On March 25, 2015, an international coalition led by Saudi Arabia attacked the armed group of Houthis in Yemen from the air, unleashing a real armed conflict.
Three years later, the Yemen conflict shows no real signs of remission.
All parties to the conflict commit horrific war crimes and human rights abuses throughout the country, causing unbearable suffering to the civilian population.
While the coalition forces bombard relentlessly from the air, rival factions wage a land battle.
On the one hand, there are the Houthis, an armed Yemeni group whose members are followers of Zaidism (branch of Shia Islam); and, on the other, the forces opposed to the Houthis, allied with the current president of the country (Abd Rabu Mansur Hadi) and with the coalition led by Saudi Arabia.
In the middle, the civilian population is trapped, with more than 15,000 people killed and injured, a humanitarian crisis that is growing rapidly.
Most of the world has been ignoring this fierce conflict for three years and knowing very little about its devastating consequences.
A high price for the civil population of Yemen
The civilian population takes the brunt of the violence, so it seems.
In addition to causing deaths and injuries to thousands of civilians, the conflict has exacerbated a humanitarian crisis that was already serious.
The war intensifies and exacerbates the humanitarian situation, while all parties make it difficult to deliver humanitarian aid.
Some 22.2 million Yemenis are currently dependent on humanitarian aid to survive.
To prevent the arrival of supplies to the Houthi forces, the coalition led by Saudi Arabia has imposed a partial blockade by sea and air.
After the Houthi forces launched a missile against civilian areas of Riyadh – the capital of Saudi Arabia – at the end of November, the Saudi-led coalition unlawfully hardened its land and air blockade to Yemen.
Although the blockade has subsequently eased, the coalition continues to impose restrictions on aid and commercial imports of essential products such as food, medicine and fuel.
