A Saudi-led coalition of countries is trying to rout rebel fighters known as Houthis from cities across the country, with an intensive bombing campaign.
The Houthis are an armed movement based in Yemen’s rugged northern mountains, along the border with Saudi Arabia. They seized control of Sana’a – Yemen’s capital – and its government last September. In March the country’s president, Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi, fled the country, and the bombing began.
Since then, over 2,000 Yemenis have died and more than 500,000 have been displaced.
Houthis are Zaydi Muslims – a Shia sect of Islam close in identity to Sunnis. Neighbouring Sunni Saudi Arabia says they are a dangerous proxy of Iran on their doorstep. The US agrees, and has been providing logistical and technical support to the campaign.
Former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was forced from power in 2012 after the Arab Spring protests, still holds much influence across Yemen, and has backed the Houthis, providing the support of military units still loyal to him.
Saudi-imposed blockade
Amid the chaos, the people of Yemen try to survive not only the air strikes, but also a Saudi-imposed blockade. Flights in and out of Yemen are forced to land in Saudi Arabia for inspection. Crucial goods are running frighteningly short.
Families queue by steel water-tanks, waiting to fill plastic containers. “This is the first water to come here in five days,” a local resident told The Irish Times. People are exhausted. “My children are terrified from the bombs,” one woman shouted, waving her hands towards the skies. “They cannot sleep.”
Children have not been to school since the air strikes began. Yemenis traditionally have large families. Countless school-aged children can be seen playing in the street, oblivious to the catastrophe growing around them...................Yemenis struggle as treasured city deteriorates
20/6/15
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