Why is the us blockade yemen
How the Saudi Blockade is Starving Yemen
Yemen's Civil War has carved the country
into battling factions and now it's
virtually sealed off from the outside
world because of a blockade imposed by
Saudi Arabia
this is Yemen's main port and shipyard
now almost empty of containers that
means essential goods are not reaching a
nation that relies almost entirely on
imports for food fuel and medicine eight
million people one-fourth of the
population are at risk of starvation
here's how a blockade compounds a crisis
in the country already strangled by war
first why is there a blockade Yemen is
essentially the battleground for a
regional proxy war on one side is
Yemen's official government backed by
Saudi Arabia on the other is a rebel
group called a Houthis backed by Iran in
November Houthis fired a missile at the
Saudi capital Riyadh the Saudis
retaliated by imposing a total land air
and sea blockade on Yemen it effectively
locked in 28 million people and locked
out everything the blockade was partly
lifted to allow in humanitarian aid but
not commercial imports but the vast
majority of essential goods come in on
commercial ships so today there isn't
nearly enough food or fuel coming in or
going around where is the effect of the
blockade most visible let's look again
at Yemen's largest port her data around
80% of imports arrived through it and
two-thirds of the population live in the
areas directly served by it but because
it's in an area controlled by the rebels
the Saudis have a tightly controlled a
review of marine traffic shows the
arrivals of ships and her data dropped
by half in November and these satellite
photos show an active shipyard one year
ago right before the blockade and now
the port is almost empty one key
shipment not getting through her data is
few aid organizations we spoke to say
the fuel shortage is setting off a
vicious circle of suffering these aid
groups are warning of a reduced ability
to deliver food and aid reduce access to
pumped and purified water and a struggle
to keep generators on at hospit
fuel prices have doubled since the start
of December fuel is especially needed to
deliver water across one of the driest
countries on earth
earlier this year water shortages
triggered a cholera epidemic that
affected nearly 1 million and now water
is unaffordable for two-thirds of the
country prompting fears of other disease
outbreaks Yemen's war is a humanitarian
crisis is it also a crime that's what
NGOs and humanitarian groups are
examining it's against the laws of war
to restrict humanitarian assistance and
destroy objects essential to survival
and using starvation as a method of
warfare is also a war crime what is the
USS role in all of this the US isn't
directly striking Yemen but it's the
main supplier of arms to Saudi Arabia
Yemenis have often found fragments of
american-made munitions after deadly air
strikes in a short statement this month
President Trump called in the Saudis to
allow essential goods enter Yemen it was
a rare rebuke to a key ally but for now
there appears to be no end in sight to
the blockade or the conflict
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