The country of Yemen is on the Arabian Peninsula. For seven long years, there has been a terrible civil war there. This conflict, which is sometimes called a “proxy war,” began when Iran-backed Houthi rebels took down the government of Yemen. Now they are going up against a group led by Saudi Arabia. Other groups, like extremist Islamists and rebels backed by the UAE, make things even worse for people who need help.
Yemen Ongoing War: Yemen’s Big Splits
The north and south of Yemen are still different in terms of religion and culture. These differences are still there today because of European colonialism. There has been a lot of fighting in the country because of this. N. and S. Yemen were joined together in 1990 to make the country of Yemen we know today. But this union did not ease tensions, and rebels in the south kept fighting for more freedom. Government relations in the country are made even more difficult by groups like the Houthi movement and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
Yemen Ongoing War: Unrest in politics and engagement around the world
As a way to fight terrorism, the US backed Yemen and its leader, Ali Abdullah Saleh, in the early 2000s. People said Saleh’s government was unfair, and when the Arab Spring protests came to Yemen in 2011, he finally quit in 2012. Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who took over after him, had trouble making the government strong, which left a power gap that different groups tried to use against the government.
Yemen Ongoing War: Adding fuel to the fire: what led to the disaster
A big thing that made the war worse was the strain on the economy. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised fuel prices in exchange for a $550 million loan. This caused protests all over the world. During the chaos in 2014, the Houthi movement took over the city of Sanaa. Different parts of the military began to back different leaders. In 2015, Saudi Arabia tried to bring back Hadi’s government.
Who has something to do with the fight?
The full name of the Houthi organisation is Ansar Allah. To begin with, it was a religious and cultural revival among Zaydi Shiites in northern Yemen. Over time, both the Houthis and Saleh’s followers switched sides, which caused problems in the country. The main country that helps the Houthis is Iran, but experts are still not sure how much help they really have. Since recent political events may have made things better between Saudi Arabia and Iran, some people think that Iran’s power will go down.
What a terrible thing it is
The people who live in Yemen who are not fighting are still going through the most pain. People in Yemen are always having to move, deal with disease, and worry about going hungry. Everyone in the world is keeping an eye on this crisis and hoping that it can be solved. But it’s still not clear how to reach peace because of old differences, current economic problems, and different ways that power works in different parts of the world. Yemen is a stark warning of how terrible war is for people and how quickly the world needs to pay attention and act until a long-term solution is found.
