Houthis recruiting women to fight in Yemen war

A rally took place yesterday afternoon in Yemen’s capital city Sana’a by pro-Houthi female fighters.

Locals have reported that Houthis have been secretly recruiting girls and women to fight for them on a large scale for months, but this is the first time an all-female armed rally has taken place.

Footage has been released online of girls and women marching – most them wearing full burqas – holding machine guns. They were also chanting the Houthi’s official slogan “God is great, death to America, death to Israel, curse the Jews, victory to Islam.”

Houthis took over the capital in September 2014 in a violent coup.