A Houthi element was killed in clashes with qat sellers at a tax collection point north of Ibb

A Houthi element was killed in clashes with qat sellers at one of the militia's checkpoints in the Al-Sahoul area, north of the city of Ibb (central Yemen).

Local sources told "Yemeni Youth Net" that tax collectors affiliated with the Houthi militia in the Al-Sahoul area, north of Ibb, entered into a dispute yesterday with qat sellers over the qat tax.

The sources added that the Houthi elements seized the qat after the sellers refused to pay double taxes imposed by the militia on them, amounting to a third of the value of the qat.

The sources reported that a dispute broke out between the Houthi elements and the vendors as a result, which escalated to the use of weapons between the two sides.

She added that the clashes resulted in the killing of a Houthi tax collector named Mubarak Abdullah Abu Al-Hassan, while the vendors fled after the incident.

The incident of the Al-Sahoul checkpoint in Ibb Governorate, in which tax collector Mubarak Abdullah Abu Al-Hassan was killed.
Abu Al Hassan was killed at the age of 37.

People began to resent the unfair levies imposed on them by the Houthis in Ibb Governorate... pic.twitter.com/iiQ5hz0pl7

- Ibrahim Asqin (@IbrahimAsqin) October 28, 2024

The sources indicated that the militia returned later and carried out a security campaign in the Ahwal al-Thalath area in the city of Ibb and kidnapped a person named "Mustafa al-Bukhaiti" and one of his relatives on charges of participating in an exchange of fire with its members at a tax collection point.

Qat sellers complain about the double taxes imposed on them by the Houthi militia at collection points at city entrances and sales sites, which has forced many of them to leave the profession while others have gone bankrupt.

According to informed sources, the total amount of qat tax supplied to the militia monthly in Ibb Governorate amounts to 520 million riyals (about one million dollars) per month, in addition to that which is arbitrarily imposed on sellers in markets and checkpoints.