THE PROXY WAR OF YEMEN

A final project submitted in partial fulfilment of the course of International

Humanitarian Law and Refugee Law during the academic session 2021-22,
Semester X

Submitted by: AANCHAL

Roll no: 181602

B.B.A. LL.B.(Hons.)

Submitted to: Ms. Sadaf Fahim

Faculty, CNLU

MARCH, 2022

Chanakya National Law University, Mithapur, Patna,

800001
 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the research project entitled “The Proxy War of
Yemen” submitted at Chanakya National Law University, Patna, for
fulfilment of the course of International Humanitarian Law and Refugee
Law syllabus is my own work carried under supervision of Ms. Sadaf
Fahim. This project has not been submitted elsewhere for any other
degree/certificate/ course in any institute/University.

AANCHAL

2
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank my faculty Ms. Sadaf Fahim, whose guidance helped me a lot
with structuring my project.

I owe the present accomplishment of my project to my friends, who helped me

immensely with materials throughout the project and without whom I couldn’t
have completed it in the present way.

I would also like to extend my gratitude to my parents and all those unseen hands
that helped me out at every stage of my project.

TABLE OF CONTENT
3
Declaration…………………………………………….………………2

Acknowledgement……………………………….…………………….3

1. Introduction.…………………………………………………….5
2. Key Players of the Conflict….………………………………….9
3. Humanitarian Situation………………………………………..13
4. Prospect for solution to the
Crisis………………………………...15
5. Conclusion……………………………………………………….16
Bibliography………………………….……………………………...17

INTRODUCTION
4
Yemen, officially the republic of Yemen, is a country at the southern end of the Arabian-
Peninsula in western Asia. Yemen has a very rich religious and cultural history. In the 1800s, the
country was divided between the ottoman and the British empire. Ottoman empire had north
Yemen under its control and the British empire had southern Yemen.

The present republic of Yemen came into being in May 1990, when the Yemen Arab republic
(north Yemen) merged with the people’s democratic republic of Yemen (south Yemen). The
discovery of oil in the border regions of both north and south Yemen provided both parties with
a financial incentive to strengthen their relations. By stipulation of the unification agreement,
Sanaa, formerly the capital of north Yemen, functions as the political capital of the country. Ali
Abdullah Saleh, a military officer who had ruled north Yemen since 1978, assumed the
leadership of this new republic. Post-unification Yemen has been burdened by chronic corruption
and economic hardship. Divisions based on religion, tribalism and geography continue to play an
important role in Yemeni politics leading to violence.

At present, Yemen has been devastated by a civil war. 1 The fight, now seven 7 years old, has
turned into a proxy war: Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who overthrew the Yemeni Government, are
pitted against multinational coalition led by Saudi Arabia. This war has its root in the failure of a
political transition that was supposed to bring stability to Yemen. During the Arab spring
uprising, Yemenis forced their long-time authoritarian president ali abdullah saleh to resign. 2 In a
transition brokered by the gulf cooperation council (GCC) 3, a regional organization based in
Saudi Arabia and backed by the united states, made the vice-president Abd Rabbu Mansour
Hadi, the interim President.

As President, Mr. Hadi struggled to deal with a variety of problems, including attacks by
jihadists, separatist movement in south, the continuing loyalty of the security personnel to Saleh
as well as corruption, unemployment and food insecurity.

The Houthis rebel group captured much of Sanaa- the capital city of Yemen by late 2014.
Reneging on a UN peace deal, they consolidated control of the capital and continued their
southward advance. Hadi’s government resigned under pressure in January 2015 and Hadi fled to
Saudi Arabia.
1
Available on https://www.aljazeera.com/where/yemen/
2
Available on https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/4/27/yemens-uprising-was-magical-spiritual-powerful
3
Available on https://www.gcc-sg.org/en-us/Pages/default.aspx

5
The entire trajectory of Yemen conflict is very multidimensional because the division of Yemeni
military, the Saudi Iranian rivalry and the role of foreign powers such also made the situation
more complex. During the political transition, Saleh wanted to bring his son as the military
commander of Yemen, but Ahmar the military commander not wanted to lose his position.
That’s why the entire military section of Yemen was divided into two particular groups, the
Ahmar loyalist and Saleh’s loyalist. Then the Houthi took advantage and has started capturing
the areas of north Yemen because the military was so weak. Side by side Al-Qaeda in the
Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)4 and ISIS has taken advantage of the conflict and also spreading in
Yemen since 2011, especially the areas of south Yemen.

Saudi Arabia’s military intervention is also an important cause. The Houthis captured Aden and
Sanaa- the capital city, President Hadi went into exile in Saudi Arabia, which formed a coalition
with other countries and launched a military campaign, primarily fought from the air, to roll back
the Houthis and restore the Hadi government. After launching military intervention, the situation
of Yemen become worst. Different groups are working for capturing power as Houthis in North
Yemen, Al-Qaida and ISIS in South Yemen.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

1. To develop an understanding of the current situation in Yemen.

2. To understand causes of the Yemeni civil war.

4
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/al-qaeda-arabian-peninsula-aqap

6
 3. To understand how the intervention of Foreign powers is making the conflict, very
complex.
4. To understand the unprecedented humanitarian crisis that is going in Yemen due to the
emergence of this civil war.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

There’s lots of literature and data available for the Yemeni Civil War online. Here the researcher
has analyzed some of the important articles. Yemen’s Tragedy: War, Stalemate, and suffering
(2021) by Council on Foreign relations is an important article, which deals with the history of
Yemeni war, its causes, the parties involved, role of the foreign power in the civil war, the
humanitarian consequences of the war. This article gives the idea about the role of Houthis,
Yemeni Army, Saudi Arabia and United States in this civil war.

Here researcher has analyzed many news articles by various international news agencies. Yemen
Crisis: Why is there a war? (2020) by BBC News. This article highlights the causes of the war,
role of Yemeni politicians in it, the area affected by the war, and the human cost of the war.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The researcher has mainly confined the research to doctrinal method for this study. Various
articles, reports and journals were used in framing the project in the appropriate form, essential
for this study.

The method used in writing this research is primarily analytical and the study is descriptive in
nature.

SOURCE OF DATA

The researcher has relied upon both Primary and Secondary sources of data.

7
Primary source: UN reports, Security Council reports, UN High Commission for Refugees
report.

Secondary source: Articles published in various local, national and international level,
newspaper articles, and reliable websites and websites of various independent organization.

SCOPE OF STUDY

Though the researcher will try her level best not to leave any stone unturned in doing this project
work to highlight various aspects relating to the Yemeni Civil War, but certain elements of the
topic like, the fact that the war has been going for almost 7years now and very complicated
history before the war- has made ambit of the project very wide, so researcher will deal with
them very briefly for the purpose of this study.

KEY PLAYERS OF THE CONFLICT

8
The Houthi-Saleh alliance

Houthis are a Zaydi Shia group who were marginalized in Yemeni politics and society since they
lost their imamate ruling system in 1970. They rose their voices many times but finally captured
territories in north and seized Sana’a, the capital city, dismissing the Hadi government.

The Houthi–Saleh5 alliance is a military–tribal marriage of convenience between former foes,

with its origins in a shared interpretation of the 2012–14 transition as inimical to their interests.
This cooperation began in 2011, when the military and tribes felt that they were losing power
and AL-ISLAH, Yemen's main Sunni Islamist party, emerged as the main winner. The Houthis
are naturally suspicious of Ali Abdullah Saleh 6, the former president deposed in 2011, and his
political party, the general people’s congress (GPC), with which they fought six wars between
2004 and 2010. In Sana’a the narrative of the war is one of ‘defending the nation against an
external threat’.

In 2017, Houthi-Saleh alliance broke down after Saleh switched sides over television and said
that he wanted to talk to the Saudi led-alliance.

Two days after this incident, the Houthis killed Saleh.7

Pro-Houthi external actors

Iran being the biggest Shia power in the region, has historically had some influence in Yemen –
in both the south and the north of the country. Ideologically, the Houthis’ founder, Hussain al-
Houthi, was inspired by the Iranian revolution, but envisioned having his own Islamic revolution
based on Zaydi principles. Iran’s role is covered and it never declared that they are helping
Houthis.

Russia, for its part, has aligned itself – at least as far as diplomacy is concerned – with the
Houthi–Saleh side in a continuation of regional dynamics that pit Russia and Iran against Saudi
Arabia.

5
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/yemen/2015-04-19/cahoots-houthis
6
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/12/5/yemen-who-was-ali-abdullah-saleh
7
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/12/10/yemen-ex-president-ali-abdullah-saleh-killed

9
The anti-Houthi bloc

The various groups fighting the Houthis have often competing visions of Yemen’s political
future. This hugely diverse bloc has a common enemy today, but once the Houthi threat has been
eliminated, there is unlikely to be a clear and united view of how the country can move forward.
The bloc has three main pillars:

 Southern separatists, also known as Herak or the southern resistance 8: even within this
group, there are differences over when and how separation should take place and how
President Hadi and his government are perceived. Its priority is eventual independence
for south Yemen, which was a separate country until 1990.
 Sunni Islamists9: the most important member of this group is ISLAH, is a political party
with ambitions to govern Yemen. It perceives the war as a coup attempt driven by Iran
and as revenge exacted by Saleh against the Sunnis through any means – including
allying with the Houthis.
 Fighters with tribal or regional motivations: primarily in Mareb and, to a lesser extent, in
Al Jawf, Taiz and some southern governorates, these fighters see themselves as defending
their territory.

Al Qaeda and the Islamic state

Al Qaeda and the emergent Yemeni branch of ISIS have both positioned themselves as 'anti-
Houthi' but are not part of the semiformal apparatus of the anti-Houthi bloc. AQAP, the virulent
local Al Qaeda branch, is widely seen as being one of the big winners from the war, having
seized the southeastern port town of Mukalla days into the Saudi-led bombing campaign. the
group has since cemented its control over the port and has begun to expand westward towards
Aden. AQAP sees the war as an opportunity to brand itself as the only group capable of
defending Yemen's Sunnis, and of providing - as it has been doing in Mukalla - security and
basic governance including the provision of water, electricity and Jurisprudence. ISIS has thus
far limited itself to attacks on Houthi-affiliated buildings including mosques in Sanaa, and on
government officials in Aden.

Other external actors

8
ibid
9
ibid

10
When the Houthis signed the peace and national partnership agreement on 21 September 2014
after seizing Sanaa, Saudi Arabia was willing to accept an imposed power-sharing agreement.
But as the Houthis pushed south, many Sunni Majority Arab countries like, Bahrain, Egypt,
Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar, Sudan, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia formed a
coalition, which came to view Houthis’ expansion as an Iran-led ‘attack on Arab identity’, linked
to a broader regional struggle for power, and decided to intervene.

Yemen’s anti-Houthi bloc is highly dependent on external military backing – Saudi Arabia being
the most important of the external actors in the war, followed by the United Arab Emirates
(UAE). The stated aim of the Saudi-led coalition initially was to:

a) Restore the Government of President Hadi.

b) Protect its own southern borders and to prevent Yemen from fragmenting.
c) To contain the growing influence of Iran in the region.

The Saudi-led intervention came shortly after the death of king Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud
in January 2015. Today, the Yemen war has become a legacy issue for Abdullah’s half-brother
and successor, king Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. The war has significantly shored up
nationalism in Saudi Arabia as citizens rally round the flag to an extent not seen previously.

Abu Dhabi shares Saudi’s concern about the Iranian threat, although the two have differing
concerns and risk assessments inside Yemen. Abu Dhabi harbors fewer concerns about the
Houthi–Saleh axis than does Saudi, while it is more concerned about Yemen’s Muslim
brotherhood party, ISLAH.

Although the U.S. Congress has been divided on the Yemen matter, the United States has backed
the Saudi-led coalition, as have France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. U.S. interests
include security of Saudi borders; free passage in the Bab al-Mandeb strait, the choke point
between the Arabian and Red Seas and a vital artery for the global transport of oil; and a
government in Sanaa that will cooperate with U.S. counterterrorism programs. But uproar over
civilian deaths in coalition air campaigns, which often use U.S. made weapons, and Saudi
Arabia’s role in the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi led the United
States and other Western powers to limit some weapons sales and refueling of coalition aircraft.

11
Lawmakers have also raised concerns that U.S. made weapons are falling into the hands of
Houthi fighters. Still, the United States is Saudi Arabia’s largest arms supplier,

U.S. backing for the coalition appears to be waning under President Joe Biden, who said he will
end support for its military offensive, including the sale of weapons, and signaled a shift to
diplomacy by appointing a special envoy to Yemen. However, the policy change is not expected
to affect U.S. counterterrorism efforts in Yemen, and Biden said Washington will still bolster
Riyadh’s defensive capabilities.

12
HUMANITARIAN SITUATION

With a poverty rate of more than 50 percent, Yemen was the Arab world’s poorest country even
prior to the conflict.10 Country is now suffering the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
Fighting has devastated its economy—leading to food insecurity verging on famine—and
destroyed critical infrastructure.

The UN has verified and confirmed the death of 7,734 civilians, including 2,103 children, and
injuries to 12,269 others due to indiscriminate attacks, landmines, improvised explosive devices,
and the storage of weapons and explosives in residential areas, by all parties to the conflict- with
most caused by Saudi-led coalition air strikes.11 The actual numbers are likely to be far higher.

According to a recent UN Report, over half of Yemen’s thirty million people will experience
crisis-level food insecurity by mid-2021.12 Suspected Cholera cases reached some seven hundred
thousand and 913 associated deaths in 2019.13 The country has now been hit by the new corona
virus disease, COVID-19, though it is difficult to assess the virus’s impact, since there is no
comprehensive caseload data. The United Nations has warned that the death toll from the
coronavirus pandemic could exceed the combined toll of war, disease, and hunger over the last
five years. Moreover, as the pandemic has hit the world’s economies and disrupted supply
chains, many countries have cut back on critical aid to Yemen. The United Nations received less
than half the donations requested for Yemen in 2020, raising fears of famine in a country where
80 percent of the population relies on humanitarian assistance.14

An estimated 2 million children are acutely malnourished, including nearly 360,000 children
under five years-old suffering from severe acute malnutrition, fighting to survive.15

10
https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/yemen/overview
11
https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/monthly-forecast/2020-04/yemen-17.php
12
https://reports.unocha.org/en/country/yemen
13
Situation report September 2019: Yemen Conflict, available on
https://applications.emro.who.int/docs/yem/Yem-Sitrep-Sept-2019.pdf?ua=1
14
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/11/20/yemen-in-imminent-danger-of-worlds-worst-famine-in-decades-
un
15
https://reliefweb.int/report/world/too-little-or-too-much-more-16-million-children-are-poorly-nourished-
middle-east-and

13
In November 2020, the UN refugee agency reported that, since 2015, the war had displaced more
than three million people. And, more than one million are internally displaced. 16 The situation
has worsened under the four-year-long land, sea, and air blockade imposed by coalition forces,
obstructing vital supplies of food and medicine. The U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location and
Event Data Project (ACLED) has recorded more than one hundred thousand deaths due to lack
of food, health services, and infrastructure since 2015.17

Both Houthi and coalition forces have violated international humanitarian law by attacking
civilian targets. This includes the coalition’s destruction of a hospital run by the international
relief organization Doctors Without Borders in 2015. Torture, arbitrary arrests, and forced
disappearances are among the other violations perpetrated by both sides.18

With only half of the country's 3,500 medical facilities fully functioning, almost 20 million
people lack access to adequate healthcare. And almost 18 million do not have enough clean
water or access to adequate sanitation.

PROSPECT FOR SOLUTION TO THE CRISIS

16
https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Yemen%20Operational%20Update%20-
20%20November.pdf
17
https://acleddata.com/2019/10/31/press-release-over-100000-reported-killed-in-yemen-war/
18
https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/
S_2020_70.pdf

14
UN-backed peace negotiations have made limited progress. The 2018 Stockholm Agreement
averted a battle in the vital port city of Hodeidah, but there has been little success in
implementing the accord’s provisions, which includes the exchange of more than fifteen
thousand prisoners and the creation of a joint committee to de-escalate violence in the city of
Taiz.

The friction among regional actors, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, could prolong
the war.19 Conditions deteriorated in late 2019, when the Houthis claimed responsibility for a
missile attack on Saudi oil facilities in Jeddah and Jubail. 20 UN monitors concluded that the
Houthis did not carry out the attack but did not say who was behind it; the Saudi-led coalition
blamed Iran. Houthis’ willingness to claim the attack as a sign of their increasing alignment with
the Iranian regime. However, viewing Yemen’s conflict as an Iran-Saudi Arabia proxy war
rather than a civil war overlooks local dynamics that ultimately caused the fighting, and that
Yemen’s long-term stability hinges on resolving those domestic tensions.

Viewing the war as a two-party conflict, as exemplified by UN Security Council Resolution

2216,21 is unproductive given the fragmentation of anti-Houthi forces and the involvement of
foreign powers. And though the Riyadh Agreement showed renewed unity among the anti-
Houthi camp, Hadi’s government has little leverage with the Houthis. Involving more political
parties and civil society groups to back the government in peace talks could level the playing
field.

The Trump administration’s January 2021 decision to designate the Houthis a foreign terrorist
organization, which criminalized interactions with the group, could deter governments from
pursuing peace talks with it and impede deliveries of much-needed humanitarian aid. 22 However,
shortly after taking office, Biden initiated a review of the designation and temporarily allowed
transactions with the rebels. The details of Biden’s policy changes are not yet clear: For example,
the United States could continue to provide the coalition with intelligence and training and allow
weapons sales for defensive purposes.

19
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/yemen-war-saudi-iran-houthis-b1774830.html
20
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/12/yemens-houthi-rebels-claim-strikes-on-saudi-oil-plants
21
https://www.un.org/press/en/2015/sc11859.doc.htm
22
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2020/11/16/ending-the-yemen-war-is-both-a-strategic-and-
humanitarian-imperative/

15
CONCLUSION

Ten years after the rage and hope of the Arab Spring filles the public spaces of Sanaa, Yemeni
capital has become a curiously quiet place. A decade since Yemenis dared to dream during the
2011 uprisings that swept across the Arab world, and six years after foreign actors piled in,
unleashing a war of devastating proportions, for which no simple solution is available.

The root of Yemeni civil war is the failure of Yemeni society to resolve the popular anger and
address the frustration arising from economic disenfranchisement, political marginalized and the
effects of an extractive and corrupt state. These systematic failures bring political upheavals and
finally, the country entered into civil war. The two middle east power- the Sunni Saudi Arabia
and the Shia Iran are playing a major role in the civil conflict. The political transition of 2011
failed to meet a proper solution and Houthi forces captured Sanaa- the capital of Yemen in 2014,
and finally, the Hadi government fall down, which bring the civil war. Foreign powers are also
playing an important role for the solutions of the situation, such as GCC initiates, UN also sent
special envoy, but all initiatives failed because no conflict party is ready to negotiate.

The entire military section of Yemen became weak due to internal political conflict. Militaries
were used by Yemen for the protection of regime security rather than the protection of people.
As a result of the civil war, thousands of peoples became refugees and lots of people fled to other
countries for their security. At present, the situation was made more complex by divisions within
the Saudi-led coalition. Saudi Arabia reportedly backs Mr. Hadi, who is based in Riyadh, while
the United Arab Emirates is closely aligned with the separatists and there is no result coming.
The USA is still providing arms support to Saudi led coalition and Saudi Arabia is continuously
bombing in the in Yemen. The newly inaugurated US president, Joe Biden, has suspended arms
sales to the Saudi-led campaign for now, but his administration has so far been vague on what
Yemen policy will look like.

The accompanying humanitarian crisis and the worst famine the world has witnessed in 40 years,
is making the solution become more and more remote. Malnutrition, cholera, dengue fever, and
now coronavirus stalk the young and the frail making it what UN has called “the worst
Humanitarian crisis in the world”.

16
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Articles:

 Yemen’ Tragedy: War, Stalemate, and Suffering available on

https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/yemen-crisis
 Yemen: key players and prospects for peace available on
https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/events/2015-11-07-yemen-key-players-
prospects-peace-meeting-summary_4.pdf

Websites:

 www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29319423
 www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2020/11/16/ending-the-yemen-war-is-both-a-
strategic-and-humanitarian-imperative/
 https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-
CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/S_2020_70.pdf
 https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Yemen%20Operational%20Update
%20-20%20November.pdf
 https://acleddata.com/2019/10/31/press-release-over-100000-reported-killed-in-yemen-
war/
 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/yemen-war-saudi-iran-houthis-
b1774830.html
 https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/12/yemens-houthi-rebels-claim-strikes-on-saudi-
oil-plants
 https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/11/20/yemen-in-imminent-danger-of-worlds-
worst-famine-in-decades-un
 www.worldbank.org
 www.securitycouncilreport.org
 www.reports.unocha.org
 www.foreignaffairs.com
 www.un.org
 www.aljazeera.com

17