Many children in Yemen, like this girl in Hajjah, have been eating boiled leaves to survive.

Hammadi Issa/AP Images

STANDARDS

Common Core: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.6, RH.6-8.7, RI.6-8.1, RI.6-8.7, RI.6-8.10, SL.6-8.1, WHST.6-8.2, WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.9

C3 (D2/6-8): Civ.1, Civ.6, Civ.7, Civ.10, Eco.1, Geo.4, His.1, His.14

NCSS: People, places, and environments; Individuals, groups, and institutions; Global connections

JS 360°

Middle East Crisis

We Are Starving

Civil war has devastated the country of Yemen and left millions of people without food. What will it take to end the fighting

As You Read, Think About: What are some immediate and long-lasting effects of war?

Jim McMahon/Mapman®

Imagine that you weigh just 28 pounds.

Abrar Ibrahim does. The 12-year-old girl is fighting to stay alive in an overcrowded hospital in southern Yemen. Abrar’s bones protrude through her paper-thin skin, and she wears a glazed, exhausted expression, as if keeping her eyes open requires every bit of strength she has.

Doctors frantically tend to her. They try to coax her to eat something. But Abrar’s emaciated body has been deprived of food for so long that she’s too weak to chew.

In nearby hospital beds, the situation is just as dire. Dozens of other starving children hover between life and death, while outside, the causes of their suffering—airstrikes, bombs, and rockets—continue to rain down.

Repurposing the Weapons of War
A video about Yemenis salvaging missile fragments to preserve a part of their culture

This is what life has been like in the Middle Eastern country of Yemen since a civil war began there in 2015. The fighting started when a rebel group overthrew the nation’s government. A military coalition led by the neighboring country of Saudi Arabia has been fighting the rebels ever since in support of the ousted administration. The near-daily airstrikes and bombings have destroyed roads, bridges, and entire villages. About 18,000 Yemeni civilians have been killed or injured in the fighting.

The war has also created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Some 14 million people—half of Yemen’s population—are facing starvation. The aid group Save the Children estimates that 85,000 Yemeni children have starved to death since the war began—a number that is likely to grow. Meanwhile, the United Nations (U.N.) has said the situation could soon lead to the worst famine the world has seen in 100 years. A famine is an extreme lack of food in a region, which causes mass starvation and death (see "Understanding World Famines," below).

“This is not a country on the brink of a catastrophe,” says David Beasley, director of the U.N.’s World Food Program. “This is a country that is in catastrophe.”

Lynsey Addario/Getty Images

DESTROYED COMMUNITIES: War has reduced this village near the northern city of Saada to rubble.

A Poor, Unstable Place

Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East, has long been unstable. It has a lengthy history of internal conflict, and over the years it’s been a breeding ground for several terrorist groups.

In the past decade, Yemen has been further destabilized by the rise of a Shia Muslim rebel group called the Houthis. In 2014, they captured Yemen’s capital, Sanaa. They took control of much of the northern part of the country. Yemen’s president and his staff, meanwhile, fled south to the port city of Aden. With each side claiming to be the nation’s true government, the standoff sparked a civil war that began in March 2015.

Almost immediately, Saudi Arabia jumped into the chaos. The country, which borders Yemen, sees Houthi control of its neighbor as a threat. The Houthis are backed by Saudi Arabia’s longtime adversary, Iran. (Saudi Arabia is a Sunni Muslim country, and Iran, like the Houthis, is Shia. The two branches of Islam have long been at odds.) So Saudi Arabia and other nearby countries launched a full-scale military assault against the Houthi rebels in Yemen that is still in full force today.

Further complicating the situation is U.S. involvement. The U.S. and Saudi Arabia are longtime allies. The Saudi military has been carrying out devastating airstrikes in Yemen with the help of U.S. intelligence and American-made weapons.

You Might Need to Know . . .

Jane Sweeney/AWL Images RM/Getty Images

Mosques, such as this one in the United Arab Emirates, are places of worship for followers of Islam.

Sunni and Shia are the two main sects of Islam, the world’s second-largest religion. The split between the groups dates back to the death of the prophet Muhammad, Islam’s founder. When he died in 632 a.d., his followers disagreed over who should be their next leader. Most chose to follow Muhammad’s friend Abu Bakr. This group became the Sunni. Others backed Ali, Muhammad’s son-in-law. That group, the Shia, insisted that leadership should be passed through the Prophet’s family. The rift has lasted nearly 1,400 years and continues to fuel political rivalry and violence.

How War Causes Hunger 

But it’s not just the fighting that’s causing Yemen’s crisis. Many experts say there’s a war on the economy that is starving Yemeni citizens as well.

Before the conflict began, Yemen imported roughly 80 percent of its food. Water is scarce in the region’s dry, desert climate, which makes it difficult for Yemenis to grow their own crops.

To sabotage Houthi-controlled areas, Saudi Arabia has imposed blockades on Yemen’s borders. This has dramatically halted imports of food, fuel, and other essential goods that Yemeni citizens rely on. The blockades have also kept aid groups from delivering emergency supplies and have prevented Yemen’s fishermen from going out on their boats to earn a living.

The country isn’t completely without food, however. Some imports do make it in. But because they’re in higher demand, their prices have soared. As a result, many Yemenis can no longer afford to buy even a loaf of bread. Doctors and teachers have been forced to sell their gold or cars just to feed their families.

And when relief aid manages to trickle into Houthi-controlled areas, rebel commanders often keep it for themselves or their families.

“Most people think that famines are caused by food shortages,” explains Daniel Maxwell, a food security professor at Tufts University in Massachusetts. “That’s sometimes true, but usually famines result when people can’t get access to food—either by buying it or receiving it from aid groups. War is often the direct cause of famine.”

Understanding ...

World Famines

Yemen is technically not experiencing a famine, but United Nations (U.N.) officials say the country is dangerously close.

The U.N. declares a famine when one in five households in a certain area face extreme food shortages, more than 30 percent of that population is severely malnourished, and at least 2 people out of every 10,000 die per day.

One of the worst famines in world history occurred in Ireland in the 1840s. About 1 million people starved to death after disease destroyed the country’s potato crops. To escape the disaster, millions of Irish moved to other countries, including the U.S.

Another tragic famine of epic proportions occurred in China in the late 1950s. Under Communist ruler Mao Zedong, millions of Chinese farmers were sent to work in factories in an attempt to transform China into an industrial power. This left few people to tend to the farms. Crops—if they were planted at all—rotted in the ground. As a result, tens of millions of Chinese people starved to death.

More recently, famines have been declared in the past 20 years in the African nations of Somalia and South Sudan. 

Dying Before My Eyes

Ali Al-Hajaji knows that firsthand. He lives with his family in Juberia, a small village in Yemen. He used to work in nearby Saudi Arabia as a laborer. But when the war started, the border closed and he lost his job

Hajaji grew alarmed as food prices began to soar. Some villagers sold their belongings to pay for groceries. But Hajaji had nothing to sell. He was forced to scale back his family’s diet to just tea and boiled leaves.

His 4-year-old son, Shaadi, was the first to get sick. He began showing classic symptoms of malnutrition, including frequent vomiting. Hajaji could not take the boy to a hospital because he couldn’t afford the trip. 

Last September, Shaadi died from hunger. “I can barely buy a piece of stale bread,” Hajaji told reporters. “That’s why my children are dying before my eyes.”

Hani Mohammed/AP Images

DESPERATE FOR A MEAL: Children in Sanaa present documents to receive food from an aid group.

Hope for a Resolution 

Yemenis like Hajaji and Abrarthe girl clinging to life in the hospitalare enduring terrible tragedies. But the fact that the media is starting to report their stories is helping the world become more aware of the crisis in Yemen

For years, little was known about the war, partly because few journalists have been allowed into the country. But now, with every story of suffering shared, more pressure is being placed on the international community to help resolve the conflict.

Recently, the Saudis and Houthis met in Sweden for peace talks. They agreed to a cease-fire in Al Hudaydah, a key port city in Yemen through which 80 percent of the country’s imports are delivered. Both parties said they would withdraw from the city, but as this issue went to press, neither had.

Still, many experts say a resolution to the conflict is possible—if the U.S. forces the Saudi coalition to stop its military campaign. There are signs that Americans are starting to call for just that. A recent survey found that 75 percent of American respondents were opposed to the U.S. selling weapons to Saudi Arabia. What’s more, the U.S. House of Representatives voted earlier this year to end military aid to the country. As this issue went to press, the bill was before the U.S. Senate for a vote.

That gives hope to people like Shireen Al-Adeimi. A professor at Michigan State University, she is originally from Yemen and has family caught in the conflict.

The war in Yemen “can only end when the U.S. withdraws its support of the Saudis,” she says. “We must confront our government’s role in creating this man-made catastrophe.” 

Write About It! Should the United States force Saudi Arabia to stop its military campaign in Yemen? Use details from the article and additional research to write an essay explaining your point of view.

How YOU Can Help

Go Viral: Help raise awareness on social media about the civil war in Yemen. Share information about the conflict using the hashtag #SaveYemen.

Feed a Silent Dinner Guest: Determine how much the food on your dinner plate costs, then donate that amount to one of the relief organizations working to help Yemeni civilians, such as Save the Children.

Speak Up! Call or write to one of your state’s members of Congress, such as a U.S. senator or representative. Urge him or her to support measures in favor of ending U.S. involvement in the war in Yemen.

Mapping Yemen

This map shows the Middle Eastern country of Yemen and surrounding nations. Study the map, then answer the questions.

Jim McMahon/Mapman®

MAP SKILLS

1. What is the capital of Yemen

2. From that city, in which direction would you travel to get to the port city of Al Hudaydah

3. About how many straight-line miles separate the city of Saada from the city of Seiyun?

4. Which Yemeni cities labeled on the map are east of 50°E

5. Which countries border Djibouti

6. Which city is located at about 17°N, 53°E?

7. Somalia’s northern coast is bordered by which body of water?

8. Which country borders most of Yemen

9. What is the capital of that country?

10. What is the approximate latitude and longitude of the city where Yemen’s president fled before the start of the civil war?

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