Head of the Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen, Abdul Malek al-Houthi, has sought to exploit Arab and Islamic causes to further his sectarian agenda. Iran-backed groups, such as the Houthis and Lebanon’s “Hezbollah,” have long abused issues such as the liberation of Jerusalem and Palestine to heap praise on the Tehran regime. Houthi, for his part, praises Iran and “Hezbollah” as allegedly the sole defenders of the real causes of the Arab and Muslim nation. By doing so, he completely disregards the humanitarian catastrophe that has befallen Yemen after his militias’ coup against the legitimate authority and their violation of state institutions. In line with this approach, Houthi called on Thursday his supporters to stage rallies in Sanaa and other areas under his control to commemorate the so-called “Jerusalem Day” – an annual anniversary that its observed in Iran and its adherents, like “Hezbollah.” “Jerusalem Day” was originally introduced by Iran’s first supreme leader Khomeini decades ago. It usually falls on the last Friday of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. He announced such a commemoration to allow Iran to exploit Arab and Muslim causes for political and sectarian purposes. Over the years, the commemoration became part of the agenda of all Iran-recruited sectarian groups, such as “Hezbollah” and the Houthis, to further Tehran’s expansion in the Arab world. On the eve of “Jerusalem Day”, Houthi took advantage of the occasion to openly express his allegiance to Iran and “Hezbollah”, heaping praise on them in an attempt to convince his followers that Tehran alone upholds Arab and Muslim causes. In wake of his militias’ successive defeats on the ground, Houthi also sought to justify these losses, saying that his militants were waging an epic battle against global forces, starting with the United States and Israel. Furthermore, and in order to justify his complete departure from his Arab identity and total loyalty the Iranian-Persian agenda, he sought to promote to his followers his militias’ sectarian and religious approach. He said that Islam does not differentiate between races and ethnicities, which would explain his blind loyalty to Iran’s sectarian project and antagonism to his own Arab brethren. Moreover, Houthi labeled as an “unbeliever”, all who do not follow the Houthis’ sectarian ideals. Yemeni social media activists condemned such a declaration as a religious fatwa, or edict, that may pave the way for more violence committed by the Houthis against the people. Meanwhile, official Houthi sources inadvertently revealed over the past two days the extent of the losses the militias are suffering on the battlefield by highlighting dozens of visits paid by militia leaderships to hospitals to meet the wounded in order to lift their morale. While the Houthi leader frequently deliberately omits to mention the size of his group’s losses in its futile battle for its sectarian Khomeini agenda, local sources said that Saudi-led Arab coalition air strikes targeted in the past two days a secret Houthi training camp that left dozens of members dead.