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Yemen: Updates from the Center of a Region in Conflict

For over three years now, the Yemen Civil War has been a persistent scourge on the region. Since mid-2015, the conflict in Yemen has gone from bad to worse and has become the battleground not just for local factions but for powers from the broader regions. With the war dragging on, the observer can’t avoid the “quagmire” feeling that characterizes so many conflicts in the Middle East.

The latest highlights from the war-torn country, while certainly underscoring just how desperate things are getting, also give some important perspective on what exactly is going on and what we can do about it.

From the Press

The perils of being a journalist in Yemen are some of the worst facing media personnel anywhere in the world.

Reporters are routinely threatened, kidnapped, and even killed by opposition forces in the country. Objective reporting is not often in the interest of militant groups.

This unfortunate fact was captured in the recently published story of Yousif Aglan, a young journalist in the capital city of Sanaa. Over a year ago, Aglan was picked up off the street by a gang of Houthi rebels, beaten into submission in the back of a van, and driven off to a prison run by the militants. Yemeni journalists like Aglan have faced increasing threats on their lives since late 2014, when Houthi rebels seized Sanaa and large swaths of the impoverished country—the event that formed the catalyst for the current war. Almost immediately after ousting the government, the Houthis launched a crackdown on dissent, ransacking the offices of all the large Yemeni media outlets including Suhail TV, Yemen Shebab TV, and Yemen Al Youm. Intervention of neighboring countries to assist governmental forces in Yemen only exacerbated the threat against the media. Both sides began investing huge sums of money to bolster propaganda messages, thus raising the stakes of the information war. Any report seen as promoting the pro-government coalition or critical of the Houthis could prove deadly for the ones responsible. Eventually, Houthi commanders began openly encouraging the killing of journalists. Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi told his men to target reporters and called them “more dangerous than fighters.” Attacks targeting journalists soon became the norm. According to the International Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 15 journalists have been murdered in Yemen since the conflict erupted, with a whopping 103 kidnapped or arrested, according to the International Federation of Journalists. Added to these stats is the fact that hundreds of TV and other media stations have been destroyed throughout the country in the unrelenting coalition bombing campaigns.

This, of course, has drastically affected the ability to assess the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Yemen and calibrate the overall situation in the country. The flow of accurate information from Yemen has slowed to a trickle.

(Credit: Facebook/Belqees. Rights)

From the Front

The leader of the regional coalition, Saudi Arabia, has long advocated a strong-handed policy toward the rebels and other factions as pretty much the only solution to long-term stability in Yemen.

The latest plan to execute a decisive victory over the Houthis was conceived by the coalition several weeks ago. In mid-June, Saudi Arabia launched a thrust into the strategically vital port city of Hodeidah. The operation was a big risk. The city is a lifeline for millions in the impoverished country, where 8.4 million Yemenis are believed to be on the verge of starvation. The Arab states pledged a swift operation to take over Hodeidah’s air and seaports without entering the city’s civilian center in order to both minimize casualties from the local population and avoid disruption of the port. A month into the campaign, the Saudi-led coalition has not managed to achieve complete victory. While coalition leaders had announced on June 20 that they had seized Hodeidah airport, local military and aid sources reported that neither side has complete control of the airport and its surrounding area, which spreads over some 20 square kilometers.

The current stalemate in Hodeidah is important in and of itself. But it is also an ongoing episode that perfectly captures what’s wrong with the current conflict from a strategic point of view.

The Houthis currently control the most populated areas of Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa. They are adept at guerrilla warfare. The population centers give them the perfect bases of operations for insurgent-type fighting, namely harassing troops and scurrying back to the cover of populated areas. Like in other engagements, Houthi militants have been harassing coalition forces protecting the periphery of their territorial gains. There is little the Saudis or their allies can do to fend off this tactic. United Arab Emirates (UAE)  forces around the airport and along the coastal road that the coalition uses to resupply its forces have been suffering constant attack raids from Houthis stationed throughout Hodeidah’s center.

June 26, 2018: “Hodeidah – Zabid: the latest crime of the Coalition which targeted a bus of internally displaced people. Martyrs and wounded culminated in 9 killed (4 unidentified), 11 injured (the youngest 2, 4, 6 years old). [Credit: Facebook/Living In Yemen On The Edge]

From Headquarters

The precarious situation in Yemen for both sides has led to many of the actors thinking of ways to take their involvement in the country up a notch.

Some of the more “benign” steps have included the UAE decision to extend compulsory military-service citizens from 12 to 16 months (one wonders how the Emirati population will react to the war hitting home in this way).

Much more serious escalations also seem to be taking place.

As has been known for quite a while, Yemen has in large part been a proxy battleground between the two region rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia. Iran has pumped significant resources—including advanced weaponry—into the country in an effort to hinder its Saudi foes. As Iranian missiles have been falling in Riyadh, authorities say the Islamic Republic has denied most of its involvement in the country, admitting only to playing an “advisory” role in the Houthi effort. The latest reports indicate Iran will be ramping up the fight in Yemen by introducing foreign fighters subservient to authorities in Tehran.

The leader of Kata’ib Sayyid al Shuhada (KSS), an Iraqi Shia militia with close ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), recently stated that he is willing to send his men to Yemen to fight alongside the Houthis against the Saudi-led coalition in the country. On July 7, Abu Waala al Wa’eli, the secretary general of KSS, released a press statement in which he is quoted as saying: “I declare I am a soldier standing at the signal of Sayyid Abdel Malek al Houthi….I announce that Kata’ib Sayyid al Shuhada is a faction among your factions O’ Ansar Allah [the official name of the Houthi militants].”

This announcement is disconcerting from a broader perspective, as it is not the first time KSS has spoken of operating outside Iraq and Syria. Nor is it the only recent instance of an Iranian proxy expanding their field of operations—earlier this month, leader of the Iranian-backed Liwa Zulfiqar was spotted in a Syrian military command center. As it relates to Yemen specifically, it highlights how the country is increasingly descending into never-ending conflict, with both sides upping the ante over three years in.

(April 25, 2015) “Sanaa, Yemen: A United Nations report said on Friday that civilian causalities have mounted since the start of the Saudi-led offensive against Shiite rebels in Yemen, with more than 500 civilians killed in the nearly monthlong conflict, including at least 115 children.” (Credit: Facebook/Kashmir Guardian)

At this point, the option of the United Nations taking a more active role is looking like the only viable solution. The taking control of port cities like Hodeidah by the UN has gained some traction. This way, at least the humanitarian crisis in the country could be mitigated.

Furthermore, the UN has placed responsibility for the conflict primarily at the feet of the Houthis. The Security Council’s resolution on Yemen from mid-2015 highlighted the Houthis as the party mostly propelling the violence. It imposed sanctions, including a general-assets freeze, travel ban, and arms embargo, on Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi. While the claim that the Houthis are the prime perpetrators is not inaccurate, the UN resolution has done nothing to bring about a solution to the conflict. At some point, demanding collective responsibility from all parties, from coalition members to Iran, will be necessary to create a lasting peace in Yemen.