TOPIC: Saudi Air Strikes Continue in Yemen

The war in Yemen, despite overtures for peace from across the globe, keeps rumbling on. In its latest development, the Saudi-led coalition announced it had carried out air raids on Houthi targets at the international airport in Sanaa, Yemen's capital city. 

The Latest Development in a Never-Ending War

The latest airstrikes came just an hour after the Saudi-coalition urged UN agencies and officials to evacuate immediately. Formerly, specific sites in the airport had been protected from strikes, but the coalition removed this protection, stating 'legitimate military targets' now existed. This is seen largely as a response to cross border attacks launched by the Houthi rebels in to Saudi Arabia.  After the strikes, airport officials confirmed UN aid flights had been halted, whilst the Houthi-run Saba media declared the airport had been put out of operation. 

Coalition spokesman, Brigadier General, Turki al-Malki stated that the positions struck by the airstrikes had included locations used for launching attacks by drones, storing drones, training drone personnel as well as housing trainers and trainees. He went on to add that he did not believe that the destruction of these targets would effect the 'operational capacity of the airport,' the 'managing of the airspace, the air traffic' nor 'ground handling operations.' The airport has been vital in providing some form of humanitarian relief to the Yemeni population, who have suffered terribly since the civil war began in 2014. 

What is Happening in Yemen?

Civil war erupted in Yemen in 2014, when the Houthi's, largely of the Shia Muslim denomination, toppled the internationally recognised government, headed by Abrabbuh Mansur Hadi. In 2015, the Saudi-led coalition intervened in order to restore the pro-Saudi president to the sear of power. Since then, cross border violence and terrorism between the Saudi's and Houthi's has reached an all time high. Mortars, missiles and drone attacks have been launched as far into Saudi Arabia as the political centres of Riyadh and Taif, though there has been a particular focus upon Saudi infrastructure networks and economic projects. As early as May 2015, Houthi rockers forced the closing of Najran airport, before targeting electricity stations in Jizan. In 2017, SCUD missiles hit the oil refinery near the Red Sea port of Yanbu, whilst in 2018, numerous ballistic missiles for several days in a row were launched at Jizan's airport as well as at a Saudi Aramco oil facility. Subsequent attacks have since been numerous and targeted to ensure economic damage, with attacks in 2020 launched towards Saudi Aramco's facilities in Jeddah. The Houthi tactic is to grind down Riyadh's will and make the cost of prolonged conflict intolerable, at a time when Saudi Arabia needs to direct its funds towards its 'Vision 2030' economic project. Yet in the meantime, tens of thousands of civilians have been killed, with millions more in danger of starvation and disease as a result of the conflict. So bad is the situation, that the UN declared Yemen to be the world's worst humanitarian crisis. 

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