The BBC and The Times reported on Thursday that Iranian-backed arms dealers in Yemen are openly selling Kalashnikov rifles, pistols and grenade launchers on X (formerly Twitter).
The BBC and The Times reported that gun dealers based in the country’s capital Sanaa and Houthi-controlled areas have placed the X in their storefronts, displaying photos of assault rifles they want to sell. Many of the images of the weapons for sale feature the Houthi logo and the words “God is greatest, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews, Victory to Islam.”
“They [the weapons dealers] “We are not working for the Houthis,” Edmund Fitton-Brown, a former British ambassador to Yemen, who now works for the Counter Extremism Project, told the BBC.
“Purely private dealers who wanted to profit from the supply [for example] The Yemeni government will be shut down soon.”
Dr Elizabeth Kendall, a Yemen expert at Cambridge University, said the traffickers would have the Houthis’ approval as they are operating in Houthi territory. A protester holds up a poster of Houthi leader Abdul Malik Al Houthi and a weapon during a rally in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip amid the conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Sana’a, Yemen, 26 July 2024. (Credit: REUTERS/KHALED ABDULLAH)
“You can’t do business in these areas unless you get some sort of sanctions from the Houthis,” Kendall said.
The Times found that some of the accounts had a blue check mark that distinguishes them from regular accounts and gives them greater reach. X did not respond to requests for comment from the Times or the BBC.
The ad, written in Arabic, reportedly targets customers primarily in Yemen. According to a 2017 Small Arms Survey, Yemen is the second most armed country after the United States, with 54.8 out of 100 people owning a firearm and approximately 14,859,000 weapons in civilian hands.
The BBC has found several similar arms adverts on the internet, with prices for the weapons listed in both Yemeni and Saudi Arabian currencies.
Many featured wording intended to promote the product as high quality.
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“Top quality craftsmanship and the highest level of warranty,” one ad read. “Yemeni modified AKs are the best choice.”
X’s Advertisement
The Jerusalem Post found and identified several of the ads. One ad posted on July 27 read, “Yemeni AKs are superior weapons with amazing quality, effectiveness and performance. From Yemeni Military Industries. Our weapons are our pride. Made in Yemen.”
Another photo seen by The Post, shown for sale in Sanaa and with a phone number attached, shows a Turkish-issued Sar 9 with attachments attached.
One of the most popular guns for sale is the Kalashnikov AK-103, which appears to be being sold as a “genuine Yemeni version,” The Washington Post reported.
The profile of the site, @DhiaaArms, states: “Buying and selling all kinds of weapons and military supplies. Address: Sana’a, Dar Salam, Al-Hindwana Market. Contact: 775102660.”
SARSILMAZ SAR 9 كلك سار 9 تركـي وكالـه مضمـون لون بيج ورصاصي ( بلاتينيوم ) ابو 17 طلقه عيار 9ملي كلك بضاا عه من المعـدوووم جداد زيـرووو مع توابعـها ضياء المنتصر ᡕᠵ᠊ᡃ່࡚ࠢ࠘ ⸝່ࠡࠣ᠊Prediction᠆ࠣ࠘ᡁࠣ࠘᠊᠊ࠢ࠘ صنعاء / 775102660 pic.twitter.com/DA5VfRVkDv
— Predictions (@DhiaaArms) August 18, 2024
Another store is selling sand-colored, Pakistani-made Glock pistols for about $900 each.
The accounts primarily encourage buyers to connect through Telegram or monetization platform Patreon and complete sales using cryptocurrency, the Times added.
Clear Visibility
Arms dealers typically hide on the dark web, but these dealers are easy to search and their pages are accessible to millions of people. It took The Post less than a minute to find dozens of dealers on X.
Following the findings, UK-based NGO Tech Against Terrorism issued an “urgent call” for tech platforms to remove Houthi-related content from their sites.
Selling weapons on X violates the platform’s terms of use, and experts told The Times that the company’s failure to identify transactions linked to the Houthi movement could mean Elon Musk’s company has violated U.S. law.
“We know that the Houthis have actively used social media to raise funds, purchase weapons and transport them. This is in addition to fundraising and soliciting on those platforms,” said Tim Lenderking, the US special envoy for Yemen.
“X has a lamentable history of failing to provide proper oversight of extremists,” Fitton Brown told The Times. [and] This is a problem that has obviously worsened since Twitter became X. The very fact that we are selling a blue checkmark to terrorist organisations like the Houthis and the Taliban is a clear violation of sanctions and law.” Armed Houthi supporters ride in the back of a pickup truck as they take part in a parade in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and to demonstrate support for Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, in Sanaa, Yemen, January 29, 2024. (Credit: KHALED ABDULLAH/REUTERS)
“If the transaction is being conducted through X and its payment facilities, it is likely violating sanctions against the Houthis. Any payment processors involved will likely also be held liable,” said Jessica Davis, a terrorism financing expert and president of Insight Threat Intelligence.
“One of the big questions here is whether Company X and the associated payment processors are actually conducting due diligence to ensure that their platform and services are not used to fund or facilitate terrorism.”
Other terrorist groups
Dr Kendall also said there was a risk the weapons could end up in the hands of other terrorist groups, such as al-Qaida.
A November 2023 UN Security Council report stated that Somali terrorists from al-Shabaab used Yemeni weapons in an assassination attempt.
“Independent researchers have established that Yemeni arms dealers communicate by mobile phone and frequently use hawala transfers to send and receive international remittances,” a 2023 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report titled “Illegal Arms Trafficking” states.
According to the International Monetary Fund, hawala, which means “remittance” in Arabic, is a system for transferring funds from one place to another through a service provider called a hawaladar.
The Houthis are designated a terrorist organisation by many countries, including Israel and the US, after repeated attacks on ships in the Red Sea that they claim support the Palestinians, and Iran has been accused of supplying them with weapons.