The Yemen war: a forgotten conflict

For nearly a decade, one devastating conflict has quietly slipped into the shadows: the ongoing war in Yemen. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), this war has caused no more than a quarter of a million deaths, and has led the country into what the UN describes as the “world’s worst human crisis”. There is an urgent need to heighten awareness on this war, especially in the media landscape in order to be more aware of the catastrophic consequences this war has on the Yemenite population.

To understand how this battle destroyed a country and the lives of its citizens, it’s imperative to have a clear understanding of the causes and the actors involved.

The war officially began in September 2014 when the Houthis took over Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in order to overthrow President Saleh. He was replaced by Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who has been running the government since. These events installed unprecedented political instability, allowing groups such as Daesh to expand their territorial influence. In a surprising turn, the Houthis decided to ally with former prime minister Saleh to bolster their military forces, while the actual President Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia to seek support.

As the Houthis gained power, international actors entered the conflict. Iran began supporting the Houthis, which prompted Saudi Arabia, which shares a border with Yemen, to perceive this as a threat. In response, a coalition between Saudi Arabia, the US, and the United Arab Emirates was formed and several aerial attacks were launched against the Houthis. These attacks had catastrophic consequences on the civilians as numerous non-military zones, such as schools or hospitals, were targeted by the air strikes.

By the end of 2017, the emergence of separatist groups, backed by the United Arab Emirates, along with the presence of American military forces, confirmed in 2022 by Joe Biden as part of a counterterrorist effort, further diminished the prospect of peace.

This conflict, originally a civil war, became a proxy war in which international actors are pursuing their own agendas while violating humanitarian and international law. The first victims of this war are clearly the population of Yemen. Thousands of deaths resulted from the conflict, but also from indirect causes such as food insecurity and lack of accessible health services. Two-thirds of the population, or 21.6 million Yemenis, remain in urgent need of assistance. Five million are at risk of famine, and a cholera outbreak has affected over one million people.

What is also intriguing is the lack of attention to this crisis in traditional media. This war is almost absent from the news and finding recent reports on what is happening in Yemen is not easy. While conflicts like the Ukrainian war of the Palestinian conflict, received important media attention, this war seems forgotten by the press. But why is this so?

As explained by the NGO “Reporters Without Borders”, Yemenite media are controlled by different parties in the conflict. Because of this, the freedom of Yemenite journalists has been very limited. Being a journalist in Yemen has become very dangerous, with four Yemenite journalists being held hostage for 8 years by Houthis rebels. Even foreign reporters are victims of persecution. Last year, two French journalists present in Yemen were arrested and pressured to leave the country.

Another explanation could be geopolitical. One example could be that in 2017, Saudi Arabia implemented a blockade in order to “prevent Iranian arms from circulating”. This made it impossible for humanitarian aid to reach the populations in need. As one can imagine, this is not something the US or France would like the news to report. They have no interest in tarnishing Saudi Arabia’s image, as they have an interest in maintaining close relationships with the country. The interests of these countries are mainly economic. France, for example, is selling weapons to Saudi Arabia (which are probably used in Yemen), and the US imports an important amount of Saudi Arabia’s barrels.

This complex war needs to be considered more closely by the international community. With millions of Yemenis suffering daily from the effects of this conflict, it is not something to be ignored. It is imperative that this event receive more attention in the media and by the international community - human lives depend upon it.

Manon Monsarrat