FACE OF A FORGOTTEN WAR

Five Yemeni farmers recount the horrors of war, and how doctors in India healed their wounds

- ANJULY MATHAI

On the night of March 26, 2015, Abdullah Ali, a 40-year-old farmer from the village of Al Amrah in Yemen, was fast asleep in his room. It was troubled sleep, ever since the Houthi rebels had stormed the capital city of Sanaa in late 2014 and embroiled the country in a civil war. He was concerned about the safety of his wife and 10 children. Around midnight, he was woken up when the walls of his home shuddered to the sound of an explosion. It was an airstrike. Led by Saudi Arabia, Operation Decisive Storm had officially begun, when around 100 warplanes destroyed Houthi strongholds in various parts of the country, including military hideouts, government buildings and even the Sanaa International Airport.

With the involvement of Saudi Arabia and a coalition of Sunni-majority Arab states, the war escalated. Soon, the country was in chaos, with no electricity, food or water. While the war between the Shiite Houthis, allegedly backed by Iran, and the Yemeni government backed by Saudi Arabia reached a stalemate, the civilians paid a catastrophic price. With 24.1 million people—80 per cent of the population—in need of aid and protection, the UN described the situation in Yemen as the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. Nineteen million Yemenis were likely to go hungry soon, it said.