After finishing its fundraising campaign this week for Lebanese Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthi insurgent group has reported that it raised over $100,000 for the terrorist organization.
Sam FM, the Houthi-ran radio station that organized the fundraising campaign, said today that “thanks to God and the awareness and generosity of the public, the mujahid radio station Sam FM, gave in the campaign of the free men of the great Yemeni people 73,500,000 Yemeni Rial.”
This amount equals to about 132,000 USD, according to Sam FM. However, according to the official conversion rates, the number in USD should be much higher. It is unclear where the discrepant money was allocated.
Throughout the campaign, Sam FM continuously showed its efforts to raise funds for the Lebanese group. This included pledge drives on the streets of Sana’a and other areas under Houthi control and a well-coordinated social media campaign.
The money that Sam FM reportedly raised will now be transferred to Lebanese Hezbollah, a heavily US-sanctioned terrorist organization, via Yemen Post. The Houthi radio station routinely showed receipts from Yemen Post transfers of donations to the campaign and Hezbollah.
Sam FM, which is based in Sana’a, announced in May that it had begun a pledge campaign to donate funds to Lebanese Hezbollah. The radio station said on its Telegram channel that this drive is “to support the mujahideen masters in this world, the purest of people, Hezbollah.”
While initially meant to last only a few weeks, the campaign was extended to the end of June “due to the popularity” of the drive, according to Sam FM. Despite the vast humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen, Houthi members and supporters continued to donate money to support Hezbollah and Iran’s “axis of resistance.”
The Houthis are not thought to be directly subordinate to Tehran like Hezbollah or other proxies. However, its role within the Iranian-led “axis” and relationship with Lebanese Hezbollah has become more evident in recent years.
Last summer, Houthi leadership met with Hezbollah’s leadership in Beirut, Lebanon. The Saudi-led coalition also routinely presents evidence that Hezbollah operatives are present in Yemen assisting the Houthis. The US has also long accused both Iran and Hezbollah of supporting, training, and advising Houthi troops.
For his part, Abdel Malek al Houthi, the overall leader of the Houthi movement, has stated on multiple occasions that he would send his men to fight alongside Hezbollah in the event of a new war with Israel.
3 Comments
How’s this possible when the Houthis are at war? Don’t they need a munitions, food, and medical aid? Someone on the outside of warring Yemen is supporting this. Won’t be surprised by Shia sympathisers and other Muslims around the world. The only way is to prevent nations from transactions with Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Qatar, and Libya. Another is to devalue and banned the Yemeni Rial and Iranian Rial.
That’ll pay for what? 12 hours of Hezbollah’s operations in Syria?
“…Yemen’s Houthi insurgent group has reported that it raised over $100,000 for the terrorist organization (Hezbollah).” And why is this significant? Because the US beefed up sanctions on Iran which made funding Hezbollah unaffordable. The Europeans are crying out to trade with Iran, but Trump’s pressure on them keeps Euro cash out of the Mullahs’ hands. All this is good for US security.