The Heat: Yemen’s civil war and humanitarian crisis

The Heat

A member of the pro-government forces raises his weapon in the port of the western Yemeni coastal town of Mokha as they advance in a bid to try to drive the Shiite Huthi rebels away from the Red Sea coast. (AFP PHOTO / SALEH AL-OBEIDI)

A recent U.S. military raid in Yemen killed more than a dozen civilians, drawing the Gulf nation back into international headlines. But foreign airstrikes are not the country’s main concern. Its civil war is approaching its second anniversary and millions face food insecurity and malnutrition. Has Yemen become the world’s forgotten conflict?

CGTN’s Jim Spellman reports.
Follow Jim Spellman on Twitter @jimspellmanTV

The ongoing civil war pits Houthi rebels, aligned with Iran against the Saudi and U.S. backed forces aligned with President Mansour Hadi. The Houthis ousted Hadi in a coup back in 2015. He is currently living in Saudi Arabia.

Neither side has been able to decisively win the war and peace talks have stalled.

A Yemeni loyalist forces’ tank patrols highway in the Red Sea port town of Mocha. (AFP PHOTO / SALEH AL-OBEIDI)

Several ceasefires have been brokered by the U.N. in the past but they have failed to hold. Adding to the chaos is the presences of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The terror group has grown in Yemen over the last several years especially after crackdowns in Saudi Arabia made it hard for the group to operate there.

Tonight’s panel discusses the civil war in Yemen:

  • Nadwa Al-Dawsari, nonresident senior fellow at the Project on Middle East Democracy
  • Baraa Shiban, a Yemen project director for Reprieve
  • Gareth Porter, American historian and independent investigative journalist


Also looming for Yemen is a humanitarian crisis. The United Nations reports the death toll is 10 thousand and rising. More than 3 million people are displaced. And now, the international humanitarian body is calling for more than $2 billion to fight an impending famine.

Girls stand at the entrance to their tent at a camp for internally displaced people in the northwestern city of Saada, Yemen. (REUTERS/Naif Rahma)

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