For some holiday homework, I am trying to put together a simple fact sheet for understanding the Yemen war. I have a feeling we are going to be hearing a lot more about it in the months ahead, and it seems that few people even in my own well-educated circles have much understanding of the play of events. It is, after all, occurring in a remote and maddeningly complex part of the world.
My goal is a one-page sheet summarizing the essentials. I have not found much online in the way of brief, understandable backgrounders, although there is a pretty good one on the BBC News website which I will link below.
Would welcome any comments or suggestions for improvement, keeping in mind the one-page limit (Maybe Trump will read it!!).
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The Yemen War — A Fact Sheet
--Yemen straddles much of the southern land border of Saudi Arabia, and has a population of around 28 million compared to Saudi Arabia's 33 million. It's strategic location can be seen on a map. It commands the northern side of the Suez Canal trade route from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
--Yemen has experienced multiple conflicts during the post-colonial period. It was originally established in the 1960s as two separate states – North and South Yemen. The two states clashed several times during the seventies and eighties until a unification agreement was finally reached in 1990 (although North-South fighting continued into the nineties).
--The leader of united Yemen from 1990 on was Ali Abdullah Saleh, usually described as a brutal dictator and kleptocrat who plundered the nation's wealth, becoming one of the world's richest men in the process. In 2011, an uprising in the wake of the Arab Spring forced Saleh to turn power over to his vice-president, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.
--The civil war that broke out in 2014 had at its root a conflict between Saleh and Hadi supporters, but there are many factions, rivalries, and infighting involved. The Shia muslim group known as the Houti was originally allied with the Saleh faction, but a falling out led to Saleh being killed by the Houti in December 2017. The Houti are based primarily in the western part of the country (the former North Yemen) and have seized control of much of that territory, including the capital Sanaa.
--Since 2015, a Saudi-led coalition backed by the US, the UK, and France has launched air attacks and blockades against the Houti in an attempt to dislodge them from control of the capital and other strategic areas. The nominal goal of the conflict is to restore the government of Hadi (who is currently in exile in Riyadh) but another clear goal is to limit the regional influence of Iran, which is backing the Shiite Houti (Iran denies that it is providing support).
--Saudi coalition actions have worsened the humanitarian crisis in a country already suffering from decades of corruption and conflict. Food and medical care are scarce, there are millions of homeless refugees, and a major cholera outbreak has been underway since 2017.
--There is an Al Qaeda presence in Yemen,but ironically Al Qaeda are mortal enemies of the Houti and thus are mostly fighting on the side of the Saudi coalition (and by extension are allies of the U.S.). There is also an Islamic State (ISIS) presence, but it is unclear what their goals are other than recruiting new followers. Another group in the mix is separatists who want to reestablish an independent South Yemen.
--US backing of the Saudi-led war began under the Obama administration, but Obama-era officials insist that the support was intended to be limited and conditional, and was primarily tied to Saudi acceptance of the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA). By contrast, the Trump administration has effectively given the whole candy store to the Saudis, pulling us out of the Iran deal, unconditionally backing the Saudi-led strikes, and even giving them a pass on the Khashoggi murder.
--Efforts in Congress to limit or end U.S. backing of the Saudi-led war have so far been blocked by the Republican leadership.
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Here is a link to the BBC backgrounder mentioned above:
www.bbc.com/...
