Islah leaders turn school in Lahj into military barracks, footage shows

LAHJ, Nov. 04 (YPA) – Newly released footage on Tuesday revealed that pro-Saudi military leaders affiliated with the Islah Party, the branch of Muslim Brotherhood in Yemen, had turned a school in al-Maqatara District, Lahj Governorate, into a military barracks linked to the so-called Tor al-Baha Axis.

The footage, circulated by activists, showed that Abu Bakr al-Jabuli, commander of Islah’s 4th Brigade, had converted the school into an administrative base housing weapons and supply depots and serving as a military mobilization headquarters.

Pro-Saudi military leaders affiliated with Islah have also closed numerous schools in al-Maqatara District, as well as several others in al-Hujariah , al-Shamayatin and al-Ma’afir areas of Taiz Governorate, depriving students of access to education and bringing the educational process to a halt.

Local authorities affiliated with the Sanaa government are preparing to reopen the school’s once security conditions in the areas stabilize.

The move is also expected to coincide with an end to illegal levies and tolls imposed by Islah elements on trucks, merchants and small business owners, placing a heavy financial burden on them in recent years.

Last week, footage filmed inside July 7 School in al-Ma’afir showed that commanders of Islah’s 35th Brigade had turned the school into warehouses for weapons and explosive devices in 2017, depriving local students of access to education after its closure.

The Yemeni Press Agency had previously published a photograph of the school in al-Maqatara in a July 2022 report on Islah’s conversion of schools in al-Hujariah into military barracks.

@E.Y.M