In a deeply seated spirit of sectarianism that has nothing to do with Islam, Houthi Militias desecrated 578 sanctified houses of worship and Quran learning units. In their assault, the Militias committed all forms of violence: destruction, looting, and defilement. Of their crimes and abductions, no Imam, preacher, or praying individual was spared. In storming mosques, they not only violated and pillaged, but imposed their own preachers on Sanaa's mosques and compelled them to preach their sectarian tenets and repeat the Militia's war cries, among other non-Islamic slogans that promote killing, destruction, hostility, and hatred among the Yemeni social communities. And, further, they turned the houses of worship into weapon arsenals and armed garrisons where plans of killings were drawn since the first day they delved into the provinces of Yemen. A report lately published by the Communicative Program with Yemen Muslim Scholars, pointed out that 29 mosques were fully wrecked; another 24 mosques suffered immense damage where parts of their structures collapsed owing to intentional demolishing or to receiving explosive shelling. They further demolished 16 homes of Quran learning, and a similar number of religious centers were similarly destroyed. Over the past three years, Houthi Militias and the deposed Saleh have assaulted 84 mosques and threatened their worshippers, looted 12 other mosques, and fired live ammunition at another 5, all that in addition to kidnapping 150 Imams, preachers and individual worshippers. Once the rebels are defeated and stability is regained, the periodical report said, the Program will work on rebuilding and activing the role of mosques to reclaim the peaceful state prior to the Militia's destructive interval. Moderate scholars will also reassume their role to spare Yemen the inveterate sectarian ideologies and misleading beliefs that Houthis, since their corrupting coup, never tire of fulminating.
