While campus protesters in the United States have drawn national ire and alienated many, they have made one major ally — Yemen’s Houthis.
This week, many campus protests reached a zenith as students occupied buildings or set up fortified camps in several major universities, with the most visible being Columbia University and the University of California, Los Angeles. In both cases, a large force of riot police was called in by the universities to shut them down, with some facing suspension or expulsion. The Houthis have come to their aid, with an official from a Houthi-controlled university telling Reuters that expelled students could continue their studies there.
“We are serious about welcoming students that have been suspended from U.S. universities for supporting Palestinians,” an official at Sanaa University told the outlet. “We are fighting this battle with Palestine in every way we can.”
The board of the university released a statement this week praising the efforts of American and European students protesting against Israel, hailing them as those “who have restored humanity to man and awakened his moral conscience — against crimes war and genocide to which the oppressed Palestinian people are exposed by the global Zionist system, represented by the neo-Nazis of the Zionist entity usurping Palestine.”
After praising the protests, it provided an email to reach out to if students were interested in the offer.
“In support of these protests, and in practical solidarity with the demonstrators, the University of Sanaa opens its doors, in all its specialties, to all those who have been dismissed, including university professors and students, welcoming them with respect and appreciation,” it read.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Sanaa University to inquire as to how many, if any, American students had reached out with interest in the offer.
Students wanting to take the university up on its offer will have to deal with a host of hurdles, however. The U.S. State Department has issued a Level 4 Travel Advisory for the country, citing terrorism, civil unrest, health risks, kidnapping, armed conflict, and land mines.
Additionally, the U.S. recognizes the Houthis as a terrorist group, bringing possible legal repercussions for students who take up the offer.
The level of Houthi control over Sanaa University isn’t known, but given its location at the center of the group’s area of control, it is likely significant. One of the university’s alumni was Saleh Ali al Sammad, a leader of the Houthis and the de facto president of the country until his assassination in 2018 by a Saudi drone strike.
In February 2022, the university was visited by Houthi Prime Minister Abdulaziz Saleh bin Habtoor, during which he praised the continued operations of the university as a “type of breaking the siege and the systematic media blackout by the American-Saudi-Emirati aggression coalition.”
Sanaa University was established in 1970 as the first modern university in the country. It hosts a variety of programs typical of most universities: 124 specializations and scientific departments, according to the website. These include departments or colleges of dentistry, engineering, environmental protection, computer and information technology, and pharmacy. A more unusual college is the Faculty of Sharia and Law.
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The website says that 80,000 students presently study there, both male and female.
The university has suffered as a result of the civil war and interventions. The president of the university, professor Al Qasim Mohammad Abbas, narrowly survived an assassination attempt in 2014 by unknown gunmen.