WHEN CARGO SHIPS in the Red Sea first became the target of drone attacks, missile strikes and boardings by the Houthis in Yemen, it caused some of the world’s biggest shipping companies to halt passages through the Bab al-Mandab Strait, through which 30% of global container traffic flows. Instead, they have directed their vessels to take the longer, more costly route around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope.
Recent retaliatory US and UK bombings in Houthi-controlled territory have brought to the surface still fresh memories of Yemen’s civil war, which devastated the already impoverished country between 2014 and 2022.
“I think these airstrikes now not only trigger those kind of sad memories of violence, but also lead to concerns about an escalation. And obviously, there’s a worry that these airstrikes, if they continue, that they could hit a civilian area and result in civilian casualties,” says Dalila Mahdawi of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
“So I think a lot of people are feeling a little bit uncertain about what’s going to happen next.
“I think it’s really important that we prioritise the protection of people and prevent further escalation because Yemen already has a terrible humanitarian crisis. It doesn’t need further conflict upon conflict.”
The Houthis, whose territory is home to the vast majority of the Yemeni population, have stated that they will continue to attack ships that have some connection to Israel until the siege and assault on Gaza is halted.
There have been reports however that some of the ships hit by the Yemeni rebel group did not have connections to Israel. So far, the Houthi attacks have not resulted in any fatalities.
Last week’s strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen by the United States and the UK marked an escalation the two countries had been promising since the convening of the international naval mission – mostly composed of Western countries – called Operation Prosperity Guardian, which has been intercepting Houthi drones and missiles.
Notably, the only Arab country to join the naval mission is the tiny Persian Gulf Kingdom of Bahrain, which is home to the US Naval Forces Central Command and the US’s Fifth Fleet.
This is not the first time in recent memory that Yemen has been bombed with US and UK munitions. Yemen was subjected to eight years of bombardment by a Saudi-led, US and UK-backed coalition during a civil war that left nearly 400,000 people dead.
The Saudi bombing campaign – which included the liberal use of cluster bombs – was carried out with weapons and support provided by the US and the UK.
The fighting in that war has reached a stalemate and a fragile truce remains in place.
What began as a civil war when the Houthis took control of the capital Sana’a in 2014 soon developed into a de facto proxy war between the region’s two most prominent powers, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Tehran supports the rebels while Riyadh backs the internationally recognised government based in the port city of Aden.
Before the war began in 2014, Yemen – a former British colony – was already one of the poorest countries in the Arab world. The humanitarian crisis resulting from the war is ongoing and now a number of aid agencies have suspended their activities in the country due to the latest US-UK attacks.
The lingering ravages of war
Dalila Mahdawi of the ICRC spoke to The Journal from her home in the capital Sana’a about the humanitarian situation in Yemen, which has been devastated by the civil war and where millions of people struggle to access clean water, food and healthcare.
“Certainly I think there’s increased anxiety about what’s happening, and the airstrikes obviously on Friday and Saturday in Sana’a woke up a lot of people and I think it’s also important to remember that, you know, since this effective truce two years ago, there haven’t really been airstrikes in Sana’a and in other places.
“So our priority as the ICRC is really to continue our efforts to protect and assist the victims of this conflict and to reinforce support to Yemen’s fragile essential systems. So really, we focus on four main areas, namely health, economic security, water and protection.
“You know, we still have more than half of Yemen’s hospitals closed or partially functioning, which obviously has a devastating impact on people’s access to healthcare.
“Essentially, we’re in a situation where Yemen, its whole infrastructure, has been severely damaged as a result of this war. We’re in a situation of collapsed or destroyed infrastructure, a depressed economy, and obviously we’ve got a highly fragmented governance.
“A lot of water networks have been damaged or destroyed… or also heavily mined.”
Humanitarian crisis
UNICEF, the UN body concerned with the rights of children, said in December that “Yemen remains one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world, with more than 11 million children in need of one or more forms of humanitarian assistance.
“After eight years of conflict, the national socioeconomic systems of Yemen remain on the edge of total collapse, while conflict, large-scale displacement and recurring climate shocks have left families vulnerable to communicable diseases outbreaks.
“Millions of children lack access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene services, and the country continues to experience regular outbreaks of cholera, measles, diphtheria and other vaccine-preventable diseases.”
On top of this, more than 4.5 million people have been internally displaced by the war, according to the UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
“There are about 18 million Yemenis who lack access to safe water and sanitation,” says Mahdawi. “So our teams here are really trying to work on repairing infrastructure for water and to train up the authorities as well to be able to maintain those.”
“And also, obviously, millions of people in Yemen have lost their livelihoods as a result of this conflict. They’ve exhausted their savings and that’s already pushing more people into poverty and into negative coping strategies.
“There are millions of families here who really struggle to put a meal on the table and unfortunately, we’ve seen humanitarian aid really cut dramatically to Yemen in the last few months.
“Each year and each month that passes in this conflict will make it exponentially more difficult for those families, and for this country’s infrastructure to recover.
“You know, Yemen was already one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, and even if we were to see the conflict end tomorrow, it’s going to take decades to rebuild from the damage that has been wrought by this conflict.”
Mahdawi explains that before the US-UK attacks and the Houthi assaults on Red Sea vessels, there had been some optimism about the chances of the situation improving, but those hopes have now been dashed.
“We had those ongoing negotiations between the parties, which I think gave people a lot of hope that we could see the conflict dynamics move towards an improvement, but I think this has shown just how fragile the context remains, unfortunately.
“The large majority of Yemenis, as with any other conflict-affected population in the world, just want a normal life.”
Despite the cessation of fighting, Yemeni civilians are still being killed by weapons deployed during the conflict, as The Journal reported last year. Yemen is one of the world’s most heavily contaminated countries in terms of unexploded mines and bombs.
“Landmines and explosive remnants of war have really actually emerged as the top cause of civilian casualties since this truce was effectively implemented and then de facto kind of extended,” says Mahdawi.
“So even before this conflagration on the Red Sea, the largest cause of civilian casualties were these landmines.”
“Even among this sort of fragile ceasefire peace that we had seen before this escalation, the legacy of the conflict is still very much present.”
This week on The Explainer podcast, we’re looking at everything about Yemen that might have flown under the radar in recent years with Dr Elisabeth Kendall, the Mistress of Girton College at Cambridge University and an Arabist and middle east specialist. Tap the button below to listen.
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