American forces along with their NATO allies have wrapped up operations in Kabul as per schedule and departed on August 31. While the whole world seems to know about the crisis in Afghanistan, very few are aware of another chronic conflict raging not too far away.

The civil war between the Zaidi-Shia Houthi Movement and the Sunni majority Yemeni government has created one of the worst humanitarian crises in modern history. Nearly a quarter of a million men, women and children have died as a result of the conflict and more than three million have been displaced.

Human rights organisations have called the conflict a “human rights catastrophe” over widespread allegations of war crimes, human rights violations across both sides, compounded by a famine, a cholera outbreak, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Who are the Houthis?

The Houthis or the Houthi Movement was essentially formed in the early 1990s to resist the growing Saudi Arabian influence in Yemen in the aftermath of the 1994 Yemeni civil war. The group was formed by Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, a member of the Zaidi-Shia minority, which made up nearly 33 percent of Yemen’s population at the time and were major power brokers in northern Yemen and near the city of Sa'dah.

Sa’dah was the seat of the Zaidi imams until 1962, encapsulating over 1,000 years of rule and the Zaidi still enjoyed power in their Northern stronghold.

Who are they up against?

The conflict started in 2004 after the Yemeni government tried to arrest al-Houthi. al-Houthi was a major critic of the authoritarian Ali Abdullah Saleh, then president of Yemen. He accused Saleh of corruption and bowing to Saudi Arabian and US whims at the expense of the Yemeni people and government.

During the time, the Zaidi-Shias were among major Islamic groups that were radicalised due to the US intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The attempted arrest of al-Houthi sparked off an insurgency conflict that lasted for the next decade.

Apart from the general umbrella of being the resistance, hardly anything was known about the Houthis’ motive. The Yemeni government alleged that the backers of the movement wished to overthrow the republic and establish a Zaidi religious government. However, backers of the movement have stated that they are not opposed to the governmental form but "for things that all Yemenis crave: Government accountability, the end to corruption, regular utilities, fair fuel prices, job opportunities for ordinary Yemenis and the end of Western influence,” according to Newsweek.

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Transition to civil war

As part of the Arab Spring, the Yemeni Revolution of Dignity rose against Saleh and his reign in Yemen. While protestors and civilians wished to move Yemen away from corruption and authoritarianism, the ensuing chaos saw armed conflict between government forces, militias and Islamist terrorists. While the revolution was successful in removing Saleh from power, the country soon descended into full-scale civil war.

The conflict saw the Houthis briefly ally with Saleh and forces loyal to him to destroy the Yemeni government, the intervention of other Arabian nations and various local militias being involved, against a backdrop of resurgent Islamist activity.

The conflict has often been described as a new age proxy war, with Shia Iran and its ally Hezbollah supporting the Houthis, and Sunni Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan, Egypt and others supporting the Yemeni government.

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(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)