Yemen

The political uprising against Ali Abdullah Saleh, who served as the first President of Yemen since its unification in 1990, erupted during the 2011 Arab Spring.

In 2015, Saudi Arabia initiated warfare in Yemen after pro-Saudi and pro-American president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, the sole candidate who they appointed to replace Saleh, was ousted by a Houthi faction in response to economic and political crises ripping the nation.

Announced by the Saudi Ambassador to the United States in a telecast from Washington D.C., the Yemen war – supported by the Obama administration and still supported by the Trump administration, both whom have sold Saudi Arabia billions of dollars of munitions – has destroyed Yemen’s economy and infrastructure.

Considered the worse humanitarian crisis in the world, it is estimated that 92,000 Yemenis have been killed and that some 20 million are at risk of malnutrition and starvation– including over three million children.

Child malnutrition rates are the highest in the world. Half the children under the age of five suffer from stunted growth, according to the Borgen Project.

In addition to famine, Yemen has suffered a serious outbreak of cholera. According to UNICEF, Saudi coalition airstrikes have targeted water supplies in the country.

The United States has cooperated with the Saudis in a naval, air, and land blockade, thus extending the current famine, described by the Norwegian Refugee Council to be of “biblical proportions.”

In April, Trump vetoed a bipartisan resolution that would have put an end to U.S. support of the Saudi war.