By Faisal Abu Bakr | 2025-08-13

ADEN -- The Iran-backed Houthis are weaponizing starvation in Yemen by deliberately diverting and obstructing humanitarian assistance intended to combat one of the world's worst famines.

Yemenis facing hunger could top 18 million as early as next month, United Nations humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher warned.

The number of Yemeni children under five suffering from acute malnutrition could reach 1.2 million next year, he added.

Seven-year-old Ashwaq Ali Hassan Muhab died earlier this month in a displacement camp in Abs district, Hajjah province, after a prolonged struggle with hunger, al-Mashhad al-Yemeni reported August 8.

Her death came as relief aid dwindled under Houthi restrictions and the kidnapping of aid workers, local sources said.

Doctors Without Borders reported nearly 4,000 cases of severe and moderate child malnutrition in three provinces under full or partial Houthi control during the first five months of 2025.

Save the Children estimated that between 2014 and 2018, about 85,000 children under five died from malnutrition, but data collection has since been hindered "because the Houthis restrict aid operations," a Yemeni source told The Associated Press.

Over the past decade, approximately three-quarters of Yemen's $20 billion in aid has flowed to Houthi-controlled areas, according to a Counter Extremism Project (CEP) report.

These areas contain approximately 70 to 80% of Yemen's population, the report noted.

Relief blocked

Despite massive humanitarian need, the Houthis have constructed an elaborate system to ensure resources serve their regime rather than Yemen's most vulnerable people.

The pattern of diversion is longstanding. In the Houthi stronghold of Saada, a 2018 investigation found that "only one-third of the intended beneficiaries received aid," according to the CEP report.

"Around 80% of the supplies were evidently diverted," leaving just 150,000 people receiving food meant for nearly 1 million over two months.

"The Houthis have excelled at using starvation as a weapon to subjugate and control civilians," economist Fares al-Najjar told Al-Fassel.

"The Houthis are an arm of Iran in the region," he added, noting they carry out Tehran's agenda through attacks on Red Sea shipping and other hostilities, all while the Yemeni people suffer.

This focus on consolidating power and advancing the Iranian regime's regional ambitions has caused a collapse in Yemen's services and living standards, with resources diverted to military activities instead of basic services, al-Najjar said.

In Houthi-controlled areas like Sanaa, Amran, and al-Hodeidah, medical personnel have been dismissed or displaced for political reasons, causing "near-total paralysis of the health sector," he added.

Many medical and humanitarian programs have been forced to shut down after the Houthis converted hospitals into military barracks and kidnapped aid workers, according to Fahmi al-Zubairi, director general of the Sanaa human rights office.

These Houthi policies have not only blocked critical aid deliveries but also barred relief teams from reaching the hardest-hit areas, fueling outbreaks of cholera, measles, and diphtheria, al-Zubairi said.

Intentionally denying civilians access to food, medical care, and other essentials for survival can be prosecuted as a war crime under the Rome Statute, he added.