Portrait of the Resistance:
Clad in distinctive sarongs, Tihama Resistance that had no way out of war now plays key role in freeing Hodeidah
members of the Tihama resistance force react to Iran-backed Houthi fighters shooting in their direction during clashes in Yemen’s Haiys district in Hodeidah this month.
Wearing the traditional Yemeni “futa” sarongs and sandals, the fighters of the Tihama Resistance play a key role in the battle to free Hodeidah province from Houthi rebels.
Although the focus now is on the offensive to retake Hodeidah city and its vital port, the resistance, named after the plains country along the Red Sea coast in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, are manning fronts across the province.
In Haiys district near the borders with Taez and Ibb provinces, Tihama fighters keep watch to prevent Houthi reinforcements entering Hodeidah.
Saddam Al Qadi, one of the commanders, said the Houthis get support from fellow fighters based in the mountains of Ibb, where air raids of the Arab Coalition cannot reach them.
On fronts closer to the coast, members of the Tihama Resistance are fighting alongside the forces of Tariq Saleh, nephew of the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh who was killed by the Houthis in December after he broke off his alliance with them.
Mr Saleh leads a force of members of his uncle’s former Republican Guard who, along with the Tihama Resistance and Al Amalikah brigades from southern provinces, are the three main Yemeni groups fighting in Hodeidah alongside the Saudi-led Arab military coalition.
The Arab Coalition has provided four months of training for all the groups, as well as pickup trucks, fuel and food, including for fighters’ families. But all parties feel that they need more weapons, said Nabil Al Suheily, an officer in Mr Saleh’s force, and more so the Tihama, whose arms are limited to heavy machineguns, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.
The Tihama Resistance mobilised against the Houthis before the Arab coalition intervened in the war in March 2015 at the request of the Yemeni government. The rebels entered Hodeidah in late 2014 after seizing the capital, Sanaa, in September.
“There were always a resistance from inside, secretively, without support or money,” said Marwan, 19, a fighter now based in the port town of Khokha, south of Hodeidah city.
“We just didn’t accept the Houthis, we already felt marginalised by the Zaydis who were in charge of all major ranks during the former regime,” he said, referring to Shiite sect to which the Houthis and former president Saleh belong.
Marwan said many young men left the city to join a small brigade led by Ahmed Kawkabani, a former member Yemen’s marines from Hodeidah who received support from the Arab coalition.
“We all fled Hodeidah to Aden, then left by boat from Mokha to train on the islands of Zuqar and Hanish.”
Many of the fighters who went to train had been part of a peaceful Tihama resistance movement known as Al Harak Al Tihami, said Taha Al Harad, one of its leaders.
The movement “was meant to demand the rights of the people to be well represented and get high-ranking jobs in our province”, Mr Al Harad said.
“That was when it was started, in December 2011. When the Houthis came to the city many were forced to take up arms.”
Tihama commander Kawkabani supported the offensive on Hodeidah city, which retook the airport yesterday.
“It will prevent the Houthis from using the port. It will also stop the flow of money that has allowed them to pay salaries and bribe people,” he said.
“It will break their back, so it will make it easier to conquer them in other cities.”