the world's largest humanitarian crisis
isn't in syria
it's in yemen thousands have been killed
and millions have been displaced so far
the conflict has been going on for years
but it became especially violent in
march
2015. that's when the saudi-led
coalition got involved
now the poorest country in the arab
region has become the violent playground
for regional and international powers
so how did it all start after the arab
spring toppled dictators across the
middle east
yemenis won a change too their president
ali abdullah saleh
was forced to hand over power to this
guy his deputy
avid rubble mansur hadi in november 2011
but the political transition to haiti
failed
there was massive unemployment food
insecurity suicide bombings
and a separatist movement in the south
all that
ended up sparking the war on the one
side you had the houthis a political
shia rebel group
and people loyal to former president
saleh
on the other side you had forces loyal
to the new haiti government
in 2014 houthi forces took over yemen's
capital sana
early the next year the houthis and
zalakh loyalists
tried to take control of the entire
country forcing hedy
to flee to saudi arabia saudi arabia
considered the houthi actions an
immediate threat
and feared this could be an opportunity
for iran to gain a foothold on their
border
saudi arabia accuses iran of backing the
rebels but tehran denies any involvement
so saudi arabia started an alliance and
began a military campaign
it's had a devastating impact with more
than ten
thousand people killed since february
2014
and forcing more than three million
people to flee their homes
several other countries are supporting
this alliance with weapons intelligence
or
logistics qatar was expelled from that
coalition june 2017.
the saudi-led coalition wants to restore
haiti's government but it's been unable
to take back
the north of the country including its
capital sana
meanwhile fighters from al qaeda in the
arabian peninsula and affiliates of isil
have taken advantage of the chaos
they seized parts of the south and
stepped up their attacks and
government-controlled adam
as in every war civilians are bearing
the brunt of this one
the destruction of infrastructure and
restrictions on food and fuel imports
means 17 million yemenis will face
famine
unless they receive humanitarian help
soon
but that's not all one fear is that
international aid isn't getting to those
who need it the most
making a cholera outbreak all the more
difficult to control
saudi actions have exacerbated the
outbreak but
it can be blamed on airstrikes alone the
majority of the outbreaks are in
houthi-governed areas where they fail to
manage
the garbage and sewage that's filling
the streets and to make matters worse
two-thirds of yemenis don't have access
to clean water
so where does that leave us little
ground has been gained
and several attempts to mediate the
conflict have fallen apart
since neither side shows any sign of
giving up soon
yemen is in a deadlock