Sanaa, Yemen – In 2020, 18-year-old Munif bid farewell to his family and left his home in Sanaa to fight with the Houthis on the front lines of Yemen’s civil war After six months, all of his comrades went back to their families, but Munif never returned home. More than six years have passed, and Munif’s family, who asked to use just his first name for security reasons, are still searching for answers about his fate. He is one of hundreds of people who have disappeared in Yemen since war broke out in September 2014, when the Houthis – an armed group also known as Ansar Allah (Arabic for Supporters of God) – captured the capital and forced the internationally-recognised government to flee south.
We asked them about my brother’s whereabouts, but none could tell us where he had gone,” said Mohammed, Munif’s brother. Since July this year, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has received more than 1,800 tracing requests from families looking for missing relatives in Yemen. But the resumption of fighting in July has halted this search for many families, who are trying to find out if loved ones have been detained, injured, killed, or simply lost in records, due to displacement or desertion.
After careful consideration, Mohammed believes there are two possible outcomes for his brother, Munif. If Munif was killed in an explosion, finding a body part that could be identified would bring the family some relief. But the family is still hoping for the latter scenario, and that Munif is being held captive by government forces.
We just need to know what happened to him,” he said. However, they emerged alive after years of captivity. So, Munif may still be alive.” Both sides have held many prisoners of war over the decade-long conflict, but the number of captives remains uncertain.
In May, Yemen’s internationally-recognised government and the Houthis signed a United Nations-backed agreement in Jordan to exchange more than 1,600 detainees. However, the implementation of the deal was postponed after both sides accused each other of obstructing the agreement. Abdulaziz, 24, has been on the front lines in Marib, an energy-rich region in central Yemen, fighting for the Houthis.
Before the recent surge in fighting, he used to call his family once every 10 days. But for the past two months, his family has not heard from him. Fighting has intensified on the front lines in Marib and Al-Jawf since the Houthis seized part of the Yemeni coast in September, and Rashid al-Alimi, the head of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), announced a counteroffensive by government forces.
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