Iran offers $100 a month to recruit Houthi rebels in war-torn Yemen

Thousands sign up to militia behind Red Sea shipping attacks as recruitment drive targets men, and children, living in dire poverty

Armed people, including a child, are seen people gather to stage a protest against United Nations (UN) Security Council resolution demands that Houthis immediately cease all attacks on ships in Red Sea in Sanaa, Yemen
Young children are sent to fight by families who struggle to resist the promise of financial assistance Credit: Mohammed Hamoud/Anadolu via Getty Images

Iran is offering $100 (£79) a month to desperate Yemenis if they join the Houthi rebels in their war on Israel and commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

Thousands of fighters have joined the ranks in recent weeks, according to sources in opposition-held territories, amid an aggressive recruitment drive.

Yemen, where more than 80 per cent of the country lives below the poverty line, has proved a fertile recruiting ground, with more than 100,000 militiamen thought to be now backed by Iran.

The money offered to fighters is dwarfed by the $1,300 (£1,020) a month Iran pays to members of Hezbollah’s military wing in Lebanon.

The disparity has triggered discontent within the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which controls the funding and training of foreign militias, a Middle East intelligence source told The Telegraph.

Concern is also growing in Iran about buying US dollars to pay foreign fighters, leaked documents suggest, a move which they fear devalues the Iranian currency.

Fresh recruits to the Houthi cause celebrate the completion of their militia training in Sanaa, Yemen
Fresh recruits to the Houthi cause celebrate the completion of their militia training in Sanaa, Yemen Credit: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

In November, during a parade in Thamar province, Mohammed al-Houthi, leader of the Houthis’ Supreme Revolutionary Committee, said 10,000 people had been recruited to support Hamas in its war on Israel. But in recent weeks, thousands more have been taken on for the new battlefront.

On Thursday, France said its navy would begin escorting ships with French interests through the Red Sea region, but added that it would not be involved in striking the Houthis directly.

Britain and the US are poised to target the Yemeni rebels by attacking on their missile launchers. Grant Shapps, the Defence Secretary, warned “watch this space” when asked about the potential for Western military action.

Abdel-Malek al-Houthi, the Houthi leader, on Thursday warned the US that his organisation would retaliate fiercely if it was targeted. Since Oct 7, the rebel group has targeted shipping with drones and missiles as part of an anti-Israel campaign.

“The Houthis have been able to garner a lot more support on the ground since this new front emerged due to the Yemeni population’s sympathies with Gaza,” said a government source from the Southern Transitional Council (STC).

In 2022, Iran’s Quds Force which oversees the foreign proxies, received an additional $250 million (£196 million) from Iran’s Supreme National Security Council to finance the Houthis, enabling them to arm themselves with long-range missiles, ballistic missiles and state-of-the-art drone technology that have been used in its latest war on Israeli and US targets.

The Houthi militia, which controls large swathes of Yemen, had little support amid the ongoing war waged against Yemen’s government, the country having become the poorest in the region amidst a critical humanitarian crisis.

“With the dire poverty and lack of basic means of survival, the population is now very vulnerable to recruitment,” the STC source added, thousands of civilians having signed up, unaware their salaries are a fraction of their Hezbollah compatriots and even Iran’s domestic Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

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However, beyond the Red Sea, the militia claims it is also recruiting for troops to join Hamas on the ground in Gaza. “How exactly they do this hasn’t been made clear and it’s an unlikely scenario, but the propaganda of this mass recruitment has given the Houthis a much needed boost,” said the STC source.

Last month, recruitment stepped up in a number of districts in Yemen’s Dhamar Governorate, about 50 miles south of Sanaa. The Houthis organised a military parade for 20,000 recruits on Dec 24, who graduated from short military courses in Abes district, Hajja’s northern province.

Before that, the Houthis had organised a military parade in Sanaa for 16,000 recruits who were reported to have graduated from the training. Children are now especially vulnerable. Over 10,200 children have been killed or maimed, and close to 3,500 recruited and used in Yemen according to the UN.

In 2022, data from a Yemeni rehabilitation programme for children recruited by the Houthis showed that in Hodeida province alone, where Houthis control 24 of 26 towns, there were 19,500 children enrolled in its summer camp. This was from a school age population of 56,000, up from 8,500 in 2021.

‘Rape in these camps is normalised’

The NGO source told The Telegraph: “Rape in these camps is normalised with several other deaths occurring during training or accidents with weapons. The children are in acute danger there far beyond their part in warfare.”

Amid the latest recruitment drive, he sees child enrolment rising. Families are pressured to let their children go and even schools are being used as recruitment grounds.

“Families cannot say no when the Houthis come into their homes and demand the enrolment of children, and when there is the offer of money, it becomes even harder, given that nobody has anything any more,” they added.

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