PHOTO: Man walks in front of a building destroyed by a Saudi-led airstrike on Yemen


Last week I spoke with Jason Lim of Malaysia’s BFM radio about the civil war in Yemen, which until recently had been overlooked by much of the world.

See Yemen Feature: A Guide to the Civil War

The discussion begins with the essential context for the recent developments in the conflict, including a Saudi airstrike that killed at least 145 people at a funeral ceremony in the Yemeni capital Sana’a, an attack — probably by the Ansar al-Allah (Houthi) movement, which controls Sana’a, or its allies — on a US warship, and an American missile strike destroying radar installations.

See Yemen Feature: Saudi Arabia Admits Deadly Bombing of Funeral
Yemen Feature: US Intervenes With Cruise Missile Strikes

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Yemen received quite a bit of notice in 2011 because of the idea that a people could rise up and get rid of an unwelcome, hated leader. But once that uprising went into its difficult phase — how do we get a new Government which is effective, which everyone will support? — then the situation became almost too complex for the world to follow….

Given that Yemen…is not critical to the oil industry, given that it does not have a headline leader like a President Assad whom you either support or oppose, given that it’s not the fundamental point that Iran needs for its influence in the region or that the United States sees as its important strategic point, why should we pay attention to it?

It’s a sad thing to say, but it’s the reality.