Yemen: inaugurating a decade of war
Content warning: This article discusses violence and death.
Yemen is a relatively recent invention. For most of the 20th century, the area that comprises modern Yemen was split between the Yemen Arab Republic in the northern highlands and the Soviet-backed People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen, located in the south. The north consisted of a significant Ziadi Shi’i population, whereas the south was home to a Sunni majority. At the end of the Cold War, the two were joined into modern-day Yemen under President Ali Abdullah Saleh in 1990. In 2011, Saleh resigned and Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi took office.
Despite a lack of recent publicity, the war in Yemen has been raging for nearly a decade, causing a dire humanitarian crisis and regional instability.
Background
After the union between the north and south, a civil war erupted in 1994. Attempts at secession were subsequently crushed by Saleh-aligned forces, but secessionist sentiment in the south persisted.
In 2014, Houthi rebels — Shiite rebels concentrated in the north with a history of fighting against the Sunni government — occupied Yemen’s capital and city, calling for a new government. By the time they seized the capital, the Houthis had garnered the support of Iran, prompting the formation of a Saudi-led coalition of Gulf states in opposition.
Saudi leaders backed the Hadi government for a number of reasons. They were concerned by the increase of Houthis at their southern border and they wanted to maintain control over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait off Yemen’s coast.
The Houthis seizure of Sana’a, Yemen’s capital, forced Hadi to flee to the port city of Aden. In 2015, the coalition launched air strikes against the Houthis, with US and UK support.
Saudi Arabia also imposed a naval blockade to limit supplies to the Houthis, while Iran responded by implementing a naval convoy, further escalating tensions between the countries. The coalition’s blockade has worsened the humanitarian crisis in Yemen by restricting civilians’ access to aid and goods.
From 2021 to 2022, the air strikes launched by the coalition have killed more than nineteen thousand civilians in Yemen. The Houthis have since launched retaliatory drone strikes against Saudi Arabia and the UAE, a member of the coalition.
Humanitarian crisis
According to the United Nations, the war in Yemen caused the deaths of 377,000 people as of 2021, with more than 150,000 of the deaths a result of the armed conflict. Since 2014, Yemen has seen a tenth of its population displaced and more than 20 million people lacking access to basic healthcare, food, and infrastructure.
Yemen has been subject to one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. In 2023, almost 22 million people required humanitarian aid due to food insecurity and a lack of basic services. While no longer prominent in news media, the war continues to ravage Yemen.