The Yemeni Civil War

Written By NAMUN

Author: Lilianna Xing

Saleh was the first Yemeni president. He is known not only for corruption and autocracy but for his connections to the US and Israel. With their anti-US and anti-Semitic rhetoric, the religious and political Houthi group gained traction through association with the anti-Saleh movement. 

As the only candidate, the second president, Hadi, took power with 100% of the vote. When he ended fuel subsidies in 2014, the Houthi attacked and took control of Yemen’s capital, Sana’a. In the aftermath, concerns about the threat of a Houthi-unified Yemen drove Saudi Arabia to host Hadi while Iran sent arms to the Houthi in hopes of dragging Saudi Arabia into the economic drain of war. The Yemen crisis became not only a civil war between the government and Houthi but another proxy war between the two major powers of the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Iran. This perception, and the fear of having a country tied to Iran on their border, continued to drive Saudi’s involvement.

Initially, the US sold weapons to the Saudi Arabia-UAE-led coalition as the Houthi government was unlikely to work with the US. But weapons sales were then banned following the Saudi role in the Washington Post’s journalist, Jamal Khashoggi’s, death and concerns over the civilian cost of Saudi air raids. 

2022’s six-month ceasefire and the low hostility since led the Biden administration to lift this ban. Still, concrete peace remains out of reach and the humanitarian crisis remains: Saudi airstrikes were well-known for their civilian death toll and destruction of hospitals and schools, while Houthi forces obstructed and attacked aid projects. Landmines are still found, usually when they become triggered, and over half of Yemen, already a water-scarce country does not have access to drinkable water. The conflict has stopped for now, but the civilian deaths have not.

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