Explaining the issues: The Yemen Civil War

UNICEF declared in June that the Yemen Civil War is the largest humanitarian crisis in the world right now. More than 112,000 people have been killed in the conflict, many civilians, and more than 9,000 of those deaths were children that died from starvation and a cholera outbreak. How did this even happen?

The Yemen Civil War has its origins in the Arab Spring Conflict, a series of anti-government protests, uprisings and rebellions throughout the Middle East in the early 2010’s. These protests forced the authoritarian president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, out of office. Saleh handed power to his deputy, Addrabbuh Mansour Hadi. This political transition was supposed to bring unity and strengthen to the country. However, Hadi struggled in his new role.

As a result of the struggling government, the Houthi armed movement took control of the Saada province and its neighboring areas in the northwestern part of the country. The Houthi are motivated by Ali Abdullah Saleh’s economic discrimination of northern Yemen. However, the Houthi later allied with Saleh and used this combined power to take over the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. Evidence such as drones and interceptions by major intelligence agencies have led to rumors that the Houthi are backed by Iran. The Hadi government is backed by a Saudi-led coalition, which leads missile strikes with the goal of restoring Hadi as the leader of Yemen. As a result, the Yemen Civil War has been called a proxy war between Saudi Arabia, which is part of the Sunni sect of Islam, and Iran, part of the Shia sect of Islam.

The fighting in the country has escalated significantly since the beginning of the conflict, with both sides using landmines, missiles and harassing and intimidating journalists and activists. The terrorist group Al-Qaeda has also taken advantage of the chaos, conquering territory in the southern part of the country. Most US actions in the war have been to stop Al-Qaeda actions. In addition, a cholera outbreak in 2017 killed 21,000 and infected almost 900,000 adding to the humanitarian crisis as a result of the war. With humanitarian aid being blocked and key port cities constantly changing hands, necessary aid is not reaching the people who need it.

With many world authorities, including the United States, signalling that the war in Yemen needs to end, what exactly is being done? In this conflict, the US has supported Saudia Arabia and the Hadi government. Most US efforts on achieving peace in Yemen have been focused on national reconciliation; a situation where the Houthis and the Hadi government could live together. But the United Nations has been trying to achieve this type of solution for years and both Saudia Arabia and the Houthi’s become more deep-seated in their positions as time passes. According to the National Interest, the Biden-Harris administration could focus on smaller objectives in the war, like eliminating Iranian support for the Houthis, and not reaching for the larger goal of a unified country. By building up from smaller goals, violence in Yemen could subside and humanitarian aid can reach those in need.

The violence and the fighting in Yemen continues to rage on and a peace treaty seems far off considering the friction between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Many militias and political factions in the country are unwilling to compromise and are reluctant to give up arms. Any peace that is achieved would leave a government that needs enormous amounts of foreign help in order to rebuild Yemen’s destroyed infrastructure and humanitarian needs that are aggravated by the coronavirus pandemic.