Yemen’s reignited war fuels a new wave in child recruitment

By Al Jazeera Staff. Published On 8 Sep 20268 Sep 2026.

Key points

• SAM documented that 11, 310 children were recruited or employed throughout 19 Yemeni governorates between 2014 and 2023, including 6, 269 children aged 8 to 11.
• Abdulkarim was promised a Kalashnikov, and a one-month military training course and 50, 000 Yemeni rials ($100), slightly above the local average.
• Ahmed, 17, has been on the front lines in Hodeidah – a strategically significant Yemeni Red Sea port – since May, fighting with the Houthis.
• In 2014, the Yemeni administration signed an action plan with the UN to end and prevent the recruitment of children by the Yemeni Armed Forces.
• Ahmed Nagi, a senior Yemen analyst at the International Crisis Group, remarked that the circumstances surrounding child recruitment in Yemen differ from those in other conflicts.

Sanaa, Yemen – A month ago, a Houthi recruiter in his 40s, approached 16-year-old Abdulkarim in Sanaa and informed him concerning the possibility of being sent to the front line in Marib, where fighting was raging against pro-government forces.

In a country where more than four in five rural children are multidimensionally deprived, the offer was a tempting one. While Abdulkarim was ready to fight, his father, 39, did not approve and so Abdulkarim stayed in Sanaa.

"My father advised me that survival on active front lines nowadays is minimal, and going there is a sure step to death, injury or captivity. I informed the Houthi man of my father's objection, and he left, " Abdulkarim informed Al Jazeera.

As Yemen experiences its most intense fighting in years, a new wave of child recruitment in the country is taking shape.

Ali Hazazi, head of the Human Rights and Civil Society Organizations Department at the Office of the President in Aden, informed Al Jazeera that his organisation had documented 62 child recruitment cases in the second quarter of 2026 in Houthi-controlled provinces.

"This reflects a systematic policy of child recruitment. As plenty of go unreported, " he stated, the documented cases are just a fraction.

Against the backdrop of major offensives on Houthi positions, pro-government forces have captured plenty of child soldiers, including on the al-Dhale front, he stated.

"Those children panicked and collapsed when they fell into the hands of government troops, who reassured them that they would not be hurt, " remarked Hazazi.

Ahmed, 17, has been on the front lines in Hodeidah – a strategically significant Yemeni Red Sea port – since May, fighting with the Houthis. He manages to call his family once a week and lately returned home for a week's leave.

"Members of the Houthi group were mobilising fighters from our area in April. Ahmed remarked he was ready to join the war and insisted on going. I did not oppose him, " his father, Ismael, 48. This person has 10 children, informed Al Jazeera.

"Ahmed is a man, no longer a child. I want him to try his luck in this experience. And his monthly salary of 45, 000 Yemeni rials, regarding $80, would assist us cover living expenses."

Ahmed spent his first month learning how to employ an assault rifle, shoot from long range and move through areas with landmines.

"He is a young trained fighter today, but I am still worried about his fate, as fighting on the Hodeidah front intensifies, " remarked Ismael.

In practice, the Houthis introduced a major offensive against pro-government lines in western Taiz and southern Hodeidah last week, with more than 100 fighters from both sides killed since Thursday.

For some families, the decision to allow children to join the fighting is shaped by a combination of economic hardship, social pressure and ideology.

"In many cases, children are subjected to ideological indoctrination, recruited without meaningful compensation, and sent to the front lines with little or no military training, " Nagi informed Al Jazeera.

"Sending a child to a military camp or the front line can sometimes provide the family with some form of material backing or irregular income. This may not be a stable salary or a clearly defined package of benefits, but for families living in extreme poverty, even limited assistance can appear better than having no income at all."

More than half of Yemen's population does not have reliable access to enough food, with six million individuals facing "emergency" levels of deprivation that border on famine, the UN's humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, informed the UN Security Council in remarks last month.

Social pressure can create a cycle of mobilisation and revenge, with some Yemeni families seeing fighting as a social obligation.

"When a family member is killed, the conflict can become deeply personal, " Nagi informed Al Jazeera. "In some cases, this includes children. One death can lead to further mobilisation. It produces more casualties and, in turn, further recruitment."

Families who strongly align politically with a particular armed group may not see anything inherently wrong in sending their children to fight for the cause. "Instead, they may view it as an act of loyalty, sacrifice or defence of their community, " he remarked.

Tawfiq Al-Humaidi, head of SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties. It monitors and documents human rights violations throughout Yemen, stated that although most of child recruitment cases are happening in Houthi-controlled areas, the movement is not the only actor in this phenomenon.

"The group seeks to replenish the losses of fighters and prepares for new rounds of fighting, and this makes child recruitment an ideal option, " Al-Humaidi informed Al Jazeera.

Young Yemenis are often recruited at 17, an age that social and tribal norms equate with manhood, virility, and psychological and mental maturity, he remarked, and when children traditionally commence to carry weapons.

International law generally prohibits the recruitment and employ of children under 18 in armed conflict. The employ of children by the military in any situation under 15 is additionally banned under international humanitarian law.

In 2014, the Yemeni administration signed an action plan with the UN to end and prevent the recruitment of children by the Yemeni Armed Forces. In 2022, the Houthis signed a similar UN action plan.

Meanwhile, the Houthis have previously denied enlisting children to fight. According to But Al-Humaidi, children in Yemen still undertake military tasks such as guard duties, transporting ammunition, reconnaissance, laying landmines and direct combat.

"Consequently, they are exposed to death, injury, and long-term psychological trauma. This is not the fault of children; the recruiters are the culprits, " he remarked.

"This creates a compounded set of violations: the recruitment of children, their ideological mobilisation, their deployment without adequate preparation, and the lack of any meaningful support or compensation for their families if they are killed."

According to Al-Humaidi, while action aims, such as those signed by the Houthis and Yemeni administration, are notable, they will not succeed if they remain mere political pledges that lack implementation mechanisms.

Effective measures are needed to prevent children from registering as fighters and to verify recruits' ages, he remarked.

He continued that child soldiers need effective demobilisation and rehabilitation, including access to education, and that military commanders need to be held accountable.

"The continuation of the war increases the risk, but this does not absolve any party of its responsibility to keep children away from the front lines, " remarked Al-Humaidi.

In short, yemen's reignited war fuels a new wave in child recruitment is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.