Calls by the UN for a humanitarian ceasefire in Yemen, and calls by the US for the Saudis to end the blockade of Yemen both appear to have fallen on deaf ears, with the blockade continuing so far, and Saudi warplanes attacking the Yemeni capital with even more intensity than before.
While Saudi airstrikes over the weekend were presented as an effort to support former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in “switching sides,” Saleh’s death on Monday meant the Saudi coalition has rebranded the attacks as focusing on avenging Saleh.
The Saudi coalition appears eager to facilitate this, with UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan visiting Saleh’s exiled son to offer condolences, and raising speculations that the younger Saleh could soon be sent to Yemen to try to lead what’s left of the Saleh force.
Saleh’s GPC and the Houthis are the two main factions in northern Yemen, and the Houthis have followed up the death of Saleh by seizing his home and the homes of several of his relatives. The Saudis have subsequently bombed Saleh’s home, which ironically is what they did at the start of the war that led Saleh to align with the Houthis in the first place.
The war and blockade has killed thousands, and put millions on the brink of starvation in northern Yemen. The Saudi strikes are continuing to worsen that crisis, and in the capital of Sanaa, many civilians are basically trapped in their homes