Yemeni Civil War (2014–present)

CNN reported on 8 April 2015 that almost 10,160,000 Yemenis were deprived of water, food, and electricity as a result of the conflict. The report also added per source from UNICEF officials in Yemen that within 15 days, some 100,000 people across the country were dislocated, while Oxfam said that more than 10 million Yemenis did not have enough food to eat, in addition to 850,000 half-starved children. Over 13 million civilians were without access to clean water.^[454]

A medical aid boat brought 2.5 tonnes of medicine to Aden on 8 April 2015.^[455] A UNICEF plane loaded with 16 tonnes of supplies landed in Sanaa on 10 April.^[456] The United Nations announced on 19 April 2015 that Saudi Arabia promised to provide $273.7 million in emergency humanitarian aid to Yemen. The UN appealed for the aid, saying 7.5 million people had been affected by the conflict and many were in need of medical supplies, potable water, food, shelter, and other forms of support.^[457]

On 12 May 2015, Oxfam warned that the five days a humanitarian ceasefire was scheduled to last would not be sufficient to fully address Yemen's humanitarian crisis.^[340] It has also been said that the Houthis are collecting a war tax on goods. The political analyst Abdulghani al-Iryani affirmed that this tax is: "an illegal levy, mostly extortion that is not determined by the law and the amount is at the discretion of the field commanders".^[458]

As the war dragged on through the summer and into the fall, things were made far worse when Cyclone Chapala, the equivalent of a category 2 Hurricane,^[459] made landfall on 3 November 2015. According to the NGO Save the Children, the destruction of healthcare facilities and a healthcare system on the brink of collapse as a result of the war will cause an estimated 10,000 preventable child deaths annually. Some 1,219 children have died as a direct result of the conflict thus far. Edward Santiago, the NGO's Yemen director, asserted in December 2016:^[460]

Even before the war tens of thousands of Yemeni children were dying of preventable causes. But now, the situation is much worse and an estimated 1,000 children are dying every week from preventable killers like diarrhea, malnutrition, and respiratory tract infections.

In March 2017, the World Food Program reported that while Yemen was not yet in a full-blown famine, 60% of Yemenis, or 17 million people, were in "crisis" or "emergency" food situations.^[461]

In June 2017, a cholera epidemic resurfaced which was reported to be killing a person an hour in Yemen by mid June.^[462] News reports in mid June stated that there had been 124,000 cases and 900 deaths and that 20 of the 22 provinces in Yemen were affected at that time.^[463] UNICEF and WHO estimated that, by 24 June 2017, the total cases in the country exceeded 200,000, with 1,300 deaths.^[464] 77.7% of cholera cases (339,061 of 436,625) and 80.7% of deaths from cholera (1,545 of 1,915) occurred in Houthi-controlled governorates, compared to 15.4% of cases and 10.4% of deaths in government-controlled governorates, since Houthi-controlled areas have been disproportionately affected by the conflict, which has created conditions conducive to the spread of cholera.^[465]

On 7 June 2018, it was reported that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had pulled 71 of its international staff out of Yemen, and moved the rest of them to Djibouti, with some 450 ICRC employees remaining in the country. The partial evacuation measure came on the eve of an ICRC worker, a Lebanese national, being killed on 21 April by unknown gunmen in the southwestern city of Taiz. The ICRC stated, "our current activities have been blocked, threatened and directly targeted in recent weeks, and we see a vigorous attempt to instrumentalize our organization as a pawn in the conflict." In light of the serious security deterioration for ICRC personnel, the international organization has called for all parties of the conflict "to provide it with concrete, solid and actionable guarantees so that it can continue working in Yemen." Since the beginning of the conflict, more than 10,000 people have been killed and at least 40,000 wounded, mostly from air raids.^[466]

The International Rescue Committee stated in March that at least 9.8 million people in Yemen were acutely in need of health services. The closure of Sanaʽa and Riyan airports for civilian flights and the limited operation of civilian airplanes in government-held areas, made it impossible for most to seek medical treatment abroad. The cost of tickets provided by Yemenia, Air Djibouti and Queen Bilqis Airways, also put traveling outside Yemen out of reach for many.^[467][468]

The United Nations Development Programme published a report in September 2019 that said if the war continues, Yemen will become the poorest country in the world, with 79% of the population living below the poverty line and 65% in extreme poverty by 2022.^[469]

On 3 December 2019, the International Day of Person's with Disabilities, Amnesty International released a report highlighting how the almost 5-year old Yemen war has left millions of people living with disabilities and excluded from medical attention. The armed conflict led by Saudi Arabia and UAE as part of the former's coalition in the Arab nation against Houthis and terror groups, has given birth to the worst humanitarian crisis, as stated by the United Nations.^[470]

Humanitarian aid provided to Houthi-controlled Yemen will be scaled-down in March 2020 because donors doubt if it's actually reaching the people in need, UN official said.^[471]

In June 2020, the UNHCR said that following more than five years of war in Yemen, more than 3.6 million people have been forced to flee their homes, while 24 million are in dire need of aid. The group also informed that a significant gap in funding has been recorded with only US$63 million received thus far, while at least US$211.9 million is needed to run the operations in 2020.^[472]

On 2 July 2020, Human Rights Watch reported that detainees at Aden's Bir Ahmed facility were facing serious health risks from the rapidly spreading coronavirus pandemic. The informal detention facility, controlled by Yemeni authorities affiliated with the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council, is grossly overcrowded and was deprived of health care facilities.^[473]

The World Food Programme (WFP) projected in March 2021 that if the Saudi-led blockade and war continues, more than 400,000 Yemeni children under 5 years old could die from acute malnutrition before the end of the year as the blockade devastates nation.^{[474][475][476]}

War crime accusations

According to Farea Al-Muslim, direct war crimes have been committed during the conflict; for example, an IDP camp was hit by a Saudi airstrike, while Houthis have sometimes prevented aid workers from giving aid.^[477] The UN and several major human rights groups discussed the possibility that war crimes may have been committed by Saudi Arabia during the air campaign.^[478]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) wrote that the Saudi-led air campaign that began on 26 March 2015, had "conducted airstrikes in apparent violation of the laws of war, such as the March 30 attack on a displaced person camp in Mazraq, northern Yemen, that struck a medical facility and a market". HRW also said that the Houthis had "unlawfully deployed forces in densely populated areas and used excessive force against peaceful protesters and journalists". In addition, HRW said that by providing logistical and intelligence assistance to coalition forces, "the United States may have become a party to the conflict, creating obligations under the laws of war".^[479] Other incidents noted by HRW that had been deemed as "indiscriminate or disproportionate" or "in violation of the laws of war" were: a strike on a dairy factory outside the Red Sea port of Hodaida (31 civilian deaths);^[480] a strike that destroyed a humanitarian aid warehouse of the international aid organization Oxfam in Saada;^[481] the Saudi Arabia-led coalition's blockade of Yemen which kept out fuel desperately needed for the Yemeni population's survival.^[482]

Amnesty International said that several Saudi Arabian-led airstrikes, documented by it, hit five densely populated areas (Saada, Sanaa, Hodeidah, Hajjah and Ibb), and "raise concerns about compliance with the rules of international humanitarian law".^[483][484] Amnesty International added, that according to its research, at least 139 people, including at least 97 civilians (33 of whom were children) were killed during these strikes, and 460 individuals were injured (at least 157 whom were civilians).^[483] HRW also said that pro-Houthi fighters may have committed war crimes when two women were killed in Yemen and aid workers were arrested for two weeks.^[485]

U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, Johannes van der Klaauw, said that air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition on Sa'ada city in Yemen, where many civilians were trapped, were in breach of international humanitarian law, despite calls for civilians to leave the area. Scores of civilians were reportedly killed and thousands forced to flee their homes after the Saudi-led coalition declared the entire governorate a military target, he said.^[486][487] Van der Klaauw also said that coalition strikes had targeted schools and hospitals, in breach of international law,^[488]

Yemeni capital Sanaa after airstrikes, 9 October 2015

A group of 17 aid agencies working in Yemen condemned the growing intensity of airstrikes in the north of Yemen on 8 and 9 May 2015. Save the Children's Country Director in Yemen, Edward Santiago, said that the "indiscriminate attacks after the dropping of leaflets urging civilians to leave Sa'ada raises concerns about the possible pattern being established in breach of International Humanitarian Law".^[489] Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor has claimed that Houthi militias in alliance with the militants of exiled former president Ali Abdullah Saleh killed purposely at least 22 civilians in Taiz. According to eyewitnesses, the militants launched Katyusha rockets targeting the markets and residential neighborhoods in the center of Taiz. As a result, many civilians were killed and wounded. On the other hand, local media belonging to Houthi militias have denied such accusation, accusing Saudi and ISIL for committing these attacks.^[490]

In December 2015, HRW claimed that six "unlawful airstrikes" were carried out in the capital by the Saudi-led coalition in September and October, which killed 60 civilians. They also criticized the United States, a party to the conflict, for refusing to investigate the attacks.^[491] In January 2016, local sources in the Yemeni capital of Sanaʽa reported that a Saudi-led coalition airstrike targeted the Noor Center for the Blind.^{[citation needed]} On 8 October 2016, a Saudi-led airstrike on a funeral ceremony that killed roughly 100 people and injured 500, including children. HRW is calling the attack an apparent war crime.^[492]

In November 2017, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy accused the United States of complicity in war crimes and the humanitarian crisis on the Senate floor, stating "there is a humanitarian catastrophe inside this country – that very few people in this nation can locate on a map – of absolutely epic proportion. This humanitarian catastrophe – this famine … is caused, in part, by the actions of the United States of America."^[493] In August 2018 the headline of article on Foreign Policy magazine was "America in committing war crimes in Yemen and it doesn't even know why."^[494] British researcher Alex de Waal has found that the "responsibility for Yemen goes beyond Riyadh and Abu Dhabi to London and Washington. Britain has sold at least £4.5 billion in arms to Saudi Arabia and £500 million to the UAE since the war began. The US role is even bigger: Trump authorized arms sales to the Saudis worth $110 billion last May. Yemen will be the defining famine crime of this generation, perhaps this century."^[495] In July 2017, and after a challenge mounted by human rights campaigners against ministers who the campaigners accused of "acting illegally by not suspending weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, the UK High Court ruled that the government arms sales were lawful."^[496]

On 28 August 2018, at a Pentagon news conference in Washington, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said that the US would continue to support the Saudi-led coalition. In spite of a commitment by Saudi that "everything humanly possible" would be done and no damage to innocent lives would be caused, the increased civilian casualties in the Yemen war remain unexplained.^[497] UN's first report after the coalition claims this to be the world's worst humanitarian crisis, where more than 10,000 have been killed. The report also claims that the governments of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, may be responsible for war crimes, such as rape, torture, and use of child soldiers.^[498]

In July 2019, a large shipment of Australian-built remote weapons systems was exported from Sydney airport. The Guardian reported that the shipment was purchased by the governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.^[499] In August 2019, human rights groups urged Australia to suspend the arms sales to the two countries that have been “waging the bloody war in Yemen”. The United Nations confirmed deaths and injuries of 17,700 civilians, in addition to the increasing humanitarian crisis and displacements.^[500]

On 3 August 2019, the United Nations investigators said the US, UK, and France may potentially be complicit in committing war crimes in Yemen by selling weapons to the Saudi-led coalition which is deliberately using starvation against the civilian population as a tactic of warfare.^[501][502]

On 7 October 2019, Yemeni health officials said an explosive device blasted in Wadi Nakhla, Hudaydah, killing at least four children, and wounding two others. The officials blamed Houthi rebels for the blast.^[503]

In February 2019, an exclusive investigation led by CNN reported the violation of the US arms agreement with the UAE and Saudi Arabia. According to the report, Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners, including UAE, transferred US-made weapons to fighters associated to extremist and terrorist groups like al Qaeda, Salafi militias, and other extremist factions fighting in Yemen, violating Saudi-led coalition's agreement with the United States.^[504]

In November 2019, US State Department and Pentagon assigned teams to visit the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to probe into CNN's conclusion claiming that American-made weapons are being transferred for use by the separatist militias and rebel fighters in Yemen.^[505]

In February 2020, British law firm, Stoke White appealed the authorities in Britain, the U.S., and Turkey to arrest senior officials from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for allegedly carrying out acts of war crimes and torture in Yemen. The complaints were lodged under the provision of ‘universal jurisdiction’, wherein the nations must probe breaches of the Geneva Convention for possible war crimes.^[506]

In March 2020, the Saudi military forces fighting insurgents and Houthi rebel groups in the Yemeni civil war, was accused of carrying out abuse of Yemeni civilians in the country's remote eastern province, al-Mahrah. The Saudi-backed Yemeni forces and Saudi's own military forces have been accused by the Human Rights Watch of carrying out serious abuse of human rights in the proxy war ongoing since 2015, by arbitrarily arresting, torturing, and illegally transferring detainees to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.^[507][508]

On 21 June 2020, The Guardian reported that after a strong campaign against arms trade in the UK in 2019, a court of appeal listed supply of arms to Saudi Arabia as unlawful. However, the UK government allegedly continued the arms supply to Saudi Arabia and ignored the landmark ruling that declared it unlawful.^[509]

On 30 June 2020, the Yemeni human rights group Mwatana reported hundreds of cases of forced disappearance, torture, and killing in secret prisons in Yemen. The reports documented the cases from May 2016 to April 2020 and revealed more than 1,600 cases of arbitrary detentions, 770 forced disappearances, 344 cases of torture and at least 66 deaths in unofficial detention centers have been recorded. Further bifurcating it said that the UAE-backed forces are responsible for 327 disappearances, 141 cases of torture, and 25 deaths in detention, while the Saudi-backed Yemeni government bears the responsibility for 65 cases of torture and more than two dozen deaths.^[510]

The United Nations confirmed that an airstrike hit the northern province of Yemen on 6 August 2020, which led to an undocumented, but a large number of civilian casualties. The health minister of Yemen's Houthi-controlled area confirmed that 9 children were among those killed, while 12 children and women were injured in the airstrike carried out by the Saudi-led coalition.^[511]

On 14 September 2020, Human Rights Watch (HRW) wrote that Houthis have a “particularly egregious record of obstructing aid agencies from reaching civilians in need”.^[512]

On 17 September 2020, a coalition of 39 human rights organizations signed a letter urging Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to end arms exports to Saudi Arabia, which has committed war crimes in the Yemen war. The letter came after a United Nations panel listed Canada among the countries helping in fueling the war.^[513]

An investigation led by the Sky News disclosed the evidence of a 12 July 2020 air-strike that hit northern Yemen. It was reportedly carried out by the Saudi-led coalition backed by the United Kingdom and the United States government. The air-strike hit a family home, killing nine people, which included six children and three women. The investigators found fragments of the bomb and some of the shrapnel which seemed to be the part of a GBU-12, 500lb fin-guided bomb, manufactured in the United States of America. The Joint Incidents Assessment Team is still investigating the attack.^[514]

According to the official statistics released on 6 October 2020 by the Department for International Trade (DIT), British manufacturers have exported arms to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia worth about £11bn in 2019. The export took place despite a halt on the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia, for their potential use in Yemen where the Saudi-led coalition has committed multiple counts of war crimes.^[515] Britain ranked on the second number after the United States, which tops the list. As of 10 October 2020, the Britain sales were reported to have exceeded, with the UK issuing almost one record average of arms license to Saudi Arabia per day.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates hired child soldiers from Sudan (especially from Darfur), and Yemen to fight against Houthis during the civil war.^{[516][517][518]}

British SAS special forces are allegedly involved in training child soldiers in Yemen. Reportedly at least 40% of soldiers fighting for the Saudi-led coalition are children.^[519]

Saudi Arabia is also hiring Yemeni child soldiers to guard the Saudi Arabia-Yemen border against Houthis.^[520]

In June 2019, Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, has blocked the inclusion of Saudi Arabia on the US list of countries that recruit child soldiers, dismissing his experts’ findings that a Saudi-led coalition has been using children in Yemen's civil war.^[521]

Refugees

Djibouti, a small country in the Horn of Africa across the Bab-el-Mandeb strait from Yemen, has received an influx of refugees since the start of the campaign.^{[243][522][523]} Refugees also fled from Yemen to Somalia, arriving by sea in Somaliland and Puntland starting 28 March.^[524][525] On 16 April 2015, 2,695 refugees of 48 nationalities were reported to have fled to Oman in the past two weeks.^[526]

According to Asyam Hafizh, an Indonesian student who was studying in Yemen, Al-Qaeda of Yemen has rescued at least 89 Indonesian civilians who were trapped in the conflict. Later on he arrived in Indonesia and he told his story to local Media.^[527] United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported in August 2015 that a total of almost 100,000 people fled Yemen, especially to regional countries, like Saudi Arabia and Djibouti.^[528] In September 2016, UNHCR estimated displacement of 2.4 million Yemenis within the country and 120,000 seeking asylum.^[529]

In 2018, 500 refugees fleeing the civil war in Yemen came to Jeju Island, causing unease among the residents of Jeju Island.^{[530][531][532][533][534][535]}

According to the International Organisation for Migration, despite the dangerous situation, nearly 150,000 migrants from Ethiopia arrived in Yemen in 2018, most of whom were on their way to Saudi Arabia in search of employment.^[536]

In October 2019, Kuwait donated $12 million to the UNHCR to support its humanitarian programs in Yemen. Salvatore Lombardo, Chief of Staff at office of the UNHCR, said that the donation will be allocated to address the issues of Yemen's internally displaced persons (IDPs).^[537]

Evacuation of foreign nationals from Yemen

The Royal Saudi Navy evacuated diplomats and United Nations staff from Aden to Jeddah on 28 March 2015 as the Houthis targeted the city.^[538]

Pakistan dispatched two special PIA flights to evacuate from Aden some 500 stranded Pakistanis on 29 March 2015.^[539] Several UN staff members and Arab diplomats were also evacuated following the airstrikes.^[540]

The Indian government responded by deploying ships and planes to Yemen to evacuate stranded Indians. India began evacuating its citizens from Aden on 2 April by sea.^[541] An air evacuation of Indian nationals from Sanaa to Djibouti started on 3 April, after the Indian government obtained permission to land two Airbus A320s at the Houthi-controlled airport.^[542] The Indian Armed Forces carried out rescue operation codenamed Operation Raahat and evacuated more than 4640 overseas Indians in Yemen along with 960 foreign nationals of 41 countries.^[543] The Sanaa air evacuation ended on 9 April 2015 while the Aden evacuation by sea ended on 11 April 2015.^[544] The United States did not undertake an evacuation of private U.S. citizens from the country,^[545] but some Americans (as well as Europeans) took part in an evacuation organized by the Indian government.^[546]

A Chinese missile frigate docked in Aden on 29 March to evacuate Chinese nationals.^[547] The ship reportedly deployed soldiers ashore on 2 April to guard the evacuation of civilians from the city.^[548] Hundreds of Chinese and other foreign nationals were safely evacuated aboard the frigate in the first operation of its kind carried out by the Chinese military.^[549] The Philippines announced that 240 Filipinos that had grouped in Sanaa were evacuated across the Saudi border to Jizan, before boarding flights to Riyadh and then to Manila.^[550]

The Malaysian government deployed two Royal Malaysian Air Force C-130 aircraft to evacuate their citizens from the safe airports in Djibouti and Dubai.^[551] From Aden they were recuperated first by sea,^[552] and there were many in Hadhramaut Governorate.^[551] On 15 April, around 600 people were evacuated to Malaysia, also comprising citizens of other Southeast Asian countries such as 85 Indonesians, 9 Cambodians, 3 Thais and 2 Vietnamese.^[552]

The Indonesian Air Force also sent a Boeing 737-400 and a chartered aircraft to evacuate Indonesian citizens. Indonesians remained in Tarim, Mukallah, Aden, Sanaa and Hudaydah.^[553]

The Ethiopian Foreign Ministry said it would airlift its citizens out of Yemen if they requested to be evacuated.^[554] There were reportedly more than 50,000 Ethiopian nationals living and working in Yemen at the outbreak of hostilities.^[555] More than 3,000 Ethiopians registered to evacuate from Yemen, and as of 17 April, the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry had confirmed 200 evacuees to date.^[556]

Throughout April Russian military forces evacuated more than 1,000 people of various nationalities, including primarily Russian citizens, on at least nine flights to Chkalovsky Airport, a military air base near Moscow. In early April around 900 had come from Houthi-controlled Sanaa, and the balance from Aden.^[557]

The UNSC Resolution 2216 was then agreed on 14 April 2015.^[558]

Impact on citizens

Children and women

Yemeni refugee women and children are extremely susceptible to smuggling and human trafficking.^[559] NGOs report that vulnerable populations in Yemen were at increased risk for human trafficking in 2015 because of ongoing armed conflict, civil unrest, and lawlessness. Migrant workers from the Somalia who remained in Yemen during this period suffered from increased violence, and women and children became most vulnerable to human trafficking. Prostitution on women and child sex workers is a social issue in Yemen. Citizens of other gulf states are beginning to be drawn into the sex tourism industry. The poorest people in Yemen work locally and children are commonly sold as sex slaves abroad. While this issue is worsening, the plight of Somali's in Yemen has been ignored by the government.^[560]

Children are recruited between the ages of 13 and 17, and as young as 10 years old into armed forces despite a law against it in 1991. The rate of militant recruitment in Yemen increases exponentially. According to an international organization, between 26 March and 24 April 2015, armed groups recruited at least 140 children.^[561] According to the New York Times report, 1.8 million children in Yemen are extremely subject to malnutrition in 2018.^[562]

Both the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis were blacklisted by the UN over the deaths of children during the war. In 2016 Saudi Arabia was removed from the list after alleged pressure from Gulf countries who threatened to withdraw hundreds of millions of dollars in assistance to the UN, the decision was criticized by human rights groups and the coalition added again in 2017 and was accused of killing or injuring 683 children, and attacking many of schools and hospitals in 38 confirmed attacks, while the Houthis were accused of being responsible for 414 child casualties in 2016.^{[563][564][565]}

In mid-May 2019, a series of Saudi/Emirati-led airstrikes hit Houthi targets on the outskirts of Sanaa. One of the airstrikes destroyed several homes, killing five civilians and injuring more than 30. According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, while 4,800 of about 7,000 civilian fatalities have been caused by the Saudi-led coalition since 2016, the Houthis are accountable for 1,300 civilian deaths.^[566]

According to UNICEF, two million children have dropped out of school in Yemen since the conflict began in March 2015. The education of other 3.7 million children is uncertain as the teachers have not received salaries in the last two years.^[567]

On 9 October 2019, children's advocacy group, Save the Children warned of a significant rise in cholera cases in northern Yemen. The crisis caused by increase in fuel shortages has affected several thousand children and their families.^[568]

Between October 2016 and August 2019, over 2,036,960 suspected cholera cases were reported in Yemen, including 3,716 related deaths (fatality rate of 0.18%).^[569]

The seasonal flu virus in Yemen has claimed more than 270 lives since October 2019. Poor medical facilities and widespread poverty in Yemen due to the war waged by Saudi-led coalition and Houthis have led to the deaths of many infected patients in their homes.^[570]

On 15 June 2020, the Saudi-led coalition killed 13 civilians including four children. An airstrike struck a vehicle carrying civilians in Saada, Yemen.^[571]

On 16 June 2020, the United Nations removed the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen war from an annual blacklist of parties violating children's rights. The decision was taken despite the UN finding that the coalition operations killed or injured nearly 222 children in Yemen, in 2019. The Saudi-led coalition's removal from the blacklist leaves Yemeni children vulnerable to future attacks.^[572]

As of March 2020, the Jewish Cemetery in Aden was destroyed; as of April 2020, the fate of the last 50 Jews in Yemen was reported to be unknown.^[573] On 13 July 2020 it is reported that the Houthi Militia is capturing the last Jews of Yemen of the Kharif District.^[574] On 16 July 2020, 5 Jews were allowed to leave Yemen by the Houthi leaving 33 Jews in the Country^[575] In July 2020, the Mona Relief reported on their Website that as of 19 July 2020, of the Jewish Population in Yemen there were only a "handful" of Jews in Sanaa^[576] On 29 March 2021, the Iranian-backed Houthi government deported the last remaining Yemenite Jews to Egypt, ending the continuous presence of a community that dated back to antiquity.^[577]

Education

The civil war in Yemen severely impacted and degraded the country's education system. The number of children who are out of school increased to 1.8 million in 2015–2016 out of more than 5 million registered students, according to the 2013 statistics released by the Ministry of Education.^[578] Moreover, 3600 schools are directly affected; 68 schools are occupied by armed groups, 248 schools have severe structural damage, and 270 are used to house refugees. The Yemen government has not been able to improve this situation due to limited authority and manpower.

Some of the education system's problems include: not enough financial resources to operate schools and salaries of the teachers, not enough materials to reconstruct damaged schools, and lack of machinery to print textbooks and provide school supplies. These are caused by the unstable government that cannot offer enough financial support since many schools are either damaged or used for other purposes.

Due to warfare and destruction of schools, the education ministry, fortunately, was able to send teams to oversee primary and secondary schools' final exam in order to give students 15–16 school year certificates.^[578] Currently, UNICEF is raising money to support students and fix schools damaged by armed conflicts.

Residential condition

The Yemeni quality of life is affected by the civil war and people have suffered enormous hardships. Although mines are banned by the government, Houthi forces placed anti-personnel mines in many parts of Yemen including Aden.^[579] Thousands of civilians are injured when they accidentally step on mines; many lose their legs and injure their eyes. It is estimated that more than 500,000 mines have been laid by Houthi forces during the conflict. The pro-Hadi Yemen Army was able to remove 300,000 Houthi mines in recently captured areas, including 40,000 mines on the outskirts of Marib province, according to official sources.^[580]

In addition, the nine-country coalition led by Saudi Arabia launched many airstrikes against Houthi forces; between March 2015 and December 2018 more than 4600 civilians have been killed and much of the civilian infrastructure for goods and food production, storage, and distribution has been destroyed.^[581][582] Factories have ceased production and thousands of people have lost their jobs. Due to decreased production, food, medicines, and other consumer staples have become scarce. The prices of these goods have gone up and civilians can no longer afford them for sustenance.

The United Nations representative Baroness Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said on 2 April 2015 that she was "extremely concerned" about the fate of civilians trapped in fierce fighting, after aid agencies reported 519 people killed and 1,700 injured in two weeks. The UN children's agency reported 62 children killed and 30 injured and also children being recruited as soldiers.^[583]

Russia called for "humanitarian pauses" in the coalition bombing campaign, bringing the idea before the United Nations Security Council in a 4 April emergency meeting.^[584] However, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United Nations questioned whether humanitarian pauses would be the best way of delivering humanitarian assistance.^[585]

On 14 April 2015, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution placing sanctions on Abdul-Malik al-Houthi and Ahmed Ali Saleh, establishing an arms embargo on the Houthis, and calling on the Houthis to withdraw from Sanaʽa and other areas they seized.^[586] The Houthis condemned the UN resolution and called for mass protests.^[587]

Jamal Benomar, the UN envoy to Yemen who brokered the deal that ended Ali Abdullah Saleh's presidency during the 2011–12 revolution, resigned on 15 April.^[588] Mauritanian diplomat Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, formerly the head of the UN's Ebola response mission, was confirmed as the new UN Envoy to Yemen on 25 April.^[589] The Panel of Experts on Yemen mandated by the Security Council, UN submitted a 329-page report to the latter's president on 26 January 2018 denouncing the UAE, the Yemeni government and the Houthis for torturing civilians in the Yemeni conflict.^[590]

In December 2018, UN-sponsored talks between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed government were expected to start. The UN also started using its jets to carry wounded Houthi fighters out of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, to Oman, paving the way for planned peace talks after nearly four years of civil war.^[591]

According to United Nations, more than 3.6 million Yemenis have been displaced in the 5-year-old conflict. The World Food Programme, which feeds more than 12 million Yemenis needs more funding to continue the ongoing operations and ramp back up operations in the north. Without funding, 30 of 41 major aid programmes in Yemen would close in the next few weeks.^[592]

On 27 September 2020, the United Nations announced that the Iran-backed Houthi rebels and the Hadi government supported by the Saudi-led military coalition, agreed to exchange about 1,081 detainees and prisoners related to the conflict as part of a release plan reached in early 2020. The deal stated the release of 681 rebels along with 400 Hadi government forces, which included fifteen Saudis and four Sudanese. The deal was finalized after a week-long meeting held in Glion, Switzerland, co-chaired by UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths. The prisoner-swap deal was done by the UN during 2018 peace talks in Sweden and both parties were agreed on several measures including the cease-fire in the strategic port city of Hodeida. A prisoner swap deal was made as part of the 2018 peace talks held in Sweden. However, the implementation of the plan clashed with military offensives from Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition, which aggravated the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, leaving millions suffering medical and food supply shortages.^[593]

On 4 April 2015, the International Committee of the Red Cross called for a 24-hour ceasefire to deliver aid and supplies after the Saudi-led coalition blocked three aid shipments to Yemen.^[303][594] On 5 April, Reuters quoted a Houthi leader as saying the group would be willing to sit down for peace talks if the airstrikes stopped and a neutral party acted as mediator.^[595] On 7 April, China added its support of a ceasefire in Yemen, following an appeal by the ICRC and Russia for a humanitarian pause.^[596]

Despite Saudi Arabia asking for Pakistan's support to join the coalition,^[597] the Pakistan government also called for a ceasefire in order to help negotiate a diplomatic solution.^[598] Alongside Turkey, Pakistan has taken initiatives to arrange a ceasefire in Yemen.^[599] According to analysis written in U.S. News, Pakistan's strategic calculations firmly believes that if the Saudis enter into a ground war in Yemen – with or without Pakistani military – it will become a stalemate; therefore, Pakistan is increasing its efforts to potentially help engineer a face-saving solution to achieve a ceasefire and end the war.^[597]

On 12 April, Saudi Arabia rejected Iran's request about a ceasefire in Yemen. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, at a news conference with his French counterpart Laurent Fabius, that "Saudi Arabia is a responsible for establishing legitimate government in Yemen and Iran should not interfere."^[600] Australia called for the ceasefire in Yemen, because of the civilian casualties numbers.^[601] On 16 April, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon requested an immediate ceasefire in Yemen. Also he said all parties must stop war as soon as possible.^[602]

Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif submitted four-point Yemen peace plan to United Nations. In this letter he pointed to enormous civilian casualties and destruction of civilian infrastructure. He said the only way to stop the war is to require that Yemeni parties form a national unity government without any foreign military intervention.^[603] Furthermore, since 21 April 2016, peace talks have started in Kuwait at the Bayan Palace.^[604] In June 2015, a solution to ending the Saudi intervention in Yemen sought the participation of a Yemeni delegation to the Geneva peace talks; the delegation came under attack in the Geneva peace talks.^[605]

On 10 April 2016, cease fire agreement reached in Yemen, after months of negotiation,^[606] but peace talks were suspended on 6 August.^[607]

A second Yemeni ceasefire attempt on 21 November 2016, collapsed within 48 hours.^[608]

The U.S. and U.K. have put immense pressure on Saudi Arabia following the bombing campaign in Yemen and the brutal killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist. On 30 October 2018, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said "It is time to end this conflict, replace conflict with compromise, and allow the Yemeni people to heal through peace and reconstruction." Pompeo emphasized that the Houthi rebels must stop firing missiles at Saudi and the UAE, but he also added that "subsequently, coalition airstrikes must cease in all populated areas in Yemen," aiming at Saudi Arabia.^[609] Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said all the parties involved in the war need to take part in peace talks initiated by the UN within 30 days.^[610] On 10 November 2018, the U.S. announced it would no longer refuel coalition aircraft operating over Yemen. The Saudi-led coalition issued a statement confirming the decision, saying the cessation of aerial refueling was made at the request of the coalition due to improvements in their own refueling capabilities. The move was expected to have minimal impact on the Saudi effort.^[611] The U.S. still provides support for the Saudi-led intervention via weapons sales and intelligence sharing.^[612]

Many U.S. senators were upset with Trump's response on the murder of Khashoggi. The disapproval of the Trump administration's support then took another turn as U.S. senators advanced a motion to withdraw American support from the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen. The senators voted 63–37 to take forward the bipartisan motion, giving a severe blow to Trump administration, which was in favor of Saudi Arabia.^[613]

On 13 March 2019, the U.S. Senate voted 54–46 in favor of ending U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen and called on the President to revoke U.S. forces from the Saudi-led coalition.^[614]

In July 2020, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he would be prepared to mediate between the hostile parties in Yemen to end the war.^[615]

Armed Houthis ransacked Al Jazeera's news bureau in Sanaʽa on 27 March 2015, amid Qatar's participation in the military intervention against the group. The Qatar-based news channel condemned the attack on its bureau.^[616] On 28 March, Ali Abdullah Saleh stated neither he nor anyone in his family would run for president, despite recent campaigning by his supporters for his son Ahmed to seek the presidency. He also called on Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi to step down as president and said new elections should be held.^[617]

Rumors about Saleh's whereabouts swirled during the conflict. Foreign Minister Riad Yassin, a Hadi loyalist, claimed on 4 April that Saleh left Yemen aboard a Russian aircraft evacuating foreign nationals from Sanaa International Airport.^[618] Later in the month, Saleh reportedly asked the Saudi-led coalition for a "safe exit" for himself and his family, but the request was turned down.^[619]

King Salman reshuffled the Saudi cabinet on 28 April, removing Prince Muqrin as his designated successor. The Saudi royal palace said Muqrin had asked to step down, without giving a reason, but media speculation was that Muqrin did not demonstrate sufficient support for the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen.^[620] A spokesman for Yemen's exiled government told Reuters on 29 April that the country would officially seek membership in the Gulf Cooperation Council.^[621] Media reports have noted that the civil war has reached nearly all of Yemen, with one notable exception being the remote Indian Ocean archipelago of Socotra,^[622] where the war spread due to the South Yemen insurgency in 2017.^[623]

On 30 September 2019, Houthi rebels released 290 Yemeni prisoners in a move, stated by the United Nations as a revival of peace process, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.^[624]

In early 2020, news emerged that an Attar statue which was smuggled from a temple in Maryamah, Hadhramaut Governorate, was later owned by Qatari royals to be exhibited at the Château de Fontainebleau in 2018, then, a year later, at the Tokyo National Museum (TNM).^[625][626]

In August 2020, confidential Saudi documents revealed the kingdom's strategy in Yemen. The 162 pages of classified Saudi documents dates back prior to 2015. The pages showed the kingdom's inaction in stopping the Houthis from capturing Sanaa, despite Saudi intelligence reports. The records also exposed that Saudi Arabia hampered German and Qatari reconstruction efforts in Saada after a ceasefire had largely terminated years of fighting between the Houthis and the government in 2010.^[627]

In September 2020, the United Nations announced a swap of "1081 conflict-related prisoners" between the two opponents, including Saudi and Sudanese troops fighting for the Saudi-led coalition.^[628] In October 2020, two American hostages Sandra Loli and Mikael Gidada who had been captives for 16 months, were freed by the Houthi rebels in exchange for releasing 240 former Houthi combatants in Oman.^[629]

In January 2021, the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced his intentions of declaring the Houthi movement in Yemen as a “foreign terrorist organization”. Under the plan, the three leaders of Houthis, known as Ansarallah, were to be listed as Specially Designated Global Terrorists. However, it induced a fear among the diplomats and aid groups that the move would cause issues in the peace talks and in delivering aid to the Yemen crisis.^[630]

On 3 March 2021, a court in Rome ordered an extension of an investigation for six months around the allegations that Saudi Arabia used Italian weapons in an October 2016 bombing campaign that killed a six-member Ahdal family. The export of Italian arms to Saudi Arabia dramatically expanded between 2014 and 2016, under the then-Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. The Italian Senator was crucially criticized for his increasing ties with Riyadh, where he attended an investment forum and even interviewed the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The investigation into Italian involvement was initiated as the fragments of the bomb were linked to RWM Italia, which is a unit of the German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall AG. The Italian export authority, Unit for the Authorizations of Armament Materials (UAMA) was also being investigated.^[631]

Water

Yemen is facing one of the world's worst Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) outbreaks. The lack of governance has left Yemen without a viable water supply. Poor sanitation and the lack of clean water has had a deteriorating effect on the health of Yemenis, which is apparent through the increasing cases of cholera in Yemen since 2015. The entire country has been affected by a water shortage and the price of drinking water has more than doubled. Drinking water has become unaffordable for most Yemenis. The problem in Yemen is widespread, thus making it difficult to reduce the problem from escalating because it is hard to supply everyone on a regular basis.

The Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at UNICEF, Geert Cappelaere, has explained that the fuel shortages in Yemen have deepened the water and health crisis. The water pumping stations in Yemen have been jeopardized as they are quickly running out of fuel and over 3 million people are dependent on these water pumps which have been established through public networks. The ICRC has been working closely with vulnerable people where the resources are limited but aim to prevent the water crisis from worsening by buying 750,000 liters of diesel to provide clean water for people living in Yemen. Already a scarce commodity, the amount of water withdrawn from wells in 2016 reached unsustainable levels. The ICRC has also been working carefully with local authorities to provide water to 330,000 people in Aden. They have also installed wells nearby Aden to provide water to the neighborhood when they are experiencing shortages of water.

Water resources have been used by both sides during the war as a tactic during the conflict. Unlike other countries in the Middle East, Yemen has no rivers to depend on for water resources. In 2017, 250,¬000 people of Taiz's total population of 654,330 were served by public water supply networks. As a result of the ongoing conflict NGO's have struggled to reach the sanitation facilities due to security issues. Since the aerial bombardment, Taiz has been left in a critical situation as the current water production is not sufficient for the population.

Water availability in Yemen has decreased.^[632] Water scarcity with an intrinsic geographical formation in highlands and limited capital to build water infrastructures and provision service caused a catastrophic water shortage in Yemen. Aquifer recharge rates are decreasing while salt water intrusion is increasing.^[633] After the civil war began in 2015, the water buckets were destroyed significantly and price of water highly increased. Storing water capacity has been demolished by war and supply chains have been occupied by military personnel, which makes the delivery of water far more difficult. In 2015, over 15 million people need healthcare and over 20 million need clean water and sanitation—an increase of 52 percent since the intervention, but the government agencies can not afford to deliver clean water to displaced Yemeni citizens.^[634]

Agriculture

The Yemen civil war resulted in a severe lack of food and vegetation. Agricultural production in the country has suffered substantially leaving Yemen to face the threat of famine. Yemen has been since UNSC resolution 2216 was approved in April 2015,^[558] under blockade by land, sea, and air which has disrupted the delivery of many foreign resources to Houthi-controlled territory. In a country where 90% of the food requirements are met through imports, this blockade has had serious consequences concerning the availability of food to its citizens.^[635] It is reported that out of the population of 24 million in Yemen, everyday 13 million are going hungry and 6 million are at risk of starvation.^[635] In October 2016, Robert Fisk reported that there is strong evidence suggesting that the agricultural sector in Houthi-controlled territory was being deliberately destroyed by the Saudi-led coalition, thus exacerbating the food shortage and leaving the Houthis dependent solely on imports, which are difficult to obtain in view of the blockade.^[636]

External video
The US may be aiding war crimes in Yemen on YouTube
PBS Report from Yemen: As Millions Face Starvation, American-Made Bombs Are Killing Civilians on YouTube

Media related to Yemeni Civil War (2015) at Wikimedia Commons

• Demystifying Yemen's Conflict (Midwest Diplomacy)
• Yemen and the Huthis: Genesis of the 2015 Crisis (Asian Affairs Journal)
• Timeline: Yemen (BBC)
• As Saudis Block a Human Rights Inquiry in Yemen, America Stays Quiet. Vice. 1 October 2015.
• Yemen: Coalition Bombs Homes in Capital. Human Rights Watch. 21 December 2015.
• The United States May Be Guilty of War Crimes in Yemen. The Nation. November 2016.
• Tomgram: Rebecca Gordon, Yet Another Undeclared U.S. War (December 2016), TomDispatch.com
• Yemen: Civil War and Regional Intervention Congressional Research Service
• UAE and US guilty of war crimes in Yemen torture centers, Amnesty charges. World Socialist Web Site. 13 July 2018
• Ending the Not-So-Futile War in Yemen. The American Interest. 4 October 2018