The Yemeni Minister of Defense, Lieutenant General Mohsen Al-Daari, today, Wednesday, accused the international community of being lenient with the terrorist Houthi militia in recruiting children and using them in armed conflicts.

This came during the Minister of Defense’s meeting with a UN delegation headed by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Virginia Gamba, to discuss strengthening cooperation between the Ministry of Defense and international organizations to prevent the recruitment and use of children in armed conflicts.

Minister Al-Daari said, “The terrorist Houthi militia uses children as fuel for its criminal war on the Yemenis through its alien ideas, sectarian cycles, brainwashing, and throwing thousands of deceived children into death pyres.”

The Minister of Defense stressed that “the Yemeni army forces are a regular, trained force that is committed to and adheres to local and international laws, unlike the Houthi terrorist militia, which violates all customs, laws and charters.”

For her part, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Virginia Gamba, praised the efforts of the Ministry of Defense in the process of preventing the recruitment and use of children in the conflict, looking forward to more coordination and cooperation to achieve the greatest degree of protection for childhood in Yemen.