Yemen Conflict – How did the war start? – The Houthis, and Saleh’s role and UN’s attempts

The Story is about the Yemen Conflict which resulted in Civil War which has taken over 100,000 people and more than 12,000 civilians till now. Yemen which went from being the heart of ancient Arabia to becoming one of the poorest countries in the Middle East is suffering from much humanitarian crisis. For the last many years, Yemen and its people are devastated by a civil war going in the country. Despite having a treasure of gas and oil resources and a large portion of cultivable farming land, the country which was once called Arabia Felix which means happy or lucky Arabia is undergoing a very pathetic situation with its people are lagging behind for every basic necessity including necessary medical aid.

In between this war going for many years, millions of Yemenis are suffering every single day when it comes to their survival. Yemenis are on a brink of famine and their situation is getting worse. Local groups are fighting with each other on the ground while a Saudi-Arabia led-coalition is bombing from above. Almost the entire population of Yemen is suffering. For the last many years, the situation has remained the same, and Yemenis civilians are wondering if there is anything that could drag them out of the crisis.

Mohammed Huwais/AFP

Yemen is a country in the Middle East and is lies in the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. The country’s population is nearly 30.8 million and some 20 million people require humanitarian assistance, as per experts. This means around 66 percent of the entire population of Yemen is more than the combined population of many well-to-do countries. Yemen has indeed been in and out of conflict and political instability has prevailed here since the 1960s.

In all these wars that occurred over the last many years, thousands of Yemenis have died and a large number of people have been forced to flee their homes. As per UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, one of our every eight Yemini is displaced. A handful of people who were financially stable managed to afford the shifting but a large population was not fortunate enough. These ongoing wars have badly affected the country’s economy and infrastructural development as hospitals, schools, residential buildings, roads, etc have all been a target.

This also led to an acute shortage of food and medical supplies. It would not be shocking to know that majority of people in Yemen struggle to buy food for their families while some even can’t afford to sleep on a mattress. In the last few years, Yemen suffered a massive Cholera outbreak but 50 percent i.e. half of the health facilities were functional. The civil war has to be blamed for the condition of Yemenis who are on a brink of famine.

Yemen Conflict: How did the war start?

Ali Abdullah Saleh was the president of Yemen for 20 years since 1990 and he was the person who had once compared ruling over Yemen to dancing overheads of snakes. Standing up to his expectation, the Yemenis rose up against Saleh in Arab Spring of 2011 with a hope that this might improve the situation but unfortunately, it didn’t. Instead of bringing them peace, it led to a civil war. Coming to the next big player i.e. Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is one of the most influential members of a club of countries known as the Gulf Corporation Council (GCC).

Aljazeera/EPA

It was no other but the GCC that watched over the negotiations that forced Saleh out of Yemen. GCC’s help lead to the establishment of a new government in Yemen and the Vice-President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was made the in-charge.

By 2014, some of the Yemen groups began losing their tolerance power and one of them was Houthis. Houthis are the Shia Muslim minority from northern Yemen. According to them, they were marginalized and they had often rebelled against the government. During the Arab Spring, they had also actively participated in the uprising against Saleh. Now, what changed the entire scenario is that both the Houthis and Saleh were once sidelined by the GCC’s new government plans and this rivalry formed their alliance.

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The Houthis, with some of Saleh’s supporters, took over Yemen’s capital Sanaa in 2014. Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia and the Saudis then formed a coalition with other countries to bring Hadi back to power. The Saudi-led intervention eventually led to ruthless airstrikes. The Saudi groups claim that they have targeted the enemies but it actually killed thousands of Yemenis through bombings in schools and hospitals.

Now, the most unfortunate thing is not just the war but it is the helplessness of the Yemenis civilians in getting even medical aid. In 2015, the Saudi-led coalition created a land, sea, and air barrier around Yemen, making it nearly impossible for supplies to get in or out. Yemenis desperately need medical assistance but what’s happening in their situation is getting worse.

Yemenis are deprived of food, the doctors often remain out of medicines, severe diseases like the Cholera outbreak have spread in the country and the majority of the population is living in poverty. Despite having such immense oil and gas resources, the country remains to be one of the poorest countries of all. A large section of children are in dire need of humanitarian aid and as claimed by some experts, the situation in Yemen is rapidly becoming one of the country’s worst humanitarian disasters.

EPA

With the time being, some war dynamics have changed. The Houthis and Saleh alliance broke down in 2017 after fighting with the Saudi-led group. In a television interview, Saleh had expressed that he wanted to talk to the coalition but just after two days, he was killed by Houthis. At present, the Houthis still have control over Sanaa and also have an upper hand in the war. Let us talk about the role of Iran here. Being the biggest Shia power in the region, Iran openly claims of supporting the Houthis but denies supporting them militarily.

But Saudi Arabia and other countries believe that Iran does have participated in the war. It is dangerous because two major rivals i.e. Saudi Arabia and Iran are backing two major opposite sides in a war. Both the countries have never actually declared war on each other but they have seen backing opposite sides. Between all such happenings, the common people in Yemen are suffering a lot.

A few days ago, dozens of people were killed in an air raid on a prison in northern Yemen, as per a Houthi official. This happened after a night of deadly bombing underlined a dramatic escalation in violence in the country’s long-running conflict. This civil war going for last many years seems to have no end while some experts believe diplomacy is the only weapon that might bring peace. At present, a stalemate of finger-pointing and fighting is going on between the big players in the war despite the UN’s many attempts at peace deals.

But as with any war, diplomacy could be the only way to put an end to the war going on in Yemen, forcing millions of Yemenis to suffer every single day.  The people of Yemen deserve much better than this and their lives need to be changed. The youngsters who are a major part of the country’s population definitely need a better life since they are being considered the country’s future.

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