The Power of the Proxy: Yemen and Its Struggle to End Its Civil War
Sana’a, Yemen, has been plagued by violence between the Houthis and the Saudi-led Coalition for years, driving one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world. Photo by Rod Waddington
Shattered by a civil war between the Iran-backed Houthis and the Saudi-led Coalition, Yemen has struggled to emerge from a ruthless humanitarian crisis. The conflict between the Houthi rebels and those fighting for the recognized government has left 4 million people in disarray, internally displaced within their own nation. Driven by outside forces and relations between Iran and Saudi-Arabia, the war has continued to progress and escalate because of its nature as a proxy war—a war instigated and directed by major powers, which they themselves do not physically participate in. The conflict has come to a stalemate, further exacerbating the crisis and leaving Yemeni people behind. Like many proxy wars, the internal conflict in Yemen has caused one of the greatest humanitarian crises in the world. Without breaking the stalemate in peace negotiations, the prospects for a solution to the conflict are few and far between.
The seven year conflict began during the Arab Spring, when a popular uprising in Yemen forced its authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to hand over power to Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. This shift from authoritarian to democratic leadership left a power vacuum, one which Hadi was not prepared to fill. The Houthis were able to take advantage of Hadi’s weakness by exacerbating the people’s loyalty to his predecessor and emphasizing his lack of leadership to the public. In the wake of this political transformation, Houthis, supported by rebellious sections of the military, stormed the nation’s capital, Sana, taking control of the Saada province in Northern Yemen. This ignited a civil war that continues to this day. In response, the Saudi-led Coalition began bombing the country, starting a never-ending back and forth of violence with millions of civilians caught in the cross-hairs.
Rubble of a school bombed by Saudi-backed Coalition. The country has been plagued with a never-ending back and forth of violence since 2014. Photo by Felton Davis.
The Houthis, whose ancestral homeland is the Saada province, emerged in the late 1980s as a religious revival among Zaydi Shiites (a religious minority in a Sunni Muslim country) in Northern Yemen. Politicized in 2003 in opposition to Saleh during the United State’s invasion of Iraq, the Houthis hold extremist religious views. However, this faction is far more than a rugged group of rebels—supposedly backed by Tehran–rather, they have become a vessel for a much larger political battle. On the opposing side of the arena lies the Saudi-backed Coalition. Joined by the likes of the UAE and the United States, the largely Sunni-majority Arab states have been fighting the Houthis with the goal of reinstating Hadi’s government. Each of these parties have stated their intended purpose, but like any proxy war, larger forces are at work, leaving the conflict at an awkward pause, with little to no end in sight.
Iran and Saudi Arabia, two of the leading powers in the Middle East, have historically had tense relations. In a constant battle for influence, nicknamed the Middle Eastern Cold War, the two have been increasingly aggressive, with mounting hostilities. In 2017, in fact, Saudi Arabia charged Iran with firing a Yemeni missile at its capital. “We see this as an act of war,” said Adel Jubair, the Foreign Minister. The civil war in Yemen has become a proxy war for Iran and Saudi Arabia, a projection of their fight for influence. Iranian military aid to the Houthis has dramatically increased since the start of the conflict. Special Envoy Tim Lenderking has stated that Tehran has provided significant funding, training, and weapons support to the Houthis, contesting any claims that this is not an Iranian proxy conflict: “Iran’s support to the Houthis is quite significant, and it’s lethal.” As Iran incorporates Houthis into its proxy network, much like it has Hezbollah in Lebanon, it has become clear that although the conflict may be impacting people within Yemen, its implications extend far beyond its borders. The Coalition has not been without fault either. Saudi’s conflict with Iran has driven the Coalition to bombard the city drastically in hopes of pushing Houthis out. The conflict’s dimension as a proxy war has inevitably led to an escalation of the fighting and increased violence against civilians.
Whether the war is between Iran and Saudi Arabia, the Houthis and the Coalition, or Shiite Muslims and Sunni Muslims, the Yemeni people bear the consequences, becoming victims to violent acts and struggling to attain the necessary resources to survive. Over 20.7 million people in Yemen are in need of humanitarian assistance as a result of the conflict, including 11.3 million children. The triple F crisis—food, fuel, and financial—has caused the country to plummet into a hole that is hard to climb out of. 45% of Yemenis, which accounts for over 16 million people, are considered to be food insecure. With the conflict hiking up oil prices, which translates into a general increase in cost of essential goods, we can see the direct impact of the fighting on the daily lives of civilians. In addition, the UN has estimated that over 377,000 civilians have died as a direct result of the conflict. The proxy war has brought relentless harm and struggle to millions of civilians.
Yemeni man cooling down in a displacement camp. More than 4 million Yemenis have been internally displaced as a result of the conflict between the Houthis and the Saudi-led Coalition. Photo by Peter Biro and EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian aid.
Yemen is at a crossroads. With friction amongst the regional actors prolonging the war and furthering various national agendas, there seems to be no end in sight. In 2018 and 2019, conditions between the Houthis and Saudis deteriorated with attacks on Saudi soil and on the UAE. Furthermore, recent attacks on oil storage, water treatment plants, and energy structures have flared up tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia, as the weapons used to execute the attacks were sourced back to Tehran. This violation of the UN Security Council’s resolution, which prohibits the import of weapons into Yemen, is yet another disappointing failure in peace negotiations. In addition, the Houthis’' ability to build their own weapons using Iranian tools has been yet another blow to the national community’s hope for an end to the conflict. The first cease-fire in seven years began at the beginning of Ramadan, although it only lasted for two months. However, these recent attacks have reignited tensions and caused a stalemate in peace negotiations. While regional actors are busy extending this conflict, the Yemeni people are suffering. It has been demonstrated that economic growth and development would increase by 450 billion by 2050 if the conflict were to end, while malnutrition would be cut in half by 2025.
War, and especially proxy conflicts characterized by international intervention, continue to threaten international security across the globe. When international intervention is not used as a method of de-escalation and humanitarian aid, but rather as a furthering of violence and personal national agendas, war becomes a never-ending event. De-escalation techniques must be at the heart of international intervention if negotiations are to come to any fruition. International peace-keeping methods must be taught and learned, non-violent tactics brought to both recognized nations and belligerent groups, so as to transform how the world approaches conflict. In the case of the Yemeni people, unfortunately, this goal may very well be a fantasy, unless peace talks resume with the goal of coming to true and lasting solutions.
Eve Muratore is a staff writer at CPR and junior (CC’23) studying political science and sociology. You can usually find her getting a “triple-S” sandwich from Milano’s, critiquing French restaurants, or having dance parties with her friends. She is from Seattle, Washington.