By Faisal Abu Bakr | 2025-02-05

ADEN -- The Iran-backed Houthis have been playing games with the domestic gas Yemenis rely on for cooking by blocking cheap supplies from government-controlled areas in favor of imports via al-Hodeidah port, which they control.

This has forced Yemenis living in Houthi-controlled areas to purchase more expensive, imported gas, from the group to meet their domestic needs.

The cooking gas racket is particularly egregious as Yemen is mired in poverty and most people have little money to spare for even basic needs.

Some Yemenis have been forced to empty their gas cylinders at Houthi-controlled checkpoints in southern Marib province as they return to their homes from government-controlled areas, according to some reports.

At a checkpoint in the southern Marib province district of al-Jawba, on the frontline between the two sides, some Yemenis returning to Houthi-controlled areas have been ordered to empty their gas cylinders before crossing.

One driver transporting food supplies was forced to return to government-controlled Marib and dispose of his cargo before gaining permission to enter his Houthi-controlled village, Barran Press reported December 4.

"The Houthis are tightening the noose on the legitimate government by rejecting cheaper gas from Marib while importing it at almost triple the cost through Iran via al-Hodeidah port," economist Fares al-Najjar told Al-Fassel.

'Policies of poverty and starvation'

The Houthis have been manipulating the domestic gas supply for some time.

In April 2023, the group seized around 1,100 tanker trucks carrying more than 28,000 tons of gas from Marib, according to the Yemen Oil and Gas Corporation.

The Houthis also have blocked trucks carrying flour from government-controlled Aden, despite warnings about commodity spoilage that could cost traders millions of riyals, Arab News reported.

"These criminal practices are an extension of the policies of poverty and starvation pursued by the terrorist Houthi militia against its citizens since its coup," Yemen's Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said on X in 2023.

Through such means, the Houthis seek to multiply their war profits and enrich their leaders, he added, while "tripling" the burden on the Yemeni people.

Yemenis in Houthi-controlled areas largely remain silent about the coercive tactics for fear of retaliation from Houthi forces, tribal sources told Barran Press.