Combat footage that took place during the battle for Hodeidah City in June 2018 shows Houthi rebels locked in an intense firefight with troops of the Saudi-led coalition. They are flanked in the blink of an eye and bullets and shrapnel begins to tear apart everything around them. As the Houthi rebels attempt to make a panic-strewn escape they are cut down on camera. A demonstration of just how fast the situation can change in the heat of battle.
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Houthi Rebels and the War in Yemen
The combat footage of the Houthi rebels recording their own death took place in the current Yemeni Civil War which erupted back in 2015. It’s a conflict that is largely fought between two factions: the Yemeni government led by the Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi and the Houthi armed movement, alongside their supporters and allies. Both sides claim to constitute the official Yemeni government.
The war has significantly destabilized Yemen and introduced various terror groups to the region in the form of Al-Qaeda and ISIS who have carried out a series of attacks since the war began. Al-Qaeda in particular controls significant territory across Yemen especially along with the coastal areas.
Saudi Arabia is heavily involved in the conflict and actively opposes the Houthi movement. They have controversially launched devastating air strikes upon Yemen throughout the conflict. The Saudi campaign is backed by the United States who has been providing the Saudi military with intelligence and logistical support. The United States and the United Kingdom have also both been active in supplying Saudi Arabia with the weapons used in the devastating airstrikes. Various analysts view the war in Yemen as an extension of the proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia. It’s accepted that the war is largely a means for Saudi Arabia to combat Iranian influence in the region.
The Saudi Arabian bombing campaign on Yemen has resulted in widespread civilian casualties and has subsequently been slammed by various governments around the world. The Yemen Data Project estimates that, as of March 2019, almost 18,000 civilians had been killed or injured in Saudi Arabian airstrikes. Overall, the war in Yemen is believed to have killed over 100,000 people. Alarmingly, Yemen is also currently in the grip of starvation that threatens to become the worst global famine seen in the last 100 years and poses a threat to 13 million civilians.
