Yemen has been the battlefield of the Cold War in the Middle East. Now it’s worse than ever.

One of the most complex conflicts in the world could trigger the worst famine in decades.

Rahmah Watheeq feeds through snakes at Al-Sabeen Hospital in Yemen’s capital. She is among those now starving in the country southwest of the Arabian Peninsula.

The UN has long called the conflict in Yemen the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time. It is the worst food crisis in the world. Two out of every three inhabitants of the country do not have enough food. Estimates show that more than 100,000 people died in the war and that four million people were forced to flee.

Now the alarm sounds serious:

“In the absence of immediate action, millions of lives could be lost,” UN Secretary General António Guterres said on Friday.

The reason is war. The conflict is complicated. Here is a simplified explanation of why the Yemeni people are starving.

There are several other groups and conflicts that come into play, but these give you an overview.

It’s more than Yemen

Houthiene it is central to conflict. They are a religious group with political and military power. You need to know them to understand what is happening.

They come from the north of the country and belong to the Islamic Zaidi sect.

As you may know, Muslims are mainly divided into two groups: Sunnis and Shiites. Obviously there are the majority of Sunni Muslims in the world, but the Houthis belong to the Shiites.

The Houthis want a Yemen without external influences and they want to end all forms of corruption. They started a riot as early as 2004. In February 2015, the movement took control of the capital, Sana. When they were about to conquer the port city of Aden, Saudi Arabia intervened with a bombing campaign.

Saudi Arabia and neighboring Iran are also important players here. They are staunch rivals. Saudi Arabia is a Sunni Muslim and Iran is a Shiite Muslim like the Houthis.

There are many indications that Iran supports the Houthis in Yemen, although they deny it. Saudi Arabia led the coalition that went to war against the Houthis when they took the capital five years ago.

Since both Iran and Saudi Arabia are involved, the conflict in Yemen is often called a “proxy war.” This means that two actors in the war use other groups to fight each other.

A cold war in the Middle East

Both Saudi Arabia and Iran want power and influence over the region. F. Gregory Gause of the US Brookings Research Institute calls the conflict “a new cold war in the Middle East.”

He writes that the cold relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran explains much of the conflict in the region. The background of their conflict has to do with religion. Saudi Arabia is predominantly Sunni. Iran is predominantly Shiite like the Houthis in Yemen.

But the conflict in Yemen is more complex than that. And it is about more than religion.

The Arab Spring

The war in Yemen started before the Houthis took the capital. It has its roots in the Arab Spring of 2011.

Then people rebelled in various Arab countries. It started in Tunisia and spread to other countries like Egypt, Libya, Syria and Yemen. For Yemen, it meant the end of a long presidency for Ali Abdullah Saleh. He was president of northern Yemen from 1978 to 1990. When the north and south were united, he continued as president of the entire country. In 2011, the presidential palace was attacked. Saleh had to renounce power and leave the country. He was killed by the Houthi militia in 2017.

Saleh was replaced by Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who was vice president. The BBC writes that today’s conflict has its roots in the failed acquisition between Saleh and Hadi. The transition gave the Houthi uprising more support among the people. When the Houthis tried to seize power in the country in 2015, Hadi had to flee to Saudi Arabia. He is still there, but his government has a temporary base in the port city of Aden. Hadi is still recognized internationally as president.

What happened now?

The Houthis still have control over much of the country. In recent years, the situation of the people has been getting worse and worse.

In September last year, the Houthis blamed an attack on two of Saudi Arabia’s oil fields. In hindsight, UN experts have concluded that the Houthis were not behind this.

Oil fields accounted for half of the country’s oil production. Although the Houthis took credit, Saudi Arabia blamed Iran, which supports the Houthis. Saudi Arabia received support in the claim from its close allies, the United States.

Now US President Donald Trump is threatening to label the Houthis a terrorist organization. The Houthis are already sanctioned, so their situation will not change much. On the other hand, it can be worse for people who are already struggling, aid organizations fear. The stamp can ruin emergency aid deliveries and make a bad situation worse, the UN warns.

But there are several reasons why the UN is warning now. Violence is on the rise. The economy is collapsing. And funding for UN relief efforts has been dramatically reduced. It has consequences:

• The emergency rations of nine million people have been cut in half.
• The danger is that the same could happen with another six million.
• In 2018, the AP news agency also revealed that Houthi forces stole emergency rations entering the country.

At the same time, conflicts around Yemen make aid work even more difficult. All of this prompted the UN to use big words when they warned of the situation on Friday.

“The famine is really a real and dangerous opportunity, and the warning lights are flashing red, as red as possible,” said David Beasley. He heads the World Food Program (WFP), which is under the auspices of the UN.