By:- Harsh Rathore

Yemen Crisis

Capital: Sana’aProvisional Capital:

AdenLanguage: ArabicReligion: IslamHead of the State:

Abdul Rabbuh Mansur Hadi (President)

Some Information About Yemen

Yemen in World

Yemen Map

Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi

Influenced by the Arab Spring, massive protests in 2011

It was against Ali Abdullah Saleh, the former President of Yemen you had been ruling for more than two decades

Disputes ignited between Saleh and his supreme military leader Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar which were already in existence

The country’s military was divided in two factions

Both factions mobilized their troops leading to an internal war

The division crippled the effect of military

History

Ali Abdullah Saleh

Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar

Due to the ineffectiveness of the army, the Houthi rebellions led by Abdul Malik al-Houthi spread throughout the Shia majority, northern Yemen

Iran jumped in and helped the Houthi rebellions

It deployed it’s Naval Vessels in Gulf of Aden under the pre-text of combating piracy but in reality, it was to support the Houthis with financial aid, weapons and military advisors

Responding to it, Saudi started air strikes against the Houthis near the border

Back in Sana’a, both the factions tried to manipulate the people’s uprising in their favor

Then, Saleh tried to assassinate al-Ahmar by giving misinformation to Saudis regarding Houthi target for air strikes which was in truth, the HQ of al-Ahmar

Later on March 21, 2011, al-Ahmar promised protection of anti-government Yemeni protesters

The move was later condemned as “Mutinous” by Saleh

The country was on the brink of a civil war when Saudi jumped in and mediated between the two factions

The Saudis are less concerned about Yemen and more concerned about the increase on Iranian influence in the neighboring regions and they thus needed a stable government in Yemen

Saudis made an agreement that would make sure the resignation of Saleh

But at the last minute, Saleh refused to do so

Renewed protest startedOn June 3, 2011, Saleh was almost killed due

to a bomb blast in a mosque where he and other top officials were praying

4 of his bodyguards died and Saleh suffered burns on 40% of his body

During his absence, the then VP Hadi was acting as an interim president

Saleh returned in Sept and signed the Saudi agreement on Nov 23, 2011

Hadi was now the new President and joined the office, early 2012

By the end of 2012, he relieved al-Ahmar of his duties

Hadi tried to reorganize the military and the government but by doing so in a short span of time, he created a lot of confusion

While all this happened, the Houthi rebels spread their influence and it was transformed into a militia led by Abdul Malik al-Houthi

Accomplished with the help of Iranian weapons and military advisors

Abdul Malik al-Houthi

Al-Qaeda took advantage of the disturbances In short span of time, the al-Qaeda controlled

a significant portion of south of YemenIn early 2013,

President Hadi’s attempt to reorganize the army failed and once again, the army was divided between the Generals and they were fighting among themselves

Hadi, understanding the situation, tried to reorganize the government by federalism and created six provinces hence ensuring the division of power

Every faction argued for a greater area for more resources and revenues

Also, Houthis did not want to become just one of the 6 provinces since they represented about 40% of the Yemeni society

Abdul Malik argued that his faction was entitled to more power in the new system

Since the talks were useless, rebels decided to take by force

July 2014, anti-government campaign by Houthis

The military, which was divided, was already fighting against the al-Qaeda in the south and could not stop the Houthis from seizing the capital

Hadi then transferred his limited military to defend the capital abandoning the southern side to the al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda gained a lot of territories in a short span of time

In the capital, the Houthis were seizing the capital

Though they were capturing the capital, they did not want to govern the country

They thought that governing a country so divided would only weaken the Houthi Movement, drain their man-power and financial resources

Instead, they wanted to be part of the new govornment

On Sept 21, 2014, Houthis and the government agreed to form a “Unity Government”

In the agreement, Mohammed Basindawa, the PM had to resign

After that, Houthis rejected Hadi’s original choice of the PM, Ahmad Awad bin Mubarak due to his close links to Hadi and the Oil Minister Khaled Bahah was appointed as the PM with consent of the rebels

The General People’s Congress led by Saleh abruptly announced on Nov 8 that they would not take part in the new Government claiming it unacceptable.

The Houthis increased the pressure on the weakened Hadi government

On January 20, 2015, the Houthis stormed the Presidential Palace and then entered the President’s residence

They kept the President under house arrestHadi, PM Khaled Bahah and the cabinet

resigned the following day stating that they could not work under the conditions stated by the rebels

Yemeni Coup d'etat

The House of Representatives had a meet on Jan 25 to discuss over the resignation of Hadi

But the meeting was cancelled as Houthis had taken over the Parliament building

UN tried to negotiate with the Houthi rebelsThe negotiation were fruitless and the movement

to find a solution was not metOn Feb 6, 2015, the Houthis dissolved the

parliament and declared themselves in total control of Yemen

They installed a Revolutionary Committee led by Mohammed Ali al-Houthi

The Committee was given the task to create a new 551 seat parliament which would then select 5-member Presidential Council to rule for 2 years

The Arab League, Gulf Cooperation Council, UN and US along with Houthis' Sunni rivals, Islah Party, and the separatist Southern Movement

Hadi returned to Aden on Feb 21, 2015Since then, there has been constant air

strikes from the side of SaudiHadi declared Aden as temporary capital

It began when the fighting broke out over Aden International Airport on March 19, when special forces loyal to Saleh attempted to seize the airport before they were defeated by troops and militiamen under the Hadi administration

The Houthis, in coalition with forces loyal to Saleh, declared to overthrow Hadi and further pressed to the south

According to UN, from March 2015 to March 2016, over 6,500 people have been killed in Yemen, including 3,218 civilians

The Yemeni Civil War