Thousands of Yemeni bridegrooms celebrate mass wedding

Thousands of bridegrooms celebrated a mass wedding in the Yemeni capital on Thursday. More than 3,500 bridegrooms took part in the ceremony at al-Shaab Mosque of Sanaa. As a tradition, men and women are often separated during weddings in some Muslim communities. The grooms, dressed in traditional attire, performed a folklore dance during their wedding ceremony. The mass wedding was organized by the Houthi General Authority of Zakat, a word in Arabic that refers to a form of almsgiving in Islam. The authority said the aim behind the wedding is to support more than 7,000 poor people to get married. Millions in war-torn Yemen are jobless and live in poverty. The country's war began with the 2014 takeover of Sanaa by the Houthi rebels, who control much of the country's north. The Saudi-led coalition entered the war the following year, determined to restore the internationally recognized government and oust the rebels. The war has deteriorated largely into a stalemate and has spawned the world's worst humanitarian crisis.