Now, I’m sure you saw the Snapchat story this past week on the missile that was intercepted over Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. The Snapchat news section was overflowing with videos of the aftermath cloud of the missile interception and audio of confused spectators describing what they had just witnessed. Social media platforms broadcasted primary sources of what the people of this area of the world were living through: a terrifyingly loud explosion and a cloud of smoke in the sky. The missile was fired by the Houthi Shiite rebels of Yemen, and according to CBS News, attacks similar to these have been leading up to this moment for several months. The purpose of this launch was to target the Saudi defense ministry, according to a Houthi TV network’s post on Twitter.
Courtesy: Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance
So, why is this important? First, let’s start out with a little background. This war began in 2014 when Yemen’s rebels seized the capital and began pushing southward. It should be noted that Yemen is the Middle East region’s poorest country, which is important to understand the dynamic of the relationship behind the war. The war was begun by Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the defense minister of Saudi Arabi, in order to end the growing accomplishments of the Houthi rebels. According to The National Interest, many people have been comparing this war to the Vietnam War.
Now for the major issue: with Yemen already being a poor country, this war is literally starving citizens to death. The population has been cut off by the Saudi blockade, preventing the essentials of living from entering its border. This is where the major tension and uprising between the two really takes flight. In order to fully illustrate this situation, I would need to write out a full history lesson which is something I do not want to do for fear of butchering the truth, so I suggest you look up articles from different news platforms and history websites in order to gain insight and form your own opinion on what is going on in this conflict.
Saudi air strikes have killed an estimated 10,000 plus people have wounded over 40,000. The Houthi rebels are retaliating against Saudi Arabia with missile launches and drone attacks. This war has been going on for over three years, and now there are claims that Iran has started to arm the rebels with drones used to disable missile defense systems. The CAR (Conflict Armament Research) has found evidence supporting this claim, although Iran denies aiding the rebels in any way.
World news is important to pay attention to, collegiettes! International affairs will influence everyone in the world, not just the countries in which the problems take place. So, get educated and develop your own opinion because as scary as the world is, we are about to enter it and become fully functioning adults.