Trapped in War: Yemen, Three Years On

On 13 June, the Saudi-led coalition started airstrikes on Hodeida, the biggest urban centre of Yemen’s Western, Red Sea coast. A city of 600.000 inhabitants, Hodeida is controlled by the Iranian-backed Huthi insurgents since 2015. Not only port revenues are the greatest source of income for their war economy, but 70% of Yemen’s imports enter through this critical port: will it remain open despite the clashes (more than a hundred of combatants have died so far in the city’s neighbourhood), as requested by the UN, or it will be closed or mined, further worsening the humanitarian crisis? Yemen’s anti-huthi forces, both loyalists and irregulars, led by the Special Forces of the United Arab Emirates, are fighting in the outskirts of Hodeida, while Saudi airstrikes cover the ground offensive. This is likely to be a turning-point in the Yemeni war, which entered its fourth year: what is the impact of the conflict on tribal, political, economic and military local structures? What has the trajectory of the conflict been before this battle? This ISPI Dossier assesses the original drivers and domestic implications of the Yemeni crisis.