The Houthis will take four men from a district and force them to train as fighters The enforced recruits are expected to carry out on large gatherings of civilians DUBAI: Yemen’s Information Minister Muammar Al-Iryani warned against the escalation of the forced recruitment of civilians by the Houthi militia in areas under the militia’s control due to the continuous loses of its fighters on the frontlines. Referring to the militia as “the mercenary of Iran,” the minister slammed the Houthis for the enforced recruiting campaign that takes four civilians from each neighborhood in the capital Sanaa with the aim of training them to use weapons on the battlefront, state news agency Saba News reported. The minister claimed the Houthis are using civilians “as fuel for its absurd war on the Yemeni people” after suffering heavy losses in battle fronts in the provinces of Al-Jouf, Marib and Al-Bayda The compulsory recruitment of civilians into the war by the Houthi militia of citizens in its areas of control by the use of pressure and threat The Houthis use threats to pressure civilians into fighting and killing large groups of people, Al-Iryani said, adding that the civilians were used as human shields for the militia who serve to expand Iran’s influence in the region. Al-Iryani said the Houthi militia continued to violate the truce and commit human rights violations despite international calls for a ceasefire and unified efforts to confront the threat of the coronavirus. The Yemeni Supreme National Committee to confront the coronavirus recording two new cases of coronavirus in Hadramout, southeastern Yemen, on Monday, which raised the number of confirmed cases in Yemen to 12 cases.