Yemen conflict: 'This war has killed

everything that was beautiful'

Yemenis stand amid the rubble of houses destroyed by Saudi-led air strikes in a village near Sanaa.
Photograph: Hani Mohammed/AP

Kareem Shaheen in Beirut-Monday 6 April 2015

A mesmerising tune floods into Sarah Jamals ears, shielding them from the
horror of the air strikes outside. Every night, when the bombing of the
Yemeni capital begins in earnest, she takes refuge in the poetry she and her
compatriots used to perform in Tahrir Square, Sanaa, when Arab spring
protests four years ago held the tantalising promise of a new Yemen.
They come with iron and fire, but they are weaker than straw, the famous
Yemeni poet Al-Baradouni recites in a recording to the melodious tone of the
oud, a traditional Middle Eastern stringed instrument.
The violence of the latest war to engulf the Arab worlds poorest country is
a far cry from those hopeful days. A Saudi-led coalition has been bombing
Yemen for 12 days in an attempt to fight off an advance by Houthi rebels

who took control of Sanaa and advanced on the southern port city of Aden,
exiling the president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, and threatening to plunge
the country into all-out civil war.
According to the World Health Organisation, 549 people have been killed
and 1,707 injured in violence in Yemen since 19 March, a week before the
air campaign began. As the humanitarian situation worsens, the
International Committee of the Red Cross received approval on Sunday from
the military coalition that controls Yemens ports and air space for an aid
flight to deliver medical supplies, but on Monday said logistical problems
were delaying its departure.

B
urnt-out trucks litter the Hays district in Hodeidah province near Sanaa.
Photograph: Abdulrahaman Abdullah/AFP/Getty
Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of trying to spread its influence in the Middle East
through the Houthi rebels.
This is not the first war Ive witnessed, but it is the worst by far, Jamal, a
sociologist, told the Guardian. It seems that the older we get, the less
tolerant we become with the sounds of blasts. We end up fearing more than
we did when we were children.
While Jamal endures the air raids in the capital, her family in Aden has had
no electricity or water for days, and she fears the latest conflict will do

irreparable damage to the Yemeni soul.

This war is tearing the social texture in a way that makes it impossible to
repair, she said. The double aggression we are under from the outside
and the inside is creating cracks. I can see all my loved ones watching in
pain knowing that things will never be the same even when this war ends, if
it ever does.
We have survived so many wars. We have been stripped of jobs, security
and basic services before, however, this time we are being stripped of a
home, she said.
The sense of loss is all-consuming in Aden, where Mohammed takes refuge
from the street fighting between Houthi fighters and local youth in his
partially burned home with his two granddaughters. His son and other
friends perished in the fighting. He says his son could have survived his
wounds if the city had adequate medical supplies.
By God, by God, by God, I will never surrender or have peace with them
until I avenge my son and his friends, he said. They killed everything that
was beautiful, we have nothing to smile for.

Shia Houthi rebels march through Sanaa to protest against Saudi-led air
strikes. Photograph: Hani Mohammed/AP

Mohammed, not his real name, said he buried his son during a lull in the
fighting, but could not have a memorial service for him because of the
violence.
He said the Houthi rebels and their allies have fired indiscriminately at
homes, and many people have been without water for days in the city.
Mohammeds family is trying to ration food to survive as the street battles
keep them sequestered in their homes.
The damage may already have been done to Yemens unity, with the
growing hatred of southerners, many of whom are still loyal to Hadi,
towards the northern Houthi movement.

We will fight even if we sign a ceasefire or peace, we will go to their homes

and everywhere they live, we cannot forgive them. This is blood, he said.
This is not my feeling alone, but its the feeling of all the southerners. The
wounds have grown. We cannot return to the status quo.
He said the citys youth were still fighting fiercely against the Houthi rebels
and their allies, fighters loyal to the former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh,
who was replaced by Hadi after the Arab spring protests. The battle was
unequal, he said, with the rebels able to muster rockets, artillery and
armoured vehicles.
When they heard the fighting they ran away, he said of his
granddaughters. They are terrified. When these children grow up, do you
think they will forget this? This will remain etched in our hearts.
The city desperately needs medical and humanitarian assistance,
but it may yet be out of reach. Medical workers say they are having trouble
reaching besieged areas, and fighters have already killed four healthcare
workers in Aden in the past few days. They also seized six ambulances,
including four that were used in combat, according to the UNs Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Fighters have occupied two health
facilities and five schools.

A journalist stands next to a replica of a Saudi fighter jet during a media

briefing. Photograph: Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty

In any war there are casualties always, but the painful thing is to see
victims and you cant get them medical care for any reason, said Hisham
Abdulaziz, a doctor who treated dozens of wounded who were hit by an
apparent air strike in Mazraq refugee camp earlier in the war. You feel
paralysed.
He called on all parties to the conflict to avoid targeting medics and
civilians and to allow the entry of humanitarian supplies. We have nothing
to do with the conflict and who is right or wrong, but every wounded person
deserves to get medical care, he said.
In Sanaa, Abdulaziz said many families had fled the city, which has been
hit by fuel and food shortages. He said the prices of some basic staples
such as wheat have more than doubled. He has also been enduring air
strikes at night as his home is near a military site. We sit and listen to the
bombs and pray that we will be safe, but that is up to fate, he said. But
its not just me, its everyone in Sanaa.
The attacks on health workers mean that fewer can reach besieged areas,
and families of the wounded are less willing to transport their loved ones for
treatment at the risk of being targeted. This is really, really worrying, said
Dounia Dekhili, who is coordinating Mdecins Sans Frontires activities in
Yemen.

Object 1

The Saudi-led campaign against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen

reaches its twelfth day as the coalition tries to prevent the group from
capturing the port city of Aden.
Dekhili said it was difficult to support clinics operating in besieged areas,
where medics have not been sleeping for days and morgues are quickly
filling up. She said that just as states have been able to evacuate their
diplomats, humanitarian aid should be permitted to reach the affected
areas.
She says the organisation has treatments loaded in cargo boats and planes
to be sent to Aden and Sanaa, but they are awaiting permission to deploy
them.
The Red Cross has also said it is facing severe problems trying to help
victims of the recent violence. We have a cargo plane with medical
supplies which is ready to go, Sitara Jabeen, a spokeswoman told AFP on
Monday.
We have the permission for this plane but we have logistical problems for
the landing. There are less and less planes landing in Yemen. We are trying
to solve the logistic problems.
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