- [Johnny] Along the banks of the most important waterway
on earth sits the country of Yemen,
a place that was two countries for decades
until the year 1990,
when it was unified into one.
A fragile patchwork of groups all
with different tribal backgrounds, religious beliefs,
and political aspirations.
The story I want to tell starts in the '90s,
when one group forms up in the northern mountains of Yemen.
It's started by a group of religious Yemenis
who call themselves the Believing Youth,
who were members of a Shiite Muslim sect called the Zaidi.
Zaidi Muslims used to be the majority
when the country was split in two.
But in the new unified Yemen,
they became a minority and felt neglected
and discriminated against.
At first, the group focuses
on rebuilding the Zaidi religious identity,
hosting summer camps for young men
and offering religious education.
But in the late 1990s,
the group starts to change in important ways.
A member of Yemen's parliament resigns in protest
and joins the Believing Youth.
He felt that the government of Yemen was corrupt
and far too influenced by Yemen's neighbor
to the north, Saudi Arabia.
Al Houthi blamed outside influence
for many of the country's problems.
So as he leaves the government,
Al Houthi uses his wealth and family connections
in the Zaidi community to become the leader
of the Believing Youth.
He wants an Islamic revolution,
modeled after the one in Iran.
One that kicks out any foreign influence
and restores Islamic values.
- [Reporter] Outrage with the speed of the human shout.
- With Al Houthi's influence,
this group of young men in the mountainous region
of Yemen starts to change.
They begin protesting Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Soon they start taking up weapons, taking over territory,
and eventually setting up their own security checkpoints
in their region.
The Believing Youth are starting
to look a lot less like a summer camp
and a lot more like a militia, like a rebellion.
President Saleh,
who had previously supported the Believing Youth,
is starting to get worried.
And then in 2001,
the entire Middle East would change forever.
After 9/11, the US launches a war on terror.
(reflective music)
They asked President Saleh for help,
and he cooperates, taking military aid
and allowing American Special Forces
to operate inside Yemen,
where the terrorist group Al-Qaeda has a presence.
18 months later,
the US presence in the region would balloon even more
when the American military invades and occupies Iraq.
For Al Houthi and his group of young men,
this crosses a red line and deeply radicalizes the movement.
Al Houthi criticizes the president publicly
for pandering to what he sees as American imperialism
in Muslim lands.
And many in Yemen agree,
joining the movement and bolstering their numbers.
Al Houthi adopts the violent slogan
that sits on the flag of his movement to this day:
God is great. Death to America.
Death to Israel. Curse on the Jews.
Victory to Islam.
President Saleh feels threatened by the growth
of this increasingly radical movement
that is taking control of territory in the north.
He issues an arrest warrant and a bounty for Al Houthi
and brutally cracks down on their protests.
In response, the Believing Youth launch an armed rebellion
in the north of Yemen,
leading to counterattacks by the Yemeni military.
Shortly after the fighting begins,
Al Houthi is killed in a cave in the north.
The rebels he leaves behind fight on with new conviction,
and the world would know them by the name of their martyr,
a symbol of imperial resistance
that would soon be firing rockets at Israel
and hijacking cargo ships in the Red Sea.
(reflective music)
This Yemen story is about to get really fascinating.
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With that, let's dive back into Yemen.
By 2004, the Houthis have morphed
into a full-blown rebellion,
fighting against Yemen's government
from their northern strongholds.
They know this land well
and they have local support,
allowing them to fight a guerrilla campaign
against the government forces,
blending in with civilians, hiding in mountains and caves,
and allowing them to resist
the much better equipped Yemeni army.
As the conflict turns more violent,
more tribes in the region would feel
that the military is being overly brutal,
leading them to join the Houthis.
And it's at this time that the conflict goes international.
The Houthis say that Saudi Arabia
is letting the government of Yemen position troops right
across this border.
So they invade into Saudi Arabia,
killing Saudi soldiers and taking hostages.
This pulls Saudi Arabia into the conflict,
as they respond with airstrikes and troops
and push the Houthis out of their territory,
punishing them for this invasion.
Now, over here, Iran is watching this war,
and they see an opportunity.
The Houthis are now fighting directly
against their biggest rival, Saudi Arabia.
So they start secretly sending weapons to the Houthis.
At least that's what Saudi Arabia claims,
saying that they intercepted an Iranian ship filled
with weapons and military trainers
on their way to the Houthis.
It looks like Iran is directly supporting the Houthis now.
Though how much support they provide
behind the scenes will always be intentionally unclear.
As the conflict between the Houthis
and the government continues in the north,
Saudi Arabia has been fighting their own war on terror
against a branch of Al-Qaeda operating in Saudi Arabia.
Seeing that their days are numbered,
this branch of Al-Qaeda flees south
over the border into Yemen, where they merge their forces
with the Yemen branch of Al-Qaeda.
They create Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP,
one of the most dangerous and well-funded versions
of the group to ever exist.
The group's goal is to create a strict Islamic state
across the whole region,
while violently waging holy war
against foreigners in Muslim lands.
(reflective music)
This puts them at odds with both the Yemeni government
and the Houthis.
The conflict is getting more complicated.
Around 2011, the region starts to change in big ways.
In one country after another,
there's an outpouring of public anger on the streets,
demanding change from their government,
removing old leaders.
This is called the Arab Spring.
It's upheaval that spirals the region into hope and chaos.
(protesters shouting in foreign language)
- [Johnny] Iran and Saudi Arabia see this as an opportunity
to strategically choose sides in all of these countries,
in hopes that when the dust settles,
they will come out with a stronger hand of allies
in the region.
And one of their main focuses is Yemen,
a country that is also rising up,
calling for President Saleh to step down.
The corrupt dictator of Yemen is running out of time,
which is something the Houthis have been fighting
for for years.
But Saleh refuses to step down, adding fuel to the uprising.
Saudi Arabia sees this situation at their southern border
and decides to step in with the help of the UN,
convincing Saleh to transfer power to his vice president,
in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
On his way out, Saleh takes the billions of dollars
that he corruptly amassed during his time in office,
and he also retains the loyalty of key parts
of the military, fighters that are only loyal to him.
But the people aren't satisfied
with this new Saudi-backed president.
The government remains weak and unorganized.
Meanwhile, the Houthis are taking advantage
of this infighting and only getting stronger,
taking more and more territory from the government,
adding to their forces,
and receiving more support from their backer, Iran,
who is supplying them with more training, missiles,
drones, and other advanced weapons.
They use these weapons in the fall of 2014
to march into southern Yemen,
taking over large swaths of territory.
(reflective music)
Now that the Houthis have momentum,
the former President Saleh joins them
in an alliance of convenience.
In fact, Saleh's forces are critical
in helping the Houthis take the capital city of Sana'a.
Saleh is now working with his former enemy,
against his own vice president,
the man he had to give power to when he stepped down.
President Hadi and his government flee south
as the Houthis take over,
but the Houthis are right behind them.
So Hadi has to flee to Saudi Arabia,
trying to govern Yemen from there.
But the Houthis just keep gaining momentum.
By the middle of 2015,
they now control the capital city completely,
where they create their own government
and take control of the government's military weapons,
helping them expand even further into the south.
Now that the Houthis are in power,
they run an oppressive regime that silences free speech,
crushes dissent through arrest and torture,
and recruits children as soldiers,
all while imposing strict religious laws
that undermine women's rights.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is getting nervous.
Their southern neighbor is now controlled
by a group that is funded by their biggest enemy.
So they recruit the support of countries
around the region and invade Yemen,
with the goal of removing the Houthis from power.
The war is led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman,
Saudi Arabia's up-and-coming leader and defense minister.
He starts with a widespread bombing campaign
and a naval blockade that prevents shipping
in and out of the country,
with the goal of trying to cut off support coming
in from Iran.
The crown prince turns to the United States
in need of more weapons for this war.
While the US leaders are reluctant to get involved
in another Middle East conflict,
they also want to maintain a good relationship
with Saudi Arabia, who is their major security
and energy partner in the region.
They also have an interest
in weakening Al-Qaeda's growing presence in Yemen.
So in addition to supporting this war
with logistics and intelligence,
President Obama approves billions of dollars of weapons:
planes, tanks, and even weapons banned
by most of the world for how dangerous they are
for civilians, like cluster munitions.
(tense music)
This quickly turns Saudi Arabia into the largest importer
of American weapons for the next four years.
So it's 2015,
and Yemen is in a full-blown war between the Houthis
and Saudi Arabia and their coalition.
This is when Al-Qaeda, who's not on either side,
takes advantage of this chaos
and makes a land grab in the middle of Yemen.
They take major cities and clash with government forces.
Also taking advantage of the instability
is the terrorist group ISIS,
who come to Yemen and fight the Houthis and Al-Qaeda,
at the same time.
Though their attacks are scattered,
and they don't control significant territory.
The US then gets more involved by launching airstrikes
at Al-Qaeda and ISIS targets to stop them
from gaining any more territory.
They tried to kill their leadership.
But the US has to do this carefully
because they don't want to engage the Houthis.
Their fight is with Al-Qaeda and ISIS.
In May of 2015,
the Houthis attack a city just across the border
in Saudi Arabia, killing two and taking hostages,
forcing an airport to shut down.
The crown prince doesn't take being attacked
on his own soil lightly, especially by Iran's proxies.
So over the next 24 hours,
the Saudis launch 130 airstrikes in Yemen,
hitting homes, schools, and hospitals.
Thousands are forced to flee from their home.
Hundreds are reported dead,
though we'll never know the real death toll.
These strikes are almost immediately called war crimes.
But the crown prince doesn't back down.
His coalition then sends in ground troops from the south,
pushing back the Houthis and taking back the city of Aden.
He's behaving as if he's fighting his greatest enemy, Iran.
It's a vicious cycle that is common in proxy wars like this,
and it lands the people of Yemen
in the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
The international community tries to intervene
with diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting.
But over the next six years, those efforts would fail,
and Saudi Arabia would continue its brutal campaign,
all using American weapons.
The Houthis continue to fight,
to show that they are legitimate,
that they are the government of Yemen.
They aren't just doing Iran's bidding.
(somber music)
The war continues to destroy cities and land,
and the blockade continues to keep trade out.
The Saudis continue to bomb indiscriminately.
And with time, 2 million Yemenis are displaced,
forced to leave their homes to flee this violence.
- [Reporter] 150,000 civilians have had to-
- [Johnny] But this doesn't stop the Houthis
from escalating their offensive.
They start attacking Saudi Arabia directly with missiles
and drones in their capital city
and their civilian airports,
using weapons that most believe are coming from Iran.
(tense music)
In December of 2017,
the Saudis and the UAE convinced President Saleh
to break his alliance with the Houthis
and return to power as president of Yemen.
They hope that Saleh, the former dictator,
might be able to hold onto power and rule more effectively.
Saleh takes the deal and changes sides yet again,
breaking with the Houthis
and joining the Saudi-led coalition.
(reflective music)
Fighting breaks out between the Houthis
and Saleh's militias,
and Saleh is killed just two days later.
(reflective music)
Meanwhile, in the United States, there's a new president.
President Trump orders increased drone strikes
and raids against Al-Qaeda,
helping government forces take back large amounts
of territory.
Despite the war crimes committed using American weapons,
Trump approves more weapons sales to Saudi Arabia
to wage this war.
And then in 2018, the conflict takes on a new dimension.
The UAE, who's a part of the Saudi-led coalition,
is starting to lose faith
in the direction this war is going.
They don't like the current government of Yemen,
and they're losing soldiers on the ground.
It's damaging their reputation on the world stage.
So the UAE leaves the coalition.
But they still want to influence
who will ultimately control Yemen,
so they start backing a new group
in the south called the Southern Transitional Council,
or STC.
This group isn't aligned with the government or the Houthis.
They're calling for a separation
of the southern part of Yemen.
They want their own state. They want their own country.
So the UAE starts to withdraw their troops
from the south of the country,
and the STC separatists start taking control
of southern provinces.
The Saudi coalition is fracturing,
and yet another group is jumping into the fighting,
showing just how up for grabs Yemen has become.
By the fall of 2019, the war has reached maximum complexity.
You've got the Saudi coalition backing
the former government of Yemen,
mostly relegated to the east of the country.
The UAE is now backing this separatist movement
in the south, who are fighting
against the former government of Yemen.
The Houthis backed by Iran still maintain majority control
of the major cities in the north.
Al-Qaeda and its militia allies are still fighting
to control small slices of the country.
And the US continues to conduct airstrikes
against Al-Qaeda and ISIS,
while supporting and selling more weapons
to the Saudi coalition.
Yemen is fracturing further,
and if there's any hope for peace,
power needs to be consolidated.
So Saudi Arabia and the UAE make amends,
and then, together, they convince the government of Yemen
and the separatists in the south to form a new coalition
to fight against the Houthis together as a united front.
But it doesn't stop the Houthis,
who are getting really good at fighting
and are firing more Iranian missiles
and drones into Saudi Arabia,
hitting state-owned oil refineries
and threatening to drive up oil prices globally.
By January 2021, the Houthis,
a group started to provide religious summer camps
to young men, are now battle hardened,
and they control 70 to 80% of the population of Yemen.
Later that year,
the UN announces that approximately 20 million
of those people are dependent
on humanitarian aid for their daily needs.
And at this point, the war starts to settle in
to an uncomfortable stalemate.
(somber music)
In April 2022, the UN brokers a ceasefire,
and the fighting stops.
Behind the scenes,
Saudi Arabia and Iran have been in diplomatic talks,
sponsored by China.
Regional tensions are cooling,
which means that their proxy war in Yemen is also cooling.
Saudi Arabia has had enough of the fighting.
President Hadi resigns and hands power over
to a council meant to govern Yemen and manage the war.
And both sides are tired of the fighting.
So when that ceasefire is set to expire in October 2022,
the conflict mostly stays quiet,
even without a new agreement.
By 2023, Saudi Arabia and Iran have officially restored
their diplomatic relations.
Saudi Arabia hoping
that this means Iran will stop supporting Houthis
to attack their southern border.
(somber music)
But the Saudis keep their maritime blockade
around the country,
making life in Yemen unlivable for millions.
But at this point,
the heaviest of the fighting on all sides has stopped.
But then in the fall of 2023,
the Houthis were back in the news.
After the Palestinian group Hamas launches a brutal attack
into Israel, the Israeli military invades the Gaza Strip,
vowing to destroy Hamas and free the hostages
that they took.
The campaign leads to tens of thousands
of Palestinian civilian deaths,
and it provokes a response
from Iranian-backed groups all throughout the region.
The Houthis are one of those groups.
They launch drones and cruise missiles into southern Israel,
vowing that their attacks won't stop
until the invasion of Gaza stops.
And then they start firing their missiles
and drones at cargo ships that are traveling
through the Red Sea,
where 25% of container traffic travels,
a major artery in our global economy.
In the days after these missiles start flying,
traffic through this Red Sea route declines by 73%.
In response, the US and UK shoot down Houthi missiles
and drop bombs on Houthi military targets in Yemen,
pulling the US and its allies deeper
into this enduring conflict.
(reflective music)
The reason I wanted to tell you the story
of this conflict in Yemen.
Because it represents the vicious cycle present
in a lot of proxy wars,
where geopolitical rivals use their neighbors
as battlefields instead of fighting each other directly.
They fund and add fuel to local conflicts,
escalating them to the entire country,
and often to the entire region,
leaving violence and power vacuums in their wake,
which are then filled by bad actors trying
to take advantage of the instability.
All of this changes Borders,
destroys cities, and ruins lives.
It's the story of powerful countries
and their cynical scramble
for influence and power in vulnerable places,
leaving behind them a wake of tremendous human suffering.
(somber music)