Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, running unopposed for president of Yemen, won 2012 Yemeni elections. The Houthis, a Zaidi Shia movement and militant group thought to be backed by Iran, took control of the Yemeni government. Saudi Arab and other countries denounced this as unconstitutional coup d'etat. By September 2014, Houthi fighter captured Sana'a, toppling the government but soon after the peace deal was achieved between the government and Houthis but neither party honoured their obligations. Due to this the government sought the support of Saudi Arabia and hence the formation of 34 state coalition to target to subjugate Yemen from the militants. According to the Saudi news outlet Al Arabia, Saudi Arabia contributed 100 warplanes and 150,000 soldiers to the military operation. Other Arab states also contributed their share of warplanes and soldiers to support the president's claim for government. USA and UK took part in Saudi's advisory board and they also were responsible for refuelling jets . The civilians fell victim to this campaign in humongous numbers forcing UN to accuse this campaign for neglecting and violating the Laws of War. Some are stated below:
- UN reported, From 26 March-23 April 2015 209 civilians were killed in Sana'a by air strikes.
- As reported by ICRC, Air strikes on 20th April 2015 on Fajj Atan military base, Sana'a. 90 civilians were put to death.
- On 27th May 2015, Reuters reported that 100 people were laid to rest due to air strikes.
- On 28th September 2015, 135 civilians were killed in alleged coalition airstrike on Yemen wedding.
- And Finally, On 8th October 2016, More than 140 people were killed and more than 525 wounded when air strikes hit a funeral ceremony in Yemen, a UN official reported.
- More than 2,500,000 people had been internally displaced as of 10 December 2015.
Solution:
The war has received widespread criticism and had a dramatic worsening effect on the humanitarian situation, that reached the level of a "humanitarian Catastrophe". Until the humanitarian rights are not observed in Yemen and the Saudi defence minister stops this insanity no viable solution will be brought forward in near future. The Houthi Militants and the government needs to make peace, may it be in form of a deal or a temporary agreement to help the civilians. These kinds of operations are heavily dependent on intelligence information which USA is not very efficient in. Saudi Arab is economically in a depressed state as a budget deficit of 13.7% of GDP was reported so they should not let insanity prevail and must halt their campaign and rethink their strategies. Lastly, other than Coalition's nefarious war crimes, Yemen's internally disrupted systems have to be set right with the help of UN and donors. To sum it up, "The demented King's imbecile son has got them in a pickle".
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