Leaked document: Saudi-backed government moves to cut payments to dead, wounded recruits

ADEN, Aug. 14 (YPA) – The Saudi-backed Defense Ministry in the Aden government has abandoned its financial obligations toward dead and wounded recruits who were killed or injured while fighting in the Saudi-led coalition’s war in Yemen.

A leaked document circulated by Saudi-aligned activists and issued by the ministry contains instructions to pay part of the entitlements owed to dead and wounded recruits and gradually remove them from the payroll.

The document, attributed to the so-called Joint Operations Authority and dated July 25, was titled “Defense Minister’s Instruction No. 4520. It highlighted growing dissatisfaction over the suspension of payments to dead and wounded recruits and its impact on the morale of Saudi-aligned fighters.

It proposed paying between two and five months’ salaries before gradually removing them from the official rolls and military strength.

According to the document, the dead and wounded recruits currently represent a financial burden on the ministry and have no practical benefit to it. The Saudi-backed “Defense Ministry” has not commented on the leaked document.

The document has sparked widespread anger, with activists and social media users urging recruits currently stationed at Saudi-backed camps to return home, warning them against suffering the same fate as their colleagues, whom have been abandoned by the Saudi authorities and military and political leaders based in Riyadh.