19WORLD
A Saudi blockade
compounds the
suffering in
Ye m e n
By Manon Quérouil-Bruneel
Photographs by Véronique
de Viguerie/Sana‘a
ON AUG. 24, MISARAH MOHAMMED
Maisar woke up in a hospital. An air
raid had struck her house in Faj Attan,
south of Yemen’s capital, Sana‘a. First
she learned that her 3-year-old and
14-year-old children had been killed
in the blast. Then doctors told her
that a fragment of shell was lodged in
her spine, paralyzing her lower limbs.
The operation that would give her a
chance to walk again cost $5,000.
But for the past six months, the
Ministry of Health coffers have
been virtually empty. The entire
health care system in Yemen is in a
state of collapse, along with much
of the country’s infrastructure.
After rebels from the mainly Shi‘ite
Houthi movement swept through
the country in September 2014,
taking Sana‘a, a civil war began in
earnest. On one side is a coalition of
about 10 mainly Arab countries, led
by Saudi Arabia, that backs ousted
President Abdel Rabbo Mansour
Hadi. On the other are the Houthis
allied with the forces of former
strongman President Ali Abdullah
Saleh, who are said to receive covert
support from Iran.
Two and a half years on, the
proxy war between the region’s rival
powers has left over 10,000 people
dead and 3 million displaced. The
Houthis still control about a fourth
of the territory, including Sana‘a. But
coalition warplanes have pummeled
cities and towns held by the rebels,
leaving mosques, schools and other
public buildings little more than
rubble. An estimated 5,000 civilians
are among the dead.
On Nov. 4, the war entered a
new and even more dangerous
phase. A ballistic missile, which
Saudi Arabia said was made in Iran,