General Ben Aziz: Yemen’s Decisive Battle Is in the Minds Rather than on Field
Yemen Monitor / Marib / By Abdullah Al-Attar:
The Chief of General Staff, Major General Sagheer bin Aziz, affirmed that the current conflict in Yemen has moved beyond being merely a military battle to fundamentally becoming an intellectual and educational battle of the first degree. He stressed the necessity of fortifying Yemeni generations against sectarian and dynastic (Sallali) ideology.
In an exclusive statement to “Yemen Monitor” on the sidelines of his participation in an educational forum in Marib, Ben Aziz said that confronting the “extremist Houthi dynastic ideology” requires building an “enlightened republican consciousness” that works to deeply root national values in the young generation, which would guarantee the protection of society from “superstition and theocracy (Kahnut).”
General Ben Aziz’s remarks came during the educational forum held under the slogan “September and October: Renewed Glow and Unique Giving,” organized by the Education Office in Marib Governorate in collaboration with Al-Qalam Foundation for Thought and Culture. It targeted school principals and educational activity officials.
Ben Aziz’s focus on “republican consciousness” and the “values of September and October” is a direct response to the campaign to sectarianize the curricula in Houthi-controlled areas.
Ben Aziz pointed out that the forum’s main goal is to enhance national identity within educational circles and unify the educational discourse around the principles of the Yemeni Revolution and the Republic. This, he stated, has a direct impact on immunizing students against the destructive ideas sought by sectarian groups.
He added that the educational institution represents the “first intellectual line of defense for the Republic and the Revolution,” placing a great responsibility on teachers and educators to instill the principles of the September and October Revolutions in the students’ conscience. He asserted that this generation is the “generation of awareness and building, capable of protecting the homeland, completing the process of liberation, and restoring the state.”
The Chief of Staff concluded his statement by emphasizing that preserving the gains of the Revolution and the Republic is a “national, religious, and moral duty,” calling on all state and community institutions to integrate their efforts in consolidating national identity and confronting the dynastic-theocratic (Sallali Kahanuti) ideology that seeks to “return Yemen to ages of darkness and backwardness.”
Ben Aziz’s statements come amid a continuous battle with the Houthis and a truce in place since April 2022, at a time when the Houthi group is imposing widespread changes to curricula in areas under its control, aiming to ideologize education and color it with sectarian and dynastic ideology that contradicts the values of the two Yemeni revolutions.
