Yemen Isn’t Just a Proxy War Between Saudi Arabia and Iran

The United Nations announced a 72-hour ceasefire for the war in Yemen. The pause, just after the US Navy fired missiles into Yemen in response to attacks on US ships in the Red Sea, may prevent expansion of the war that has killed more than 10,000 and displaced more than 3 million Yemenis. Yemen’s war and politics are complex, explains Laura Kasinof for Slate. Communist South Yemen and North Yemen merged in 1990, after which Ali Abdullah Saleh of the north assumed control of the combined nation. In 2012, the West endorsed a transition to a deputy, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. By February 2015, Hadi fled the capital, under attack by Houthi rebels, for Saudi Arabia. The Houthis, backed by Iran and fighting Islamist militia groups, support a return of former dictator Saleh; Saudi Arabia and the West support Hadi, contributing to anti-Americanism in Houthi strongholds. Both sides want to control Yemen, Kasinof concludes, and the impoverished country is being destroyed in the process. – YaleGlobal