BACKGROUND:-
Central governance in Yemen, embodied by the decades-long rule of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, began to unravel in 2011, when political unrest broke out throughout the Arab world. Popular youth protests in Yemen were gradually supplanted by political elites jockeying to replace then-President Saleh. Ultimately, infighting among various centers of Yemeni political power broke out in the capital, and government authority throughout the country eroded. Soon, militias associated with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula seized territory in one southern province. Concerned that the political unrest and resulting security vacuum were strengthening terrorist elements, the United States, Saudi Arabia, and other members of the international community attempted to broker a political compromise. A transition plan was brokered, and in 2012 former Vice President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi became president.
With the support of the United States, Saudi Arabia, and the United Nations Security Council, President Hadi attempted to reform Yemen’s political system. Throughout 2013, key players convened a National Dialogue Conference aimed at reaching broad national consensus on a new political order. However, in January 2014 it ended without agreement. The houthi movement started.
THE HOUTHI MOVEMENT: -
The Houthi movement officially called Ansar Allah "Supporters of God", is an Islamic religious-political-armed movement that emerged from Sa'dah in northern Yemen. They are of the Zaidi sect though the movement reportedly also includes Sunnis. The movement's expressed goals include combating economic underdevelopment and political marginalization in Yemen while seeking greater autonomy for Houthi-majority regions of the country. They also claim to support a more democratic non-sectarian republic in Yemen. The Houthis took part in the 2011 Yemeni Revolution by participating in street protests and by coordinating with other opposition groups. They joined the National Dialogue Conference in Yemen as part of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) initiative to broker peace following the unrest. However, the Houthis would later reject the November 2011 GCC deal's provisions stipulating formation of six federal regions in Yemen, claiming that the deal did not fundamentally reform governance and that the proposed federalization "divided Yemen into poor and wealthy regions". Houthis also feared the deal was a blatant attempt to weaken them by dividing areas under their control between separate regions.
THE WAR IN YEMEN: -
For three years, Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country, has been wracked by a bloody war between the Houthis and supporters of Yemen's internationally recognized government.
The conflict has its roots in the failure of a political transition supposed to bring stability to Yemen following an Arab Spring uprising that forced its longtime authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to hand over power to his deputy, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, in 2011.
The Houthis and security forces loyal to Saleh - who is thought to have backed his erstwhile enemies in a bid to regain power - then attempted to take control of the entire country, forcing Mr Hadi to flee abroad in March 2015.
Alarmed by the rise of a group they believed to be backed militarily by regional Shia power Iran, Saudi Arabia and eight other mostly Sunni Arab states began an air campaign aimed at restoring Mr Hadi's government. The coalition received logistical and intelligence support from the US, UK and France.
A military intervention was launched by Saudi Arabia in 2015, leading a coalition of nine African and Middle East countries, in response to calls from the internationally recognized pro-Saudi President of Yemen Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi for military support after he was ousted by the Houthi movement due to economic and political grievances, and fled to Saudi Arabia.
At the start of the war Saudi officials forecast that the war would last only a few weeks. But almost four years of military stalemate have followed.
Coalition ground troops landed in the southern port city of Aden in August 2015 and helped drive the Houthis and their allies out of much of the south over the next few months. Mr Hadi's government has established a temporary home in Aden, but it struggles to provide basic services and security and the president remains in exile.
The Houthis meanwhile have not been dislodged from Sanaa, and have been able to maintain a siege of the third city of Taiz and to fire ballistic missiles across the border with Saudi Arabia.
Since 2016, the Houthis have periodically targeted commercial and military vessels transiting and patrolling the Red Sea using naval mines, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, anti-ship missiles, and water borne improvised explosive devices (WBIED's). Some of the weapons used reportedly have been supplied by Iran, including sea-skimming coastal defense cruise missiles. As the Saudi-led coalition has advanced along the Red Sea coast toward Hudaydah, the Houthis have repeatedly threatened to increase the frequency of their attacks against commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea.
Hudaydah's location also gave it great strategic importance. To the west of the city is the Red Sea and major international shipping lanes that are used to move goods between Europe, Asia and Africa via the Suez Canal. To the east is the fertile Tihama plain, Yemen's most important agricultural area. And just to the north is the Ras Isa oil terminal - which served the Marib oilfields and was the country's main export terminal - and the nearby port of Saleef.
On July 24, 2018, the Houthis targeted two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, damaging one of them. A day later, Saudi Aramco (the national oil company) suspended all oil shipments through the Bab al Mandab Strait, causing shipment delays and a modest, temporary spike in oil prices. Days later, the Houthis announced that they would unilaterally halt maritime operations for “a limited time period.” Soon thereafter, Saudi Aramco resumed shipments through the Bab al Mandab, though it is unclear what provoked the Houthis to halt additional anti-ship strikes. On August 7, Iran’s state-owned media outlet reported that one Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) General said “We (IRGC) told Yemenis [Houthi rebels] to strike two Saudi oil tankers, and they did it.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that “If Iran will try to block the straits of Bab al-Mandeb, I am certain that it will find itself confronting an international coalition that will be determined to prevent this, and this coalition will also include all of Israel’s military branches.”
Hudaydah is a lifeline for people living in rebel-held areas, serving as the most important point of entry for the basic supplies needed to prevent famine and a recurrence of a cholera epidemic that affected a million people last year.
HUMANITARIAN CRISIS: -
The recent fighting has destroyed Yemen, killing thousands of people and displacing more than two million from their homes. It has created a devastating humanitarian crisis, with more than half of the country's population classified as food insecure.
Yemen currently has the greatest level of humanitarian needs in the world. According to a December report, nearly 16 million people don’t have enough to eat and are in urgent need of emergency assistance. The conflict has resulted in over 10,000 deaths and two million people displaced, looking for shelter from disease and violence.
The war in Yemen is having a disproportionate impact on Yemeni women and girls, who are exposed to increased risk of violence, exploitation and abuse while having a harder time accessing basic health care, including maternal and child health.
Women and children are already dying from malnutrition in Yemen and the situation could grow far worse. 1.8 million children are suffering from acute malnutrition, of whom 400,000 children under five are suffering from severe acute malnutrition. There are around 1.1 million malnourished pregnant and breast-feeding women. More than 3.25 million women in Yemen are facing increased health and protection risks.
Hunger and famine are a direct result of war and can only fully be eliminated by bringing the conflict to an end.
After almost four years of conflict, and despite all efforts to halt displacement, hunger and disease, Yemen remains the worst humanitarian crisis on earth. The suffering inflicted on Yemeni people is entirely manmade and will continue to deteriorate rapidly on all fronts without actions to end the violence.
Attacks on schools and hospitals continue, with over 1,800 schools directly impacted by the conflict, including more than 1,500 that have been damaged or destroyed and 21 used by armed groups.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), out of a total population of nearly 30 million people, 22.2 million Yemenis are in need of humanitarian assistance. Although food is available to purchase in markets, the war has devastated the Yemeni economy.
Yemen also is experiencing the world's largest ongoing cholera outbreak. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that from late April 2017 to July 2018, there have been 1,115,378 suspected cholera cases and 2,310 associated deaths.
SOLUTION: -
Four years of fighting and the Al Houthis have not been able to achieve their ambition to take control of the country. In fact, of late, the rebels have been suffering heavy losses at the hands of government forces and resistance groups, and this should prompt them to seek a political solution. If not, international and regional pressure should be ramped up to force the rebels to attend the talks on a potential solution. If the world community is unable to persuade the rebels to engage in dialogue, the militant groups should be uprooted from the country. To reach a comprehensive political solution, the negotiations should focus on three aspects: the UN resolutions, the Gulf initiative and the Yemen National Dialogue. And as a confidence-building measure, the Al Houthis should immediately cease their reckless ballistic missile attacks on the densely-populated neighborhoods in Saudi Arabia. A solution that undermines Saudi security is no solution at all. Time is of the essence. All efforts to find a solution should be speeded up. Yemen needs peace. The Yemenis need a life.
