Houthi gunmen killed local General People’s Congress (GPC) leader and tribal Sheikh Mohammed Abdo Al-W’eel on Saturday in Al-Nadera district in Ibb governorate for refusing to help recruit fighters to the frontlines, according to local members of the Al-W’eel tribe.

Relatives of Al-W'eel said the killers were smuggled to Ibb City, the governorate's capital, after the incident to evade responsibility for the crime amid tribal efforts to contain retaliation from Beit Al-W’eel. The Houthis later claimed it happened by mistake.  

Meanwhile, Shaker Al-Shabibi, Houthi supervisor and security director of Al-Odain district, ordered the kidnapping of dozens of citizens in Al-Odain, west of Ibb City. Local residents said that most of those kidnapped were taken from the family of Beit ‘Al-Shahari. Al-Shabibi also abducted Sheikh Hamid Ahmed Amin Al-Shahari, a prominent figure in Beit Al-Shahari, along with residents of the village of Qamana, which overlooks the Wadi Al-Dour area, and transferred them to Houthi prisons in the center of Al-Odain. 

The Al-Shahari family has demanded that Al-Shabibi, previously accused of killing another Al-Shahari family member in recent weeks, face trial. While the justice system in Houthi-controlled areas tends to be biased toward the Houthis, tribal pressure also influences the outcome of such trials. 

In a separate incident in Ibb City, Houthi leader Abu Ali Al-Mutawakkil, along with several gunmen, stormed the house of local official Ahmed Qassim Obaitari, frightening family members including women and children. No one was injured.