A gun-selling network linked to Iranian-backed militants has been openly trading weapons on Elon Musk’s platform X.
Arms dealers based in Houthi-controlled Yemen have been using the social media site to buy and sell rifles, handguns and grenade launchers.
Dozens of arms dealers based in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, controlled by the Houthis, are effectively using X as a shopfront, posting pictures of assault rifles for sale. Many are touting the guns under the Houthi logo that reads: “God is the greatest, death to America, death to Israel, a curse on the Jews and victory to Islam.”
Yemen has one of the world’s highest densities of firearms
KHALED ABDULLAH/REUTERS
Some of the gun dealers’ X accounts have verified blue ticks, giving them increased prominence on the network.
The Houthis have been designated a global terrorist group