In recent days, the Houthi group has expanded ideological and military mobilization activities inside universities under its control, subjecting hundreds of students, academics, and employees at the universities of Sana'a, Hodeidah, and Saada to programs combining ideological indoctrination and field training, in parallel with recruitment campaigns under the slogans of 'readiness' and 'general mobilization'.

According to academic sources and observers, these moves are part of efforts to provide new batches of recruits and strengthen front lines, at a time when fears are growing over the continued targeting of the education sector and its transformation into a tool for mobilization and polarization.

Academic sources, students, and employees confirmed that over the past two days, the group has compelled large numbers of university affiliates to participate in field training, military parades, and public rallies serving its agenda, accompanied by threats of punitive measures against those who refuse, including deprivation of some employment rights, suspension of academic procedures, and preventing students from taking exams or receiving their university degrees.

Houthi leaders attending a military parade in the courtyard of Sana'a University (Facebook)

At Sana'a University, Yemen's largest university, students, faculty members, and employees reported a growing rejection of participation in activities overseen by the branch of the so-called 'Mobilization Committee' affiliated with the group inside the university.

According to the sources, weak turnout prompted the group to summon hundreds of its supporters from outside the university and from neighboring governorates to participate in the military parade held inside the campus, aiming to show broad participation and popular support for its moves.

Forced mobilization

A faculty member at Sana'a University, requesting anonymity for safety, expressed dismay at the group's claim that about 7,500 students participated in the parade, asserting that the number does not reflect reality and comes within a propaganda campaign to show broad support for its military escalation domestically and its attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Three university students also confirmed that many of those who appeared in the event were not university students but were brought in from outside, while a number of students refrained from participating despite pressure and threats, stressing that universities should remain institutions for education and scientific research away from military and mobilization activities.

Houthis forced affiliates of Saada University to participate in mobilization and combat activities (X)

At Hodeidah and Saada universities, students and academics reported similar pressures, and that participation in courses and events was imposed on them for fear of punitive measures that could affect their employment or academic status.

An employee at Hodeidah University explained that participation in some events has become 'practically compulsory,' because refusal could affect the employee's or student's future within the educational institution, while an academic at Saada University confirmed that pressures on university affiliates are continuously increasing to participate in activities unrelated to the educational process.

Systematic exploitation

Observers believe that the group is not content with managing the military confrontation; it is simultaneously working to repurpose educational institutions to serve its mobilization and ideological project, by integrating military activities into the university environment and linking them to academic incentives.

Academics warn that the continued transformation of universities into platforms for mobilization and polarization threatens the independence of higher education, undermines the role of universities as institutions of knowledge and scientific research, and reinforces ideological and sectarian discourse at the expense of the educational mission.

According to sources, the group seeks to send dozens of participants from various faculties, in successive batches, to combat fronts, in parallel with continuing to organize military courses and mobilization activities inside universities and educational institutions in areas under its control.

Students at Hodeidah University during their participation in a protest rally organized by the Houthis (X)

Previous local reports indicate that the group has turned more than 23 public and private universities, along with 7 educational institutes, into centers for ideological and military mobilization activities under what it calls 'Al-Aqsa Flood courses'.

Those reports stated that participation in these courses grants extra grades of up to 20 points, providing participants with academic privileges that help them pass exams.

The group had earlier admitted to subjecting about 6,800 students and academics at two private universities in Sana'a to military field applications, a step considered by observers as an extension of a systematic policy aimed at subjugating the education sector to mobilization and recruitment programs.

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