The Yemen Crisis

• What is Yemen

Yemen is a desert country in the Middle East on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, bordered in the west by the Red Sea and the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, in the north by Saudi Arabia and in the northeast by Oman. Yemen has maritime borders with Djibouti, Eritrea, and Somalia.

• Why is there a war in Yemen?

The Civil War in Yemen, which began in 2014, was amplified by the intervention of a coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, countries dissatisfied with ties between Iran, which is expanding regionally, and Shiite Houthi forces.

In 2011, authoritarian president Ali Abdullah Saleh was forced out by an uprising. Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi took power, but struggled with corruption, military, and food insecurity problems. the Houthi Rebels took control of Yemen's capital (Sana'a) and forced Hadi into exile. In 2015, Saudi Arabia created an international coalition with the US, UK, and France to bring Hadi back to his former position. This resulted in airstrikes in Yemen of medical centers, water wells and drilling rigs

The Yemen war it's a conflict between the Government of Sanaa and the Houthi rebels. An international coalition supports the Yemeni government, led by Saudi Arabia, in which the United States is also involved. Iran and the Shiite Hezbollah group are unofficially supporting the Houthi group.

Aziz Rashed was a colonel in the Yemeni army. He's joined the Shiite-majority Houthi group. He says the real danger comes from the government in Sanaa.

Aziz Rashed, Houthi spokesman: "We confirm, for the whole world, that the Yemeni military program has been producing ballistic missiles for a long time, using the expertise of the Russians, who make SCUD missiles, and North Korean technology."

Colonel Rashid made this statement shortly after a ballistic missile landed in Saudi Arabia, very close to Ryad. And it was the decisive moment. The Saudis have decided to isolate Yemen completely.

What is going on at the moment?

The situation in Yemen is desperate, 24 million people, including 12 million children, need some form of humanitarian assistance, that being 80% of the country's population. Approximately 12 million people need food immediately. 50% are on brink of starvation as there is a lack of access to food every day.

They are currently fighting: 1) An epidemic (cholera - which leads to dehydration and death), 2) A pandemic (COVID-19), 3) Famine, and 4) War. Millions of intentionally displaced Yemenis live in makeshift shelters in urban and rural areas. Those who are displaced are living in Hajjah, a district northwest of the capital, Sana'a.

Despite the ongoing crisis, Yemen hosts the world's second-largest Somali refugee population - some 253,000 people.

The US has backed the Saudi coalition by giving them weapons, aircraft, equipment, and training. The Trump administrator has decreased aid to Yemen.

Hospitals have been bombed and only half the country's health facilities are fully functioning. Their main bank was forced to close, which devastated the economy. Before COVID-19, 2 million children were not studying/going to school and now there are 7 million.

The UN had verified the deaths of at least 7,500 civilians by September 2019, with most caused by Saudi-led coalition airstrikes.

However, monitoring groups believe the death toll is far higher. In October last year, the US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) said it had recorded more than 100,000 deaths, including 12,0000 civilians killed indirect attacks.

More than 23,000 fatalities were reported in 2019.

According to the Yemen Data Project, more than 17,500 civilians have been killed and injured since 2015 - with a quarter of all civilians killed in air raids said to be women and children.

Some 100,000 people are now thought to be dead because of the conflict, from direct involvement and knock-on effects such as mass starvation and inadequate sanitation.

They die of hunger, disease, lack of medical services, water infestation and lack of it (their supplies run out), millions of children do not have access to education. They are also dying as a result of air and artillery bombardments, suicide bombings, fighting between factions that have killed more than a hundred thousand people since the outbreak of the war until now.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed as Yemen's brutal war enters its fifth year this week, with no end in sight.

Bombs from air raids have killed or injured an average of 37 children every month for the last 12 months, according to Save the Children.

An estimated 85,000 children under five may have died from extreme hunger since 2015.

Airstrikes have been the leading cause of war-related deaths and injuries among Yemeni children, according to the charity.

Petitions to SIGN:

'Stop the war and end the famine in Yemen' by change.org

'Justice for Yemen' by change.org

'Stop the flow of weapons' by Amnesty

DONATE:

'Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation' - https://yemenfaoundation.org/donate/

'Yemen Aid' - https://www.yemenaid.org/

DO NOT DONATE TO UNICEF OR CHANGE.ORG