Houthi Militia Forces Academics and Staff at Ibb University into Combat Drills under So-Called “General Mobilization”

The Houthi terrorist militia continues to subject academics and employees at Ibb University to combat and ideological training courses, as part of its policies aimed at militarizing higher education in areas under its control, under the banner of what it calls “general mobilization.”

Academic sources reported that the militia carried out, on Sunday, a live combat drill and a forced march involving a number of academics and administrative staff at Ibb University, who had previously undergone ideological and military training courses over recent months.

The sources added that participants were compelled to carry out a foot march before being taken back to a militia-run training ground, where they were forced to conduct practical exercises on the use of weapons, in addition to simulating military confrontations involving light and medium weapons.

The sources noted that these courses are an extension of earlier theoretical and practical indoctrination programs imposed on academics and administrative staff, as part of a systematic plan aimed at turning educational institutions into tools serving the militia’s military and sectarian agenda.

According to informed sources, participants in these courses receive intensive training in the use of light and medium weapons, including Kalashnikov rifles, RPG launchers, and 12.7 mm machine guns, as well as training in sniping, storming positions, crossing checkpoints, and ground crawling.

Over the past two years, the Houthi militia has increasingly transformed public and private universities in areas under its control into platforms for spreading its sectarian ideology, while forcing academics, employees, and students to undergo ideological and combat training—constituting a flagrant violation of the sanctity of educational institutions and their academic mission.