On the ongoing crisis in Yemen

A huge US-backed military offensive is currently underway in Yemen, as Saudi Arabia leads an attack in the name of restoring ‘democracy’. The Saudi-led alliance of at least ten countries is currently bombing Yemen and intends to halt the advance of the Iranian-backed Houthi forces and to restore Abd-Rabbuh Mansour Al-Hadi as President. Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi had been installed as President after the dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh was forced out of power in 2012 as part of the Arab Spring revolutions. Hadi however went on to crush the people’s movement, fuelling a Houthi rebellion. Subsequently, he was ousted by the Houthis. The Houthis are now allied with erstwhile dictator Saleh, who still controls much of the Yemeni military despite being in exile.

The ongoing bombings in the civil war in Yemen have already claimed the lives of dozens of civilians and wounded many more, burying entire families. In its endeavour to take sides with the Hadi forces in Yemen’s civil war, Saudi Arabia has found allies and support pouring in from the US, France, Israel, Turkey, Pakistan, Sudan, Jordan, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Morocco and Egypt governments. It is indeed ironical that some of the world’s worst human rights violators are today waging war in Yemen in the name of defending democracy.

This smokescreen of ‘democracy’ however hides the real reason behind the ongoing assault on Yemen and the consequent civilian casualties. It is US and Saudi’s fear of Iran’s growing influence in the Middle East which has sparked off this latest war. Such offensives, even as they cruelly claim civilian lives, only add to the sectarian strife in the Middle East. Progressive forces need to robustly reject all such military offensives launched by imperialist forces with the intention to maintain global hegemony.

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