War in Yemen

Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront

WAR IN YEMEN WAS A RESULT OF a failed political transition, and by 2017 a resolution was becoming increasingly difficult. The uprising that had toppled Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2011 was supposed to usher in a new era of dialogue and reform, but the transition collapsed under the weight of factionalism, regional rivalries, and external interference. As the New York Times reported, the Houthis, a Zaydi Shia movement long marginalised, capitalised on discontent and expanded their influence, while the central government faltered. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, saw Iranian expansionism in Shia centred areas of Yemen and Lebanon as a direct threat, and actively supported Sunni movements in the Arab world to counterbalance Tehran.

The Guardian noted that Riyadh’s military budget had soared to $87 billion in 2016, the third largest globally, with US approved arms sales during the Obama administration and military aid from the United Kingdom bolstering its arsenal.

The Yemeni government was fighting Houthi rebels, whose movement emerged during the 1990s and whose armed insurgency against the government began in 2004, but the war escalated dangerously in recent years. The Houthis had already gained control of Saada province and neighbouring areas, and by 2014 they had entered Sana’a, Yemen’s capital. The Washington Post described how common Yemenis, including Sunnis, initially supported the Houthis, seeing them as a force against corruption and neglect. By 2015, Houthi presence in the city was so strong that President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi fled to the southern port city of Aden for safety. Saudi Arabia then launched its intervention, supported by a coalition of Arab states, justifying its campaign by claiming the Houthis were Iranian proxies destabilising the region. In March 2017, Reuters reported that Iran backed arms shipments to the Houthis were intercepted, reinforcing Saudi claims of active connections between Tehran and Houthi leaders.

The humanitarian toll was catastrophic. Seventy per cent of Yemen’s population needed aid, and the UN warned that the conflict was causing mounting civilian deaths and pushing millions towards famine. The BBC placed Yemen firmly on the global radar, describing starvation as imminent. Western Yemen was largely under Houthi control, while the city of Taiz remained a fiercely contested battleground where rebels fired missiles in retaliation. Journalists from Associated Press reported that sniper fire in Taiz struck indiscriminately, with children among the victims, and that landmines had been planted randomly. Hospitals were overwhelmed, and treatment was impossible. Access for reporters was rare and dangerous, with the Guardian noting that bodies lay in the open as fighting raged.

The Yemeni government, backed by the UK, US and France, managed to drive rebels out of Aden to secure pro government leaders. Yet the chaos allowed ISIS militants to exploit the vacuum. The Independent reported that ISIS fighters stepped up attacks in Aden, bombing Zaydi Shia mosques and spreading terror. Infrastructure across Yemen was reduced to rubble. As the Financial Times observed, being the Arab world’s poorest country, Yemen faced decades of recovery even under normalisation. More than ten thousand people had been killed by 2017, including thousands of civilians, and aid agencies warned that more would perish from hunger. Yemen relied on imports for 90 per cent of its food, but blockades imposed since April 2015 and aerial bombardments made survival precarious. Al Jazeera documented how Saudi airstrikes hit schools, health facilities and wedding parties, while Amnesty International charged the coalition with using cluster munitions banned in over 100 countries.

Attempts at reconciliation had failed. In 2013, a national dialogue conference was launched, and although the Houthis participated in the process, they later rejected key aspects of the political settlement, contributing to the collapse of the transition. By 2014–15 the process had unravelled completely. Saudi backed forces and coalition partners struggled to achieve their aims, and the coalition’s objectives remained elusive. The UN reported that tens of thousands of Yemenis had fled to Somalia and Djibouti, where they faced inadequate shelter and food shortages. The Guardian highlighted how Yemeni culture viewed invaders with disdain, recalling that Ottoman Turks and Egyptians had both failed to subdue the country despite superior numbers and armour. This historical memory fuelled resistance to the Saudi led coalition.

Saudi Arabia’s campaign drew comparisons with the US invasion of Afghanistan. The Washington Post noted that despite trillions of dollars spent and advanced weaponry, the US had not defeated the Taliban. Observers asked how Riyadh could expect to defeat the Houthis, who controlled sizeable territory and enjoyed local support. By 2017, Saudi forces were still struggling to secure their southern border with Yemen, facing cross border raids and missile attacks. The New York Times reported that the US was unlikely to restrain Saudi Arabia from continuing its military campaign, and the Trump administration signalled deeper military involvement. Meanwhile, no world leader was attempting to solve Yemen’s food crisis, leaving millions at risk of famine.

The war in Yemen by 2017 had become a microcosm of regional rivalries. Saudi Arabia framed its intervention as a bulwark against Iranian expansion, while Iran denied direct control but was accused of supplying arms and training. The Guardian described Yemen as a battlefield where proxy dynamics played out, with ordinary civilians bearing the brunt. The humanitarian crisis was labelled by the UN as the worst in the world, with cholera outbreaks compounding starvation. Journalists such as Patrick Cockburn in the Independent argued that Yemen illustrated the futility of external military solutions in deeply fractured societies. The Economist warned that the longer the war continued, the more entrenched the Houthis became, and the more radicalised the population risked becoming.

By 2017, Yemen’s war was not only a domestic struggle but a regional confrontation, a humanitarian disaster, and a test of international resolve. The collapse of political transition had opened the gates to chaos, and the Saudi led coalition’s intervention had deepened the crisis. The Houthis controlled large swathes of territory, ISIS exploited instability, and millions faced hunger. The New York Times concluded that Yemen’s tragedy was a reminder that failed transitions can spiral into wars that defy resolution. Unless genuine dialogue was revived and humanitarian aid prioritised, Yemen risked becoming a permanent scar on the Arab world’s conscience.