Yemen War: Between Internal and External Interests

2015 - Saudi-led coalition’s airstrike hits Yemeni Capital, Sana’a. Courtesy: Reuters.

*The war in Yemen is often described as a forgotten war and when/if it is remembered, it is not seen with a holistic lens recognising the full picture of the conflict – and this automatically leads to flawed conclusions. Great focus is often paid to the geopolitics of the war in Yemen, i.e how Yemen has become the proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, while a lesser focus is paid to the domestic politics. The internal eco-political dynamics between the different local political and tribal actors is to a great extent the fundamental driving force of the war in Yemen. That is, the local political landscape is dominated by survival politics and checks and balances which influence the geopolitical relation between Yemen and countries involved in the conflict. More importantly, not giving a complete consideration to Yemen’s domestic politics by the international community hinders reaching any peace process for Yemen’s 2-years-long war.

Hopeful Uprising

A good starting point could be in understanding that there have been three stages to the ongoing conflict in Yemen. In the wake of Yemen’s 2011 uprising, it was a conflict between ousted Yemeni president, Ali Abdullah Saleh and his opponents – particularly those who helped topple him. By mid-2014 it was a conflict between an alliance formed by Saleh and the rebels, the Houthis against Saleh’s successor, Yemen’s transitional president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and his government. Then, in March 2015, Saudi Arabia declared a war against the Houthis.

2011 - Yemen’s 2011 uprising marked its sixth anniversary this month. Photo Courtesy: Afrah Nasser.

To understand the origin of the ongoing conflict in Yemen, it is essential to go back to 2011 when Yemeni youth joined the wave of revolutions happening across the Middle East and North of Africa (MENA). I vividly remember seeing how youth gradually took the streets in 2011 starting gradually from the front gate of my university, Sana’a University, which later was dubbed Taghyeer (change) square. The demand was the overthrow of ousted Yemeni president, Saleh, despite that overthrowing Saleh’s 32-years old regime was a dream my generation and I would have never imagined would come true. We understood, though, that this was the first step in fragmenting the great grip Saleh used to have.


Following a couple of months of protest, Saleh’s opponents, like one of Yemen’s most influential politicians, Hamid al-Ahmar and some allies, like one of Yemen’s top army-men and actually Saleh’s half-brother, Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar – opponents and allies alike joined the uprising and worked also hard to end Saleh’s rule. The greatest blow against Saleh was when several influential tribal and political leaders switched sides in the aim of weakening Saleh’s power. Perhaps, Saleh was more upset of his allies turning tables, than the real revolution against him by his people.


As the protests grew, Saleh started to go into public speeches warning about a coup or a civil war. In March 2011, Saleh warned, “those who want to climb up to power through coups should know that this is out of the question. The homeland will not be stable, there will be a civil war, a bloody war. They should carefully consider this.”


Change without Justice
Consequently, Saleh’s forces intensified its crackdown on the protesters and killing has become the norm. To cease the bloodshed, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) initiated a power-transfer plan in April 2011. After many long negotiations, Saleh accepted to step down. And that was the point when the unspoken countdown for the civil war which Saleh warned of began.


The GCC plan guaranteed an immunity for Saleh and hundreds of his clan. What we revolutionaries saw was the biggest failure of the uprising. How can a dictatorship step down with guarantees? How do you achieve a post-uprising democratic political process, while justice was never served? In this context, Yemen had to endure a political transition without a transitional justice. The only explanation for this is that it’s absolutely impossible for the GCC to support a real democracy in Yemen, as that will be a threat to the monarchies GCC.

Weddings Bombing
Nevertheless, the GCC power transfer plan included the creation of a national assembly, what’s known as the “National Dialogue Conference” (NDC) (2013-2014) as a forum to settle key political problems in the country.

Towards the end of the NDC, disputes appeared over the outcomes of NDC, mainly from the rebels, the Houthis. Houthis opposed the new proposed ruling system (Federalism) and they also aspired to realise their religious political vision in restoring a religious imamate in the country. In parallel, Saleh had to retaliate. Both had a mutual interest in hampering the political process and that was the seed of their coming alliance. Even though they had different motivations, the Houthis-Saleh alliance was quick in its military escalation against both Saleh’s oppositional forces and the already achieved political process. By mid-2014, Houthis descended to Sana’a, militarily took over the capital and stormed into Hadi’s presidential palace. To seek support for restoring legitimacy in Yemen, Hadi escaped to Saudi Arabia and sought an intervention. By March 2015, Saudi Arabia created a coalition consisted of 11 Arab countries and began its airstrikes campaign.

Oct, 2016 - About 1,000 people were killed and injured after a double-tap airstrike hit a funeral hall in Yemeni capital, Sana’a by the Saudi-led coalition. Photo courtesy: Osamah Abdulrhman/AFP.

All these stages of the conflict have brought about one of the biggest severe humanitarian crisis in the world, with 86 percent of the population in need of humanitarian assistance. At least 10,000 people have been killed, in which one in three Saudi air raids hit civilian sites; such as, hospitals, schools and weddings. The human cost of the war also means that Yemen is facing a lost generation as one child dies every 10 minutes suffering from acute severe malnutrition and lack of medical assistance.


The sound of the empty roaring stomachs should be the loudest in the war in Yemen; instead, it’s the sound of guns and air-strikes. The war has been having multi-fronts: the fighting on the ground, especially in Taiz and Marib between the Saleh-Houthis’ forces and different armed factions, the fighting between the southern independence movement and Saleh-Houthis’ forces, the fighting between the Houthis’ forces and the extremist groups, i.e. AQAP and Salafists and the fighting between the Saudi forces and the Houthis at the border and the sea. Not to mention, the Saudi-led coalition airstrikes and the American drone strikes. Seemingly, Yemen is under fire on many levels.


As the war gets complicated, salvation seems impossible to reach. Warring parties have failed to reach an agreement during several past peace talks. One reason is that, bearing in mind how the cycle of revolutions go, the counter-revolution (Saleh-Houthis’ alliance) Yemen is going through has no easy quick fix. More importantly, in light of the war, Yemen has become a great market for weapons deals and mercenaries trade. Countries like the UK, US, Germany and others are some of the major suppliers to Saudi Arabia with weapons which include drones, bombs, torpedoes, rockets and missiles. Moreover, soldiers from several countries such as Colombia and Sudan have been recruited by some of the members of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen war. Seemingly, the continuation of the war is of a great interest as many are benefiting from the war.


Next week marks the sixth anniversary of Yemen’s 2011 uprising. Many will take the opportunity to reflect on the merits and the failures of the uprising, and that will inevitably will be through an eye tainted by the ongoing war. For me, I reflect and try to understand how did we get here today. German political theorist, Hannah Arendt once said, “revolutions are the only political events which confront us directly and inevitably with the problem of beginning”, and that is what the uprising anniversary should do – confront us with the problem of beginning.


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*This essay was originally written for and published in German newspaper woz.ch on 9th of Feb. 2017. 

Yemen's war destroys lives - even beyond its own borders

Thousands have died and the economy has been derailed. For those abroad, including
embassy staff and students, that means no money.

*At the Yemeni embassy in Beirut, a DIY kitchen stands in the hall to the left. To the right, on the ground, a few pillows lay, leant on by a group of young men in their early 20s.

The young men are Yemeni students who have taken the embassy as a shelter for more than two years. I met them last month, but they did not hold any hope my interviews would solve their plight.

Nothing has improved for the students, even after Middle East Eye’s coverage last year; in fact, their misery has only grown larger.

The 76 students, some of their country's brightest, came to Lebanon on Yemeni scholarships in 2014 - but have received no financial support since. They were forced to go to classes and survive on their own in pricey Beirut.

With no financial support from the ministry and with families struggling with the raging war in Yemen, it has been impossible for the students to afford basic expenses including food, accommodation and medicine.

The makeshift kitchen for students in the Beirut embassy (MEE/Afrah Nasser)

Out of helplessness and protest, the students have turned to the embassy for refuge, and sleep in its empty rooms. The embassy has not been able to help them more than that - the embassy’s staff also have not been paid for nearly a year.

The humanitarian tragedy of Yemen war is not only seen in the raging famine in the country, but it is also felt beyond its borders. Yemenis dependent on stipends from Yemen’s public institutions are left to suffer.

Yemen’s economy has been in major decline, as the various rival groups fight over control of the central bank. Unpaid salaries for civil servants is the latest symptom - more than a million people have not been paid for three months, a situation that has had a catastrophic impact on millions of households.

Yemeni diplomatic staff have the same problem - whether in Lebanon, Malaysia, Sudan, Morocco or beyond. This comes after the Houthi-run Supreme Political Council, which controls the central bank, decreed that all embassies were their enemies and cut salaries.

Clearly, the economy has become a bargaining chip between the Houthi-Saleh alliance on one hand and Abd Rabbuh Hadi’s internationally recognised government on the other.


The embassy’s staff who spoke on the condition of anonymity stressed that it has been extremely difficult for the students and the embassy staff to file complaints to the “right” authorities, as there are a growing division and power struggle between Saleh and the Houthis’ newly-formed cabinet and the internationally recognised Hadi government-in-exile.

Both students and the embassy staff in Beirut express great despair.

"We were granted the scholarship because we were the country’s brightest students, then to end up in this agony is devastating,” said Ahmed al-Hamadi, a 24-year-old electronic student.

"Many students have mentally collapsed and some were put in jail because they were unable to afford the expense of renewing their student’ residency. From a bright student, you end up facing starvation and being regarded as a criminal."

No money, more problems

Students find it difficult to focus on studying when their empty stomachs churn, and the costs of accommodation and transport constantly haunt their thoughts.

Lebanese laws make it also impossible for the students to work. “It is illegal for anyone in Lebanon with a student visa to work," said Ali al-Ramim, 25, a mechanics student. "We could be caught, then imprisoned, subjected to deportation and a $5,000 fine."

All warring parties are blamed for the staff’s unpaid salaries and unpaid financial support to the students.

A photo of the students recently in the embassy in Beirut (MEE/Afrah Nasser)

“The division in Yemen’s government has also divided Yemen’s crumbling economy which should have been impartial, and we are the ones paying a high price,” one embassy staff member said.

“Today, when Yemenis are not killed by rockets, starving to death inside the country, or being displaced at a refugee camp in neighbouring countries or somewhere else, humiliation and despair accompany those who are abroad.”

“This war has caused horrific damage in every corner in Yemen, from Hadramout to Saadah and it also hunts those who escaped the war,” Mohammed Othman, 23, an electronics student said. 

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*This article was published first in Middle East Eye, today.

Yemen war: The conflict everyone wants to forget

A graffiti work by Yemeni artists, Murad Subay, commemorating the 15 children killed in Bani Hawwat area, in Sana’a, where air strikes destroyed more than seven houses, another 27 civilians were killed as well. May 18, 2015.

*Things are bad in Yemen; even worse than bad. Nine months since the Yemen war began and the impact of the violence does not only continue to rip the country apart but it has also sent the majority of the population into destitution.

While the return of President Hadi and his prime minister to Aden gives the illusion that there will be an end to the current unresolved multi-front fighting in other parts of the country, the suffering of Yemenis continues to be incomprehensible.

The human cost of the war so far is immense, as the Saudi-led coalition air strikes and the Houthi-Saleh alliance’s aggression have in inflicted horrendous atrocities across the country. The ongoing conflict has resulted in over 32,000 casualties, with 5,700 people killed, including 830 women and children, alongside a sharp rise in human rights violations, according to the latest UN report.

Even more tragic is the civilian deaths, or what the Saudi-led coalition likes to call collateral damage, during wedding parties. More than 160 people including women and children were killed in air strikes that hit at least two separate wedding parties. Despite the fact that nowhere has been safe in Yemen, over 2.3 million have tried to escape the escalating violence and have become internally displaced since late March of this year.

In a country like Yemen that imports 90 percent of its food, fuel, medicine and other vital goods from foreign suppliers, food has been used as a war weapon. It’s not only that the coalition’s naval blockade of Yemen’s main ports has been leaving 80 percent of Yemen’s population facing a humanitarian disaster, but the Saudis have also made sure that whatever relief operation are carried in Yemen need to be barred from delivery to Houthi-controlled areas, according to a UN reporter. With such tactics, the ongoing war is devastating Yemen; 82 percent of the population, that’s 21.2 million people, are in need of some kind of humanitarian assistance.

Amidst the worsening humanitarian catastrophe earlier this month, two rare cyclones made a landfall on Yemen's southern coast killing 26 people and affecting thousands of families. In light of the severity of needs, a black market in all rare commodities is flourishing; only those who can afford the skyrocketing prices can shop there. Using donkey carts for transportation and solar energy to compensate electricity scarcity have become the new norm in Yemen, as the people are trapped in an escalating conflict and navigating alternative methods of survival.

With that said, one would expect the world and the international community to rally to help Yemenis in their ordeal, and yet Yemenis’ cries fall on deaf ears. I realised this when a Yemeni friend called me once she arrived to Jordan after she escaped the violence in Yemen. She shared her shock with me in realising that nobody cares about the situation in Yemen. “When I was in Yemen and isolated from the rest of the world because of the fighting, I thought that the world was doing something to rescue us, but when I managed to get out of the country and see outsiders’ reactions to the Yemen war, I saw how nobody cares about us,” she said.

There are two main reasons behind the general indifference towards the war in Yemen. One is how the media coverage is highly dominated by the two main warring parties’ mouthpieces - whether the Saudi-affiliated or the Iranian-affiliated media, giving a false impression that the Yemen war is primarily sectarian.

The relatively independent local press inside the country is under fire and mostly silenced. Thus, the dominant media narrative about the Yemen war has a sectarian language that does not reflect the major political dispute. This influences the international public understanding about the Yemen war and greatly dehumanises Yemenis.

The other reason is the Yemen war has become a lucrative business for great powers and ordinary countries alike. Saudi Arabia is the UK’s largest foreign customer of weapons and the US State Department recently announced its approval of a new $1.29 billion arms deal for Saudi Arabia.

Soldiers from several countries such as Colombia and Sudan have found opportunity for recruitment in Yemen war. Many seem to benefit from the war in Yemen, and it’s of their great interest that this war continues. Of course, that is at the expense of Yemeni lives.

Yemenis’ ordeal is summed up in Thucydides’ saying: “The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.” With global apathy toward the war in Yemen, Yemenis know that they are alone in facing a double-faced evil. One of the world’s poorest nations stands helplessly against the Saudis’ power-machine and the Saleh-Houthi alliance’s aggression.

The world’s apathy over the atrocities in Yemen makes its people feel abandoned and, more painfully, makes them realise how Yemenis’ blood counts for nothing. It’s difficult to comprehend how the world can fail to acknowledge that this situation is beyond a tragedy; it is a shame on humanity.

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*I originally wrote this piece for the Middleesteye.net, published on Nov. 25, 2015