Yemeni arms dealers sell machine guns on X

Arms traffickers in Yemen are openly using the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to sell Kalashnikovs, pistols, grenades and grenade launchers.

The traders operate in the capital Sanaa and other areas controlled by the Houthis, an Iranian-backed rebel group considered terrorists by the US and Australian governments.

“It is inconceivable that they (arms traffickers) are not acting on behalf of the Houthis,” said former British ambassador to Yemen Edmund Fitton-Brown, who now works for the Counter Extremism Project.

“Purely private dealers who would try to profit from supplying (for example) to the Yemeni government would be quickly dismantled.”

An investigation by The Times newspaper found that several Yemeni accounts had the blue verification check mark.

The Times and the BBC have both contacted X for comment but have so far received no response.

Most of the platform’s content moderators were laid off after new owner Elon Musk bought the company in 2022.

The ads are mostly in Arabic and are aimed primarily at Yemeni customers in a country where it is often said that there are three times as many guns as there are people.

The BBC found several examples online, offering weapons at prices in Yemeni and Saudi riyals.

The words next to the weapons are designed to attract buyers.

“Top-notch craftsmanship and top-notch warranty,” one ad reads. “The Yemeni-modified AK is your best choice.”

A demonstration video, filmed at night, shows the seller firing a 30-round magazine in full-auto mode.

Another is offering sand-colored Glock pistols made in Pakistan for about $900 each.

Yet these ads are not hidden in the depths of the Dark Web, where weapons and other illegal items are commonly traded, they are in plain sight on X, openly accessible to millions of people.

Commenting on this, the British NGO Tech Against Terrorism issued what it called an urgent call for tech platforms to actively remove content supporting the Houthis from the internet and social media platforms.

The Houthis, a mountainous tribal minority, seized power in Yemen in 2014, ousting the UN-recognized government.

Since then, a seven-year military campaign by neighboring Saudi Arabia has failed to eliminate them, as the country descended into civil war.

In late 2023, the Houthis, who have a large arsenal of drones and missiles, many supplied by Iran, targeted commercial and naval shipping in the Red Sea.

The Houthis claim this is in support of Palestinians in Gaza, but many of the ships have no connection to Israel.

A US-led maritime force off the coast has failed to stop Houthi attacks on ships, which have had a disastrous effect on trade through Egypt’s Suez Canal.