By Faisal Abu Bakr | 2025-06-16

ADEN -- The Houthis have been exploiting vulnerable young men in southern Yemen's Hadramaut province for their illicit drug trafficking operations by recruiting some as smugglers and dealers and turning others into addicts.

Revenue from drug trafficking operations conducted along the Hadramaut coast serves as the Houthis' primary source of revenue for their ongoing war, according to security officials and analysts tracking the group's illicit activities.

But it is local youth who pay the price for the group's illegal activities, they said, noting that the scourge of illegal drugs has created a crisis in the area.

In response, Hadramaut coast security authorities have launched intensive operations against drug trafficking networks linked to the Houthis, arresting more than 100 drug dealers and users, Al-Jumhuriya TV reported May 28.

The scale of the operation extends far beyond local distribution networks, said Arab Democratic Center research director Abdul Qader al-Kharraz.

Drugs are transported via Arabian Sea routes to government-controlled parts of Yemen by operatives working under Houthi supervision and in direct cooperation with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), al-Kharraz said.

The drugs are then transferred to Houthi smugglers, who distribute them in Yemen and across the region through unguarded coastal and desert areas.

Recently arrested drug smugglers were found to have ties to the Houthis, and had attended training courses sponsored by the Iran-backed group, Hadramaut Coast Anti-Narcotics Department director Lt. Col. Abdullah Ahmed Lahmadi said.

Destroying Yemen's youth

"The Houthis are working to destroy the youth and destroy the economy," al-Kharraz said. "This is reflected in society through the perpetration of crimes and increase in their rates."

Young people are coerced into joining illegal trafficking and distribution networks when they are given methamphetamine (crystal meth), known locally as shabu, and become addicted to the drug, al-Kharraz said.

The proliferation of drugs and presence of dealers and traffickers has had a devastating impact, particularly around the Hadramaut provincial capital of al-Mukalla and the Hadramaut coast region, political analyst Faisal Ahmed said.

"Hashish is widely available and hashish and shabu dealers are very active," he told Al-Fassel, noting that drug trafficking serves as one of the primary activities of the IRGC and its regional proxies, including the Houthis.

Drug smuggling, alongside arms smuggling, is used to finance the militant activities of such groups, Ahmed said.