Yemen: Civilians bear the brunt

Yemen: Civilians bear the brunt

Driving to northern Yemen is never boring, the car keeps snaking through the new road carved out of a mountainous area that links Sanaa with Amran, Haja and Saada. Yemen is a beautiful country with its villages built on top of hills and mountain ridges, where tribes are still attached to old customs and traditions.

The whole of these mountains are inhabited by Zaidis, an offshoot of Shia Islam. They are a minority in Yemen but they have successfully managed to subdue the Sunni majority over many decades.

The journey takes up to six hours but is often delayed by long intervals at the many checkpoint manned by the army to make sure only those with permit can go.

Since the start of a conflict that pits the army against a Shia rebellion, the area  has been sealed off and international media denied access.

But I managed to get a glimpse of what is going on in the border with Saudi Arabia, where the oil rich kingdom has recently been dragged into the conflict, launching a military campaign against the Houthis.

The Saudis say the rebels have been illegally crossing the borders in violation of a border agreement signed in 2000.

The Houthis claim the Saudis were giving Yemeni soldiers access to Saudi hills, providing them with an advantage in the war. After secret negotiations with the Saudi guards failed to produce an agreement, the Houthis say they were forced to hit back and take control of parts of the Doukhan mountain which, straddles the border of the two countries.

But the whole crisis soon morphed into something bigger - a regional crisis that threatens stability in the Middle East.

Iran, in a blunt statement, warned Saudi Arabia to stay out of the conflict - a warning dismissed by Riyadh, which insists its offensive will only halt when the Houthis are pushed back beyond a 10 kilometer buffer zone inside Yemen.

Saudi Arabia and Yemen accuse Iran of using the Houthis to spread its influence in the predominantly Sunni Gulf.

Despite the fact that the Houthis have been denying any link with Iran, many fear a proxy war in Yemen where the two key players Iran - the defender of Shia Islam, and Saudi Arabia, which prides itself on being the symbol of Sunni Islam, will be embroiled in a struggle over strategic gains in Yemen, a country beset by a pro-independence movement in the South and an active wing of al Qaeda.

But what I have seen on the ground shows that confining the rebels beyond a buffer zone is totally unrealistic. First, they are a guerilla movement which has been digging tunnels, enjoying the support of its own people in many villages bordering Saudi Arabia.

Yemen has tried over the last few years to crush the rebellion using air force, artillery, special forces and volunteers without any single indication that the Houthis’ resolve has been diminished or their force undermined.

But it is the local population and the civilians who are bearing the brunt of the crisis. Thousands have fled their homes. The lucky ones managed to find shelter in the very few camps setup by international aid agencies like al Mazraq near Harad. But thousands are believed to be stranded in the conflict zone with no access to basic humanitarian needs.

When I first visited al Mazraq, it was home to 2,000 people - now the number has exceeded 10,000, prompting the UNHCR to plan an expansion of the camp. They estimate that 150 families have been arriving at the camp every day.

The suffering of the internally displaced people will continue for the weeks to come. The UNICEF says that 240 villages were evacuated and 50 schools closed since the start of the Saudi offensive a few days ago.