Reports coming out of Yemen suggest a ceasefire has been agreed to between pro-Saudi forces and the Shi’ite Houthi movement, but in the meantime heavy fighting is still the norm. This is particularly true in and around the long–contested city of Taiz.
Over the past two days, in fighting between Taiz and the Shabwa and Maarib Provinces, at least 55 people have been reported killed, including at least 14 civilians. There is little indication significant territory changed hands, though pro-Saudi forces claimed an advance in Shabwa.
The large death toll, the civilian bystanders killed, and little practical effect on the greater war have all typified the conflict in the year since Saudi Arabia first attacked Yemen, and it is that ugly stalemate which is fueling calls for a negotiated settlement.
The WHO estimates that 6,200 people killed in the war so far, with roughly half judged to be civilians. The vast majority of those civilians killed in Saudi airstrikes. This has brought considerable condemnation from human rights groups against not only the Saudis, but Western nations, particularly the US and Britain, who have been supplying the Saudi kingdom with arms.
I have yet to see self-criticism by the human rights groups about their pushing US and UK taxpayers into wasting millions supporting the participants in this war, especially the less well-armed, and encouraging breaches of the blockade and ‘humanitarian’ pauses that allow them to go on fighting.
If the US and UK are to sustain this nonsense, it’s obviously necessary that the money wasted in Yemen, and the Middle East generally, be recycled. This can only be done by the US and UK selling the locals stuff they want to buy, that is stuff that’ll kill people.