Yemen tragedy

The Saudi-led coalition, of which the United Arab Emirates was a part, began bombing Yemen in 2015 in hopes of swiftly removing Houthi rebels from Sanaa and restoring Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi’s government in the capital. Nearly seven years later, the Iran-backed Houthis, who were hiding in northern Yemen and launched retaliatory strikes with missiles and drones in Saudi Arabia, have expanded the war to the Gulf Coast of the United Arab Emirates. of monday Drone attack on Abu Dhabi by Houthis, in which two indian And one Pakistani was killed, a message to the Emiratis about what they are capable of. It may be no coincidence that the attacks were carried out at a time when UAE-backed forces are making slow gains in Yemen’s conflict against the Houthis. But UAE’s involvement in Yemen has taken several turns. It left the Saudi-led coalition in 2020 as the war came to a standstill. Since then, the emirate has provided strategic support to the Southern Transitional Council, a separatist body in southern Yemen that drove Saudi-backed forces loyal to President Hadi out of Aden. The dynamics changed again when the Houthis began to push into their stronghold, particularly areas outside Marib; If they take the Marib, they will be one step ahead to push south. Faced with the prospect of further Houthi territorial gains, UAE-backed forces such as the Giant’s Brigades (a militia from the south) have joined hands with the government. Then came the Abu Dhabi attacks.

This can escalate the conflict. The immediate response from the Saudi-led coalition has been massive airstrikes on the partially destroyed Sanaa. The UAE has also vowed to retaliate. A Houthi strike to intimidate Emiratis from Yemen could trigger the opposite reaction from Abu Dhabi, which now has powerful proxies in the south. The cycle of violence brings sad news for Yemen’s 30 million people, for whom the country has been called a “living hell” by UNICEF. Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, is facing a three-pronged crisis – thousands have died in conflict, many more abandoned or suffering from the collapse of government and social services; and collective hunger. The first step in dealing with this tragedy is to end the fighting. But, unfortunately, the parties to the conflict and their regional supporters are more inclined to escalate the conflict rather than find a solution. If there is any lesson to be learned from the last seven years of fighting, it is that there can be no military solution to Yemen’s problems. To de-escalate tensions, talks must take place not only between the insurgents, separatists and the government, but also between their supporters – Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. If these regional powers agree to rein in their proxies and work towards rebuilding Yemen, it will also help them restore stability and security to the Arabian Peninsula.