Yemen has faced political instability and conflict in recent years. The country was previously divided into northern and southern regions but unified in 1990. Southerners later complained of marginalization, fighting a civil war in 1994. Currently, Iran-backed Houthi rebels have expanded their control, opposing the government of President Hadi. A Saudi-led coalition supports Hadi and has carried out airstrikes against the Houthis. India has evacuated over 2,000 citizens from Yemen since the conflict began.

1. Yemen Crisis Explained
By: Harveer Singh
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2. • For much of the 20th Century, Yemen existed as
two separate countries - the Yemen Arab Republic
(YAR) in the north and the People's Democratic
Republic of Yemen (PDRY) in the south. In 1990,
the countries chose to unify and create the
Republic of Yemen. However, southerners soon
began complaining of political and economic
marginalisation by the government in Sanaa, and
fought a civil war in 1994 in a failed attempt to
reverse the unification.

3. • Yemen is strategically important because it sits
on the Bab al-Mandab strait, a narrow
waterway linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of
Aden, through which much of the world's oil
shipments pass. Egypt and Saudi Arabia fear a
Houthi takeoverwould threaten free passage
through the strait.

4. • The Houthis are a Shiite insurgent group that
fought the government of President Ali Abdullah
Saleh intermittently from 2004 until he agreed to
step down in 2011, in the wake of protests
inspired by the Arab Spring.
• Yemen's security forces have split loyalties, with
some units backing Mr Hadi, and others the
Houthis and Mr Hadi's predecessor Ali Abdullah
Saleh, who has remained politically influential.

6. • The Houthis are members of a rebel group, also known
as Ansar Allah (Partisans of God), who adhere to a
branch of Shia Islam known as Zaidism. Zaidis make up
one-third of the population and ruled North Yemen
under a system known as the imamate for almost
1,000 years until 1962.
• The Houthis take their name from Hussein Badr al-Din
al-Houthi. He led the group's first uprising in 2004 in an
effort to win greater autonomy for their heartland of
Saada province, and also to protect Zaidi religious and
cultural traditions from perceived encroachment by
Sunni Islamists.

7. • n 2011, the Houthis joined the protests against
then President Saleh and took advantage of the
power vacuum to expand their territorial control
in Saada and neighbouring Amran province.
• They subsequently participated in a National
Dialogue Conference (NDC), which led to
President Hadi announcing plans in February
2014 for Yemen to become a federation of six
regions.
• The Houthis however opposed the plan, which
they said would leave them weakened.

8. • Both President Hadi and the Houthis are opposed
by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP),
which has staged numerous deadly attacks from
its strongholds in the south and south-east.
• AQAP the most dangerous branch of al-Qaeda
because of its technical expertise and global
reach. The US has been carrying out operations,
including drone strikes, against AQAP in Yemen
with President Hadi's co-operation

9. The Coalition
• The coalition comprises five Gulf Arab states
and Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and Sudan.

11. • India evacuated 2,280 persons, including 1,764
Indians, from the conflict zone during the 2006
Lebanon War.
• Over 15,000 were pulled out of Libya in 2011.
And the biggest airlift in history remains
the Indian effort in Iraq and Kuwait in 1990,
during which approximately 1,76,000 were
evacuated between August 13, 1990 to October
11, 1990. Nearly 500 flights were involved in the
Iraq-Kuwait operation.

12. • March 30: 400 Indians evacuated via sea to Djibouti.
The Indian Air Force is being requested to deploy two
Globemaster aircrafts to air lift the evacuees from
Djibouti.
• March 31: The Indian ship INS Sumitra has begun
evacuating approximately 350 more Indian citizens
from the region. The operation commenced after
Indian vessels got approval for docking at Aden. The
evacuees are being taken to Djibouti from where they
will be flown to India. This brings the total to 700
Indians having been evacuated from the region so far.
The rescue operation has been officially named
“Operation Raahat”.

13. • April 3: The first successful air evacuation saw 351
citizens safely transported from Sana’a to Djibouti.
• April 4: India assisted 179 citizens from 17 countries
through the INS Mumbai. Almost 800 citizens were
evacuated.
• April 5: 806 Indians were evacuated by air. 2 C17s
evacuated 225 and 229 passengers each to Mumbai,
while an Air India plane evacuated 352 passengers to
Kochi. INS Sumitra evacuated 203 passengers from Ash
Shihr (182 Indians, rest from abroad)
• April 6: 547 Indian citizens were evacuated to Djibouti
from Yemen, by Air India.

14. Thank You.
•For any
feedback/query/word of
thanks, the Tutor can be
contacted at
harveersinh@gmail.com
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