The War in Yemen

 

Yemen's conflict pits Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, and troops loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh against southern separatists, local and tribal militias, Sunni Islamic militants and troops loyal to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who is in exile in Saudi Arabia

The humanitarian situation has steadily deteriorated since the fighting picked up in March 2015, when Saudi Arabia launched a U.S.-backed coalition air campaign against Houthi forces and their allies, which control large swaths of the country, including the capital.

 

Saudi Arabia views the Houthis as a proxy of its arch rival, Shiite powerhouse Iran, and an attempt to expand its influence on the Arabian Peninsula. Iran supports the Houthis politically but denies arming them.

U.N. humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien, called the airstrikes and shelling at Hodeidah a violation of international humanitarian law, saying they damaged "the main lifelines" for importing crucial food, medicine and fuel and could severely impact the entire country.

U.N. humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien, who also just returned from Yemen, told the U.N. Security Council "the scale of human suffering is almost incomprehensible."

He said he was shocked by what he saw: Four out of five Yemenis are in need of humanitarian assistance, nearly 1.5 million people are internally displaced, and people were using cardboard for mattresses at a hospital where lights flickered, the blood bank had closed and there were no more examination gloves.

Human Rights Watch and 22 other human rights and humanitarian organizations said that the U.N.'s Human Rights Council should create a commission of inquiry to investigate allegations of war crimes by all parties since September 2014.

In Geneva, the head of the International Red Cross said: "Yemen after five months looks like Syria after five years."