How cruel is when a person finds himself forced all the time to bear burdens! How cruel is when a person finds himself forced all the time to go forward without a moment when he catches his breath or looks behind him! It is known that every war has losses and gains, so what are the Yemeni people losing in the current conflict?
A prominent British journalist said that the future of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia depends on winning the war in Yemen. Otherwise, all the reform plans adopted by Prince Muhammad bin Salman will go unheard. And it became clear that Iran has set a trap for the Saudi crown prince, whom the writer blames for starting the war, by making Yemen the Saudi Vietnam and to deplete its resources and turn them into rubble.
The Devastating Effects of War on Civilians
The escalation of conflict in the country is causing severe damage to the population. The numbers and the data speak for themselves. There are more than 18 million people (about the population of New York) in need of humanitarian aid, about 3 million displaced people, as well as tens of thousands who have died or been injured, according to United Nations statistics. Civilians are paying a heavy price for this war.
The war also has other effects, including fear, food scarcity, and the increase in fuel prices. One of the very impressive things is that a substantial portion of the population, perhaps because they were immersed in the context of violence a long time ago, came to regard the issue of obtaining psychological support as a normal matter. They know that they need it, and they have no problem asking for it. There are many who have been displaced more than once. They were forced to leave their places and to leave everything behind. You will hardly find a Yemeni who has not lost a dear or relative because of this war.
There is no doubt that there are many unmet needs. Insecurity because of fighting and bombing makes the provision of aid difficult and impossible. The problems of accessing the population because of restrictions imposed or delays in issuing permits to some humanitarian actors make humanitarian intervention difficult.
People are dependent on aid as economic activity has fallen sharply. There is another issue of great concern, which is the emergence of cases of preventable diseases, such as whooping cough. This is a direct reflection of the collapse of the health system, as the level of vaccination coverage has decreased to a much lower degree than usual. The combination of several factors, such as the war, restrictions on imports, and non-payment of salaries for government employees in the North, seriously affected the availability and accessibility of food. Additionally, nutritional treatments are not available, and food distributions are intermittent and erratic.
The numbers revealed by the United Nations are shocking. There are 1.1 million breastfeeding women suffering from malnutrition, and 462,000 children (about half the population of Montana) under the age of five suffer from severe acute malnutrition. It is difficult for MSF to conduct a conclusive analysis. On the one hand, the deterioration of the situation is clear. Because there are those who have been forced to flee and have lost their livelihood sources such as crops or animals ... On the other hand, only the most severe cases of malnutrition reach our hospital, and we do not perform emergency treatment, and therefore we do not have the complete picture.
Read more: Tragedy of the Children in Yemen
Yemen Is Reminiscent of Afghanistan
Mohammed bin Salman was aware of the bad advice when he decided to intervene in the ongoing civil war between the Hadi government and the Houthis because history shows that external actors cannot win the war.
In many matters, Yemen reminds of Afghanistan. These include:
The mountains make it difficult to wage traditional warfare
Tribes, and not the central government, controlling the country
Small groups of warriors spreading their hegemony over regions.
Moreover, Al Qaeda has made the two countries’ areas of retreat.
The Saudi leadership received the warning in the fall of 2015 and thought it was compelled to act jointly with the United Arab Emirates. This was because Iran took advantage of the opportunity after strengthening the Shiite strip from Tehran to the Mediterranean to set up it’s footing now in the Arabian Peninsula. The opportunity also presented itself, because the government leadership of the Houthis, at least in the early years, was better than the pro-Saudi governments - and the Houthis thus had support among the population.
Failure of Political Settlements
In the absence of an agreement, and with the significant decline in the number of coalition forces, Saudi Arabia will change its method of intervention in Yemen. The local agents are being prepared with the support of external forces. They are preparing to fight the war on behalf of more than before, which was clear through the intentional direction of regional parties towards creating local agents and harnessing them to implement their agendas and take care of their interests in Yemen.
Conclusion
The Yemenis are facing an ordeal that the United Nations has classified as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. But if the war turns into a complete proxy conflict, the suffering of the Yemenis will increase more, because this will require the local and tribal communities to decide their position with this or that party, which leads to the division of the divided.
The absence of direct responsibility of the regional parties before the international community leads to the prosperity of the money and arms game due to the multiplication of polarization, in addition to the high rate of human suffering, especially since civil and humanitarian organizations present in Yemen will lose their security guarantor in the event that the coalition formally abdicates its responsibilities, which will jeopardize Humanitarian workers at risk and increases the suffering of citizens. And if the war is transformed into a proxy war, the countries that formed the Arab coalition will evade compensation and reconstruction.
Read more: IRCS’s take on War in Yemen
Written By - Belal Hassan
Edited By - Neha Kundu
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