Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/AL-MUKALLA: Unidentified shooters assassinated a tribal chief in Houthi-held Sanaa on Sunday evening in what appears to be the latest drive-by shootings or assaults.
According to local media reports, Nasser Abdullah Tamah Al-Kumaim, a tribal leader and businessman from the province of Thamar, was gunned down outside his house by attackers who fled the scene.
The Houthis have not commented on the killing. Still, they often link such incidents to family feuds or accuse opponents of carrying out the attacks to destabilize their region’s security.
Tribal leader
Al-Kumain, the General People’s Congress party member, is the latest victim in a series of deadly drive-by attacks targeting judges, politicians, activists, academics, and military or security officials in Sanaa.
Maj-Gen Dirham, a retired military commander and former Yemeni ambassador to Ethiopia, was murdered in October 2022. Brig-Gen Abdullah Mohammed Al-Kibsi, the Houthi supporter and former member of parliament, was killed outside his house in the Al-Hasaba neighbourhood in September 2022.
Similarly, Mohammed Hamran, the Supreme Court judge, was killed shortly after being abducted outside his house in August 2022 by armed men.
Armed men shot dead Hassan Zaid, a Houthi minister of youth and sports affairs, while he was driving in Sanaa.
Houthis have long boasted they brought peace and calm to Sanaa and other Yemeni territories group under their control, bringing to end bombings and killings. Assassinations have been taking place as Houthis intensify their crackdown on vocal critics, primarily online commentators, or prosecute large numbers of abducted Yemenis amid the growing backlash against the militia’s ruthless rule, their failure to pay public employees, and their inability to alleviate the effects of a famine that is growing worse.
Maj. Gen. Abdu Abdullah Majili, spokesman for the Yemeni military, said that the Houthis had launched assaults on government troops south, north or west of the city over the previous three days, resulting in fierce fighting and significant exchanges of heavy weapons fire.
