UNITED NATIONS — Pressure is mounting on the Saudi-led military coalition that seeks to stanch a rebellion in Yemen,
as aid officials prepare to add Yemen to the ranks of the world’s most
severe humanitarian crises and human rights groups point to what may be
war crimes.
United Nations
officials are expected to declare Yemen a so-called Level 3 — or most
severe — humanitarian crisis, as the de facto military blockade on
commercial ships restricts the supply of food and fuel into the Arab
world’s poorest country, diplomats said Tuesday.
That is sure to complicate what is already a delicate diplomatic balance for allies of Saudi Arabia,
including the United States, which are reluctant to even call it a
blockade. The preferred term, as one United Nations Security Council
diplomat put it, is a “controlled maritime area.”
Whatever it is called, its effects on civilians have been dire.
A
fuel shortage has caused water pumps to stop functioning, heightening
the risks of waterborne diseases. Hospitals are running out of
medicines. An estimated 2.6 million children are at risk of contracting
measles because vaccination programs have been interrupted, according to
the United Nations children’s agency. And the death toll, according to
figures released Tuesday by the World Health Organization, is more than
3,000.
Map
Houthi Fighters Continue Steady Advance
Annotated maps showing the Houthi rebels’ drive south, U.S. airstrikes and historical divisions.
To
make matters worse, more than 1,000 people were able to escape from a
prison in central Yemen on Tuesday after the guards fled fierce clashes
nearby between the Houthi rebels and rival militias, according to two
Yemeni security officials.
The
prison break, outside the city of Taiz, highlighted the deepening chaos
fueled by more than three months of fighting that have devastated
Yemen’s largest cities and ushered in the humanitarian crisis. The
prison was not a high-security site and housed criminal inmates as well
as suspects awaiting trial, according to security officials.
The
United Nations has sought to persuade Yemen’s Saudi-backed government
in exile to let commercial shipments resume, with United Nations
supervision to make sure that no weapons get in with them, United
Nations officials said. But even that is stuck.
Yemen’s
envoy to the United Nations, Khaled Alyemany, said his government ought
to take part in the inspections and blamed the Houthis, a Shiite-led
group that dominates the capital and is fighting to control Taiz and
other cities, for targeting the government-controlled oil port in Aden. “It’s the right of any legitimate state to control its border,” he said.
The
airstrikes that the Saudis’ coalition has carried out since March 26
have increasingly come under scrutiny for possible war crimes
violations.
On
Monday, the United Nations said one of its compounds was hit by an
airstrike on Sunday, injuring a guard. It called for an investigation
and reiterated that international law required that its facilities be
spared.
Human Rights Watch
said in a report released Tuesday that airstrikes on a Houthi rebel
stronghold city called Saada killed at least 59 people, in what it said
appeared to be a violation of international law. The attacks came early
in the campaign and also destroyed markets, homes and a gas station. One
particular strike on a residential neighborhood killed 27 members of
the same family, including 17 children.
The
group said the United States, which is providing support to the
Saudi-led coalition, could be liable, and it pressed Saudi Arabia to
investigate. Maj. Roger Cabiness, a Pentagon spokesman, said: “We are
aware of the Human Rights Watch report concerning the current conflict
in Yemen,” adding that it continues to help the Saudi-led coalition
with “intelligence support and intelligence sharing, targeting
assistance, advisory support, and logistical support, to include aerial
refueling with up to two tanker sorties a day.”
Human
Rights Watch said it could not determine which of the coalition
countries carried out the airstrikes on Saada. Its report went on to say
that even if they were aimed at legitimate Houthi military targets, it
did not appear as though sufficient precautions were taken to spare
civilian deaths, nor was it clear that the attacks were proportionate in
nature. Both are critical legal questions to determine whether war
crimes laws were broken.
The
group said the Houthis had positioned antiaircraft guns in some
residential areas. It has also blamed the Houthis for recruiting child
soldiers and directing weapons at Saudi Arabia that do not distinguish
between civilian and military targets.
The
United Nations mediator, Ismail Cheikh Ould Ahmed, is trying to
persuade the Saudi-led coalition, which supports Yemen’s government in
exile, along with the Houthi rebels who routed that government to agree
to a truce during the holy month of Ramadan. Time is running out: Ramadan ends July 17.
“Optimism would be a bit strong, but there is a lot of energy going into it,” said one Security Council diplomat.
Yemen
could soon be classified as a Level 3 humanitarian emergency, several
United Nations diplomats said Tuesday, which would require a rapid
increase in the humanitarian response. Iraq, Syria, and South Sudan are
the other Level 3 emergencies.
The
designation is applied when “a humanitarian situation suddenly and
significantly changes and, following an analysis of five criteria —
scale, complexity, urgency, capacity, and reputational risk,” according
to the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, the body that makes the
determination.
The prison break outside Taiz was at least the second mass prison escape since March.
The
Houthis had engaged in clashes over the past two days with local
militia groups from Taiz near the prison, the security officials said.
After the prisoners escaped Tuesday, at least 100 were recaptured, with
the rest still at large, said the officials, who requested anonymity
because they were not authorized to comment publicly on security
matters.
Mapping Chaos in Yemen
OMAN
SAUDI ARABIA
Sparsely
populated
Most of Yemen’s 24 million people live in the west of the country.
YEMEN
Sana
200 miles
Taiz
Aden
Gulf of Aden
Djibouti
somalia
Confirmed Saudi-led airstrikes, March 26 to May 13
Houthis control or have influence Houthis are able to operate
Hazm
YEMEN
Sana
Taiz
50 MILES
Aden
Source: American Enterprise Institute's Critical Threats Project
U.S.-Supplied Cluster Bombs Used in Yemen Published April 30, 2015
The Saudi-led military coalition used
American supplied-cluster munitions in Yemen’s northern Saada Province,
according to a report by Human Rights Watch. Cluster bombs are banned by
much of the world for the danger they pose to civilians. Ordnance
spreads over a wide area and can leave behind unexploded bomblets. The
United States, Saudi Arabia and Yemen have not joined an international
treaty banning their use.
YEMEN
Cluster
bombs
found
Source: Human Rights Watch
Civilian Casualties Amid Airstrikes in Yemen Published April 30, 2015
In late March, Saudi-led forces began an
offensive in Yemen against the Houthi rebel group, which has taken over
large sections of the country. International pressure, including from
the Obama administration, has been mounting for the Saudis to stop the
campaign, which has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of civilians.
Days with confirmed civilian casualties caused by Saudi-led airstrikes
22
23
24
25
March26
Sana
27
Market
28
29
30
IDP Camp
April1
Dairy factory
2
3
Village
4
5
6
SaadaSanaSchool
7
School
8
9
Amran
10
Mosque
11
12
Residential building
13
14
15
Gas station
16
17
18
19
Gas stationHealth facility
20
SanaGas station
21
Bridge
22
23
24
25
26
Source: Human Rights Watch
The Saudi-Led Airstrike Campaign Updated April 10, 2015
The Saudi-led airstrikes crippled Yemen’s
Houthi-controlled air force, but have so far failed to halt growing
Houthi control on the ground. Military operations have severely limited
humanitarian assistance in Yemen, a nation already burdened with
hundreds of thousands of refugees. More than 1,000 people have died
since the bombing began, most of them civilians. The United Nations
estimates that at least 300,000 people have been displaced, forced to
hunt for food and fuel in a country bereft of both.
Confirmed Saudi-led airstrikes, March 26 to April 25
Houthi presence
Houthi expansion after the strikes
Houthi presence
Houthi expansion after the strikes
Haradh
Militants from Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen took control of Al Mukalla, the country’s fifth largest city.
Saudi-led coalition bombed the runway of Sana’s airport.
Sana
YEMEN
Hodeida
Al Mukalla
Some fighters in the Ibb area pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.
Ibb
Taiz
Control over the city remains disputed.
Aden
50 miles
Source: American Enterprise Institute's Critical Threats Project
The Houthis’ Drive South Published March 26, 2015
Originally from Saada Province, the
Houthis practice a variant of Shiite Islam and receive support from
Iran. In January, the Houthis overran the capital, Sana, forcing
president Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi to resign. Since then, they have
continued pushing south, and this week began pressing on the port of
Aden, where Mr. Hadi and forces still allied with him had taken refuge.
Houthis control or have influence
Houthis are able to operate
Houthis are able to operate
Jan. 2014
July 2014
Sept. 2014
March 2015
Saada
Province
Sana
Sana
Sana
Sana
Taiz
Taiz
Taiz
Taiz
Aden
Aden
Aden
Aden
Source: American Enterprise Institute's Critical Threats Project
Years of American Involvement Published March 26, 2015
Yemen is home to one of Al Qaeda’s most
active branches, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Since 2009, the
United States has carried out at least 100 airstrikes in Yemen,
according to an analysis by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism,
which has done a detailed analysis of strikes there.
Al
Qaeda is not the only terrorist group operating in Yemen. In late
March, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for bombings at two
Shiite mosques in Sana that killed more than 135 people. The presence of
ISIS could drive Yemen into a “full-blown sectarian conflict,” said
Katherine Zimmerman, an analyst for the American Enterprise Institute.
“What ISIS wants to do is to recreate in Yemen the sectarian war its
predecessor, Al Qaeda in Iraq, stoked there.”
Airstrikes by province 2009-2015
Confirmed U.S. involvement
Possible U.S. involvement or was launched by other countries
Areas where Al Qaeda is able to operate
Sparsely populated
SAADA
YEMEN
JAWF
Hadramawt
MARIB
Sana
SHABWA
DHAMAR
100 miles
BAYDA
ABYAN
Taiz
LAHJ
Aden
Source: The Bureau of Investigative Journalism; American Enterprise Institute's Critical Threats Project (Qaeda areas)
Historical Divisions Published March 26, 2015
South Yemen was a separate country until
1990. The northwest, an area historically called Yemen, is mostly
Shiite. The southeast, known as Hadramawt, is home to a mostly Sunni
population. “Yemen and the Hadramawt have seldom been part of the same
political entity in the past and have maintained separate identities for
a long time,” said Michael Izady, a historian and cultural geographer
who has mapped ethnicity and religion for Columbia University.
SAUDI ARABIA
OMAN
Current border
Unofficial border
Red Sea
NORTH YEMEN
HADRAMAWT
REGION
Sana
SOUTH YEMEN
ERITREA
Taiz
150 Miles
Gulf of Aden
Aden
Correction: An earlier version of this article
misidentified the area of Yemen that is mostly Shiite. It is the
northwest, not the northeast.
Sources: American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats
Project (Houthi expansion over time); the Bureau of Investigative
Journalism (airstrikes); Richard Schofield, King's College London
By Sarah Almukhtar, Jeremy Ashkenas, Joe Burgess, K.K. Rebecca Lai, Sergio Peçanha And Jeremy White
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