Synopsis
Yemen is suffering from one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world. More than 80% of Yemen’s population is in need of humanitarian help and support. The conflict became serious in March 2015 and since then, this country has become a living hell, especially for children, as most of them are malnourished.
Crisis
The Houti rebel soldiers entered Yemen’s capital Sanaa in September 2014 and took full control by January 2015. The major cause of the revolt was the failure of the political change, which was meant to bring strength to Yemen — the Arab Spring revolt in the country in 2011 forced its long-time despotic president Ali Abdullah Saleh to hand over power to his deputy Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.
The new President, Hadi, was not able to deal with the problems corruption, unemployment, food shortage and attacks by jihadists in the country. The Houthi movement (Ansar Allah) that was fought earlier against Saleh took over the weakness of the new Prime Minister and took control of the northern heartland of the Saada province and its neighbouring regions.
The Yemenies were disappointed by the change and supported the Houthis. By early 2015, the revolt had gradually taken over the capital Sanaa. Security forces and the Houthis were loyal to Saleh and attempted to take control of Yemen. This forced Hadi to flee abroad in 2015. Saudi Arabia and the Sunni Arabs state defeated the Houthis, restoring Hadi’s government.
In September 2019, Saudi Arabia’s eastern oil fields of Abqaiq and Khurais were attacked by air, disturbing nearly half the kingdom’s oil production — representing around 5% of global oil output. In November 2017, a cruise missile was launched towards Riyadh this alarmed the Saudi led coalition. Then they tightened the blocked boundary of Yemen. They actually wanted to stop the smuggling of weapons to the rebels. This resulted in an increase in food prices and fuel, and left the people with uncertainty of their lives. In November, Saleh was killed as Houti soldiers launched an operation to take control over Sanaa.
In July 2019, due to international criticism, the UAE withdrew its forces from Yemen, but in August, the war erupted again between the Saudi-backed government forces and the Southern Transitional Council (STC) supporting the Separatist movement of the UAE. Forces loyal to the STC accused Hadi of mismanagement and links with Islamists.
The UN hoped that the agreement would end the civil war but in January 2020, the war between Houthis and coalition-led forces started yet again. In April 2020, the STC declared self-rule in Aden, breaking the peace deal signed with the internationally-recognised government. it said it would govern the port city and southern provinces.
Thousands civilians died, malnutrition increased, as did the ill-health of many.