Nihm ,Sanaa – 12 December 2018: The happy Yemen is no longer happy since the Houthi militia, backed by Iran, started their bloody war against everything and everyone that is Yemen; since they have directed their brutal attacks on everything and everyone, from monuments and artifacts to human beings and humanity.
Their shells did not distinguish between one Yemeni and another.
Thousands of Yemenis are mourning the martyrs who died because of Houthi brutality, and thousands others are wounded and displaced. All of those are remembering a Yemen that was once "happy". On the land of Yemen, ancient civilizations were built, the most famous of which are Saba’ and Hamir, the Kingdom of Hadramout, Qataban and Maain, the former fell in 525 AD.
On the land of Yemen many religions and beliefs passed. Many events and historical incidents took place in Yemen; that is, of course, until the Houthi coup in September 2014. The coup was preceded by disturbances and sit-ins that paved the way for the Houthis to control the country. Consequently, the Yemeni issue got more complicated day after day. There is bloodshed in Yemen.
According to official and international statistics, including the United Nations Humanitarian Needs Report for 2018, the number of people needing assistance reached 22.2 million Yemenis. The number of displaced people in the country reached 3.44 million, while the number of war victims was 43,000, including13,389 killed and 30,000 wounded, between January 2015 and February 2018. Among those victims there were 5,212 children killed and injured, according to statistics of the Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights.
Such scenes of the Yemeni tragedy, reported by the foreign media, reports and statistics pushed us to take an “adventure” from the heart of the crisis. We wanted to repo on the reality of the humanitarian situation that comes as a result of Houthi crimes, including living challenges and crises caused by the war there, and the challenges that still face the stability of the Arab state.
The war is still ongoing in Yemen, and the Houthi militias are still targeting Yemen. The Yemenis and the Arab coalition forces are fighting them. To report on this issue, Eman Hannah took a 30 day trip that began in Yemen and ended in Riyadh, which leads an Arab coalition to support the legitimacy in Yemen, to talk to the people and at the same time convey the views of a number of officials, politicians and military officials in exclusive interviews.
Arranging for the trip was not easy, and the preparation lasted for more than five months between contacting people and procedures. The journey was not for a day or two and covered five Yemeni governorates starting from the liberated governorates of Aden, Lahj and Marib, reaching the front of Nahm. Nahm is the first directorate of the province of Sana'a which is under the control of the Houthis and is currently the subject of a clash with the legitimate forces supported by the coalition.
I can’t deny that fear and anxiety surrounded me. The press assignment this time is accompanied by bullets and mortars. It is in a country that is unstable, and its officials and citizens are trying hard to bring it back to life. Still, the determination to convey the suffering of an Arab people was more powerful.
We wanted to show how the Houthis transformed people's lives into daily tragedy during the war by bombing, indiscriminate killing, enforced disappearance and mines, while the Yemenis resisted for their lives.
We also noted the role of the forces of the Coalition Supporting Legitimacy in restoring hope to Yemenis through military and human support. We also conducted a series of interviews with politicians and officials in Yemen and Riyadh highlighting the reality of the situation in Yemen, and we revealed the effects of the war and what the Houthi militias did in various sectors.
We listened to the testimonies of the people about the crimes of the Houthis in Aden, and monitored the catastrophic situation in Taiz which is still besieged. We documented humanitarian stories of the victims of the indiscriminate bombing of citizens and children in the five governorates. We also met with residents of the camps of Marib and displaced people from Sana'a, Dhamar, and areas under the control of Houthis.
They told stories of what happened to them as a result of the attacks they were subjected to, although many of them refused to speak or to reveal their names and photos for fear of the violence of the Houthis, who muzzle the mouths by capturing members of a family in exchange for the release of a member of the same family.
We monitored the tragedy of an Arab country that turned into a “kingdom of fear”. We listened to human stories from the heart of the camps and hospitals. We conducted extensive investigations from the Yemeni street. Children revealed the secrets of the business of children recruitment in the Houthi militias. We also obtained documents that reveal the Houthi plan to spread Shiite ideology and the rule of the Faqih, and change the curriculum in Yemen.
The articles will look at Houthi aggression, Houthi attacks on hospitals, the impact of Houthi minefields on children and women, displacement camps and how the Houthi has left millions displaces, child soldiers in Yemen, and torture in Houthi prisons, as well as a multitude of interviews with top officials.
Comments
Leave a Comment