A Houthi smear campaign and tampering of the gate and landmarks of the old city of Sana’a
English - Wednesday 30 March 2022 الساعة 10:44 am
Sana'a, NewsYemen, private:
All monuments, houses and ancient mosques in the old city of Sanaa are subjected to a campaign of violations and acts of destruction and distortion carried out by the Houthi militia in a systematic and deliberate manner that only indicates a hidden Persian hatred against one of the ancient cities in the world that dates back to the fifth century BC.
Local sources in Sana'a confirmed to NewsYemen that the Houthi militia, through its workers, dismantled the facade stone at the top of Bab Al-Yaman Gate, one of the nine gates of the old city of Sanaa, incorrectly and without any reasons.
The sources wondered about the real reasons and motives that prompted the militia to dismantle the intact stones of Bab al-Yaman Gate. They explained that Houthi leaders started spreading the tale before that that they would use market and plaster to restore the facade of Bab al-Yaman and ended up dismantling the facade in a manner that betrays their ignorance of its importance, as if they were deliberately sabotaging. One of the most important and prominent gates of old Sana'a.
The sources considered that the failure to summon engineers and archaeological specialists for such delicate actions is an absurd act that falls within the framework of the Houthis' systematic operations to inflict the greatest damage against what remains of the symbolic and landmarks of the historic city of Sanaa.
In the context, workers in the General Authority for the Preservation of Historic Cities under the control of militias in Sana'a reported that the Ministry of Endowments and Guidance, which was kidnapped by the militia, turned the bottom of the minaret of the Aqil Mosque in the old city of Sana'a into a commercial store for its benefit.
They pointed out that the minaret of the mosque, whose base does not exceed three meters in width, was converted into a commercial store and rented out without realizing the extent of the risks arising from this barbaric act that may lead to its downfall and collapse.
The authority’s workers complained of neglecting the Capital Municipality and the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) in the restoration and maintenance of the Dome of Mutawakil in Muammar neighborhood, parts of which were demolished, and the blatant violations of modern construction and concrete block buildings that expand and expand every day inside the historic city in full view and hearing From the local authorities in the old Sana'a district.
The Houthi revolutionaries have recently intensified their campaign to distort the landmarks of old Sanaa, many of which included the printing and writing of many of its slogans, others containing brief words of the founder of the group and its current leader, sectarian phrases and sticky pictures of its dead, and placed them on the city gates, its corridors, most of the walls of its houses and the courtyards of its old markets, and in both sides and bridges of the liquid with the aim of obliterating The historical identity of the old city of Sanaa, which, when removed, will affect its stones and lose a large part of their archaeological value.
In February 2021, the Houthi militia demolished the ancient Al-Nahrain Mosque, one of the oldest archaeological and historical mosques in the old city of Sanaa, whose construction dates back to the first century AH.
Extensive local warnings were previously issued of the imminent collapse of about 400 historic houses in the same city due to the neglect, tampering and systematic Houthi destruction that has affected it for the past seven years.
The United Nations "UNESCO" included the old city of Sana'a and many of its houses on the World Heritage List in 1986, but announced in July 2015 that the old city of Sana'a, included in the World Heritage List, had become endangered, as a result of the armed conflict in Yemen.
Those interested in archeology called on UNESCO to fulfill its responsibility to confront Houthi crimes, protect the human heritage in the old city of Sanaa, and stop its campaigns to distort its heritage related to its ancient past, which Yemenis are proud of, as a civilization with deep roots in history.
