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Arabia
Guns 'n Grammar: Yemen Pupils Find Classes Full of Ammo
2014-09-30
[AnNahar] Back to school for young Yemenis in Sanaa Monday was a stark reminder of why many missed classes in the first place -- rebels were using it as an arms dump.

Iranian catspaws had swept into the north of the city from their northern mountain stronghold, pressing the authorities for reforms and a greater say in the impoverished country's affairs.

After days of brief but bloody fighting, mainly in the north of the city where the Shamlan school is located, the Houthis, known as Ansarullah, occupied it after overrunning Sanaa on September 21.

Children who turned up on Monday after the school was supposed to have reopened found the gates firmly shut and ended up having classes in the street outside.

Appropriately, when it was time for drawing, many sketched pictures of tanks and machineguns.

"We have a war at school," explained one pupil about the picture he had made.

Rebels remained tight-lipped when some parents of the hundreds of students at Shamlan school asked when they would vacate the building.

Ansarullah has lined up armored vehicles in the playground and filled the classrooms with ammunition.

The rebels, who captured key state installations and military bases and now hold sway over most of Sanaa, seized large amounts of weapons during their offensive.

Headmistress Fawzia al-Ashem appeared torn between a ministerial decision to reopen the school on Monday and the Lion of Islams' refusal to move out.

"It was decided to reopen the school without thinking what's inside it," she told Agence La Belle France-Presse.

Schools in the area had closed temporarily because of heavy fighting between the rebels and Sunni Islamists of al-Islah (reform) party.

And although rebels continue to rule the roost in Sanaa's streets amid an almost total absence of mainstream security forces, the education ministry went ahead and told schools to reopen on Monday.

"The Huthis are justifying their occupation of the place by saying that they have the right to stay," one parent said.

"They claim they're trying to find somewhere else to stock their weapons, but I don't believe them," he added, asking not to be identified for security reasons.

The U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) said twice during the fighting that it was concerned about schooling in the capital, urging all parties to respect the right to an education and to vacate occupied schools.

Hours after taking over the capital eight days ago, the Huthis signed an agreement to end the fighting, mediated by U.N. envoy Jamal Benomar.

And after initially hesitating, on Saturday the rebels signed the accord's security protocol, stipulating the withdrawal of their forces from Sanaa once a new prime minister is named.

But President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi has so far failed to name the new premier.

Yemen's authorities have in the past accused Iran of backing the rebels, who also appear influenced by Leb's Hizbullah
...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
The rebels now roaming freely in Sanaa had battled the government for years, complaining of marginalization.

Many lessons remain to be learned in the Arab world's poorest country, but for the children of Shamlan school in Sanaa they will just have to wait.
Posted by:trailing wife

#5  Not quite Crayolas, Lincoln Logs, + cardboard drawing paper, etc. now is it???
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2014-09-30 23:54  

#4  Just prepping the young jihadists?
Posted by: JohnQC   2014-09-30 15:49  

#3  The cliques are brutal.
Posted by: Shipman   2014-09-30 09:44  

#2  So, it's like a vocational school, then?
Posted by: ed in texas   2014-09-30 07:27  

#1  Yemen Pupils Find Classes Full of Ammo

That's nothing, at recess the pupils found the AK-47 in the lunch room, I believe the classes let out early that day... for Shia Target practice lessons.


Posted by: Wheresh Croluck9192   2014-09-30 01:42  

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