By Faisal Abu Bakr | 2025-04-20

ADEN -- A campaign launched by the Houthis to coerce Yemenis to respond "madri" ("I don't know") when questioned about US strike locations has backfired on the Iran-backed group, according to multiple sources.

The so-called "Madri campaign" comes as the Houthis attempt to control any information that might reveal their losses of leadership and equipment.

As the Houthis become increasingly paranoid about information leaks, they have been arresting anyone who approaches or photographs strike sites.

They also have been accusing Yemenis who engage in benign activities such as checking their phones during strikes or discussing strike sites on social media with espionage.

While the "Madri campaign" seeks to instill fear and compliance, it has been met with derision from the populace, who are fed up with the Houthis.

Social media has been awash with satirical videos, with comedian Mohammed al-Hawari sarcastically answering "madri" to questions about who looted public sector salaries and committed violations -- with clear reference to the Houthis.

Behind the mockery, however, a darker reality is unfolding, according to Judge Ishraq al-Maqtari, who serves on the National Commission to Investigate Alleged Violations of Human Rights in Yemen.

Repression and abandonment

The Houthis have intensified their crackdown across al-Hodeidah and Saada since December with a campaign of arbitrary arrests, al-Maqtari told Al-Fassel.

The Iran-backed group has detained people for "suspicious activities" such as taking phone calls from relatives in government-controlled areas, she said.

Even poverty-stricken fishing and farming communities in al-Hodeidah's Salif, al-Tuhayta and Bayt al-Faqih districts have not been spared, al-Maqtari said.

She noted that large numbers of detainees from al-Hodeidah have been transferred to Houthi security and intelligence prisons in Sanaa.

"Al-Hodeidah has become hell with restricted movement, roads turned into military zones, repression and arrests," compounding the suffering of province residents, political analyst Abdul Malik al-Yousfi told Al-Fassel.

He accused the Houthis of hiding weapons in private homes and setting up missile platforms on farmland, putting civilian lives and livelihoods at risk.

Meanwhile, Houthi leaders have disappeared from view, abandoning the people they govern to their fate, in an exodus that reflects "the state of terror and fear they are experiencing after the US strikes," al-Yousfi said.