are not alone" (Image: Ansarollah.com.ye, June 9, 2024)

The closing ceremony in Yemen's Amanat Al-Asimah province. The sashes worn by the graduates bear the camp's motto "Knowledge and Jihad" alongside the Houthi slogan (Image: Saba.ye, June 11, 2024)

The closing ceremony in the Al-Jubah district in Yemen's Marib province. The sign bears the Houthi slogan "Allah Akbar, death to America, death to Israel, curses upon the Jews, victory for Islam" (Image: Ansarollah.com.ye, June 12, 2024)

The closing ceremony of a girls' summer camp in Yemen's Dhamar province. The girls are wearing hijabs and niqabs and waving flags bearing the motto "Knowledge and Jihad" (Image: Saba.ye/ar, June 11, 2024)

The closing ceremony of a girls' summer camp for Yemen's Sanaa and Al-Mahwit provinces. On the right is a three-dimensional cutout of the camps' motto, "Knowledge and Jihad," with a rifle (Image: Ansarollah.com.ye, June 8, 2024)

Criticism In Yemen Of The Houthi Summer Camps: Turning Children Into Timebombs

The internationally-recognized government of Yemen, which opposes the Houthis, has voiced much criticism of the Houthi summer camps, as have other Yemenis who oppose the Houthis.

Yemeni Information, Culture, and Tourism Minister Muammar Al-Eryani said that the Houthis are turning government schools into bases for militarizing children and teens under the guise of summer camps. He said that the Houthis are brainwashing children with sectarian ideas that originate in Iran in order to indoctrinate them with "a culture of hostility," "erase their national and Arab identity" and "turn them into tools for murder and destruction and into timebombs threatening regional and global security and peace."[11]

Al-Eryani called on all mothers and fathers living in the Houthi-controlled territories to protect their children and to "not sacrifice them for the sake of the Houthi militia and its masters in Tehran." He also called on the international community, the UN and its special envoy to Yemen, and other relevant organizations to immediately designate the Houthis as a terrorist group, cut them off from their sources of financial, political and media support, and support the recognized Yemeni government's efforts to reestablish peace and stability throughout the country.[12]

According to various reports, even within the Houthi-controlled territories there are those who oppose the Houthi summer camps and claim that they were pressured into enrolling their children using threats and incentives. The London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat has reported that, according to Yemeni sources in Sanaa, Dhamar, Ibb and Ta'az, the Houthis said that they will only publish the results of the schoolyear's final exams for students who have enrolled in the summer camps, and even promised to give better grades to camp attendees.[13] According to a different report, the Houthis exploit the harsh economic conditions in Yemen and encourage parents to send their children to the summer camps by providing them with food packages. They also promised that exemplary students will receive tablets, participate in special trips and receive other rewards.[14]

In addition, a woman from Sanaa known as "Umm Muhammad" told Al-Sharq Al-Awsat that two of her sons attended summer camps where they underwent "sectarian incitement" and "incitement to murder." Later they were recruited to fight in the Houthi forces and were ultimately killed in combat. She said that when the Houthis enrolled her third son, who was 14 years old at the time, in one of the summer camps, she pulled him out because she did not want him to become a Houthi "scapegoat." Al-Sharq Al-Awsat also claimed that, "from the first day of this year's summer camps, most of the families and parents in Sanaa, in its rural areas, and in other provinces have refused to send their children to them, as an expression of clear societal resistance to the recruitment camps."[15]