The Arab League's Effectiveness in the Yemen Civil War (INTR12-206)

This report analyzes the role of the Arab League in the ongoing civil war in Yemen. It begins with an overview of the Arab League's historical background and its goals, including fostering cooperation among member nations and resolving disputes peacefully. The report then delves into the complexities of the Yemen conflict, tracing its roots to the Arab Spring and the power struggle between the Houthi rebels and the internationally recognized government. It examines the involvement of Saudi Arabia and Iran, highlighting the sectarian dimensions of the conflict and the proxy wars being fought in Yemen. The main focus of the report is to assess the effectiveness of the Arab League in resolving the conflict, discussing its interventions and failures. It points out the League's lack of effective action in preventing violence and its biases, ultimately concluding that the Arab League has not been successful in resolving the crisis.

Running head: CONFLICT IN YEMEN
Name of the Student
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Author Note

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Introduction
The MENA region has as such never been at a state of complete peace, as political
problems, either limited within the sphere of domestic politics or due to foreign intervention has
been disrupting stability. The Arab League was thus formed in the year 1945 to strengthen
cooperation among the Arab states to safeguard the political and the economic interests of the
member states and also of the region as a whole (Khadduri, 1946).
In this particular research paper the discussion shall be focusing upon the role of the Arab
League in the Civil War in Yemen. This is the thesis statement of the research paper and the
discussion in the following sections shall be to demonstrate the effectiveness or the
ineffectiveness of the organization in solving the conflict in Yemen with an analytical undertone.
Overview of the Arab League
The Arab League has a long history which has a background that dates back to the First
World War when the opposition to the Ottoman Turkish rule had surfaced as a political goal in
the Islamic nations of the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. The defeat of the
Ottoman Sultan in the First World War was a huge momentum that had boosted the morale of
the Arabs of the MENA region to reclaim their identities and form a confederacy to safeguard
themselves against any foreign encroachment1. The Second World War had been the major
reason why the formation of the Arab League in the year 1945 had finally materialized
(Khadduri, 1946). The MENA region is rich in mineral resources, the crude oil which has made
it subject to interference from the West. Moreover, the persecution of the Jews all over Europe,
1

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especially the Holocaust in Germany had caused the Great Britain to find them a safe haven and
that was planned by means of tracing the roots of Jews to the ancient Biblical times, when it was
proclaimed that Israel, the Promised Land belonged to the Jews. Hence the Jews had to be
relocated to the land of Israel which was then a muslim majority nation by the name Palestine.
Safeguarding economic interests and political interests against foreign encroachment; building
solidarity among culturally and religiously similar folks separated by geographical boundaries;
provide each other with support in times of need and resisting the formation of the Jewish state
had been the prime goal behind the formation of the Arab League in 1945, initially consisting of
six members and then it has expanded to its current strength of 22 states (Hourani, 1947). The
Arab League in the current context also be called a organization that fosters the spirit of
cooperation among the member nations and also aims at securing the following goals for the
member nations:-
- Securing economic cooperation among the member nations
- Fostering communication among the member nations
- Upholding cultural integrity of the nationalities
- Fostering mutual respect and recognition among the various nationalities
- Extending social welfare schemes among the member nations
- Addressing health issues and concerns among the member nations
- Peaceful settlement of political disputes among the member nations without resorting to
violence
- Collaborating in military affairs to the achievement of the end of the abovementioned
goal

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These goals have been acceded to by the 22 member nations and has been documented in the
1950 pact making it binding upon all the member nations (MacDonald, 2015).
Analytical overview of the Conflict in Yemen
In this particular section of the essay the focus of the discussion shall be on the ongoing
civil war in Yemen which has gained much momentum from the year 2015, dividing the nation
on the sectarian lines of Shias and Sunnis and also incurring intervention from Saudi Arabia and
Iran. Yemen is currently a political hotspot for Proxy Wars between Saudi Arabia and Iran who
have intervened because the religious identities endorsed by both the nations, Sunnism and
Shiism had attained political colour, and they felt the need to defend their stakes in Yemen
(Pulkkinen, 2017).
The Civil War of 2015 has its genesis back in the Arab Spring which has spread across
the Arab World in some nation states ever since the year 2011 (Pulkkinen, 2017). The Arab
Spring had begun in the North African nation of Tunisia against the despotic President Ben Ali
and had spread into the Arabian Peninsula, in Yemen, in the year 2011. The root cause of the
conflict lies in the failure of the political transition of handing over the responsibility of the
nation from the hands of authoritarian President Ali Abdullah Saleh to the hands of his deputy
Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi (Pulkkinen, 2017).
In the year 2014, the agitation between the Houthi rebels of North Yemen against the
internationally recognized Yemeni Sunni Government led by Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi
demanding a reduction in the fuel prices, a change in the government of the nation and putting an
end to the marginalization of the Shias of the nation. In 2015, the Houthi rebels had with the help

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from Shiite Iran took over the national capital of Sana’a forcing the resignation of President
Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi from power (Tehsin, Ali & Qumber, 2019).
Saudi Arabia had to intervene precisely because of two reasons. First of all is the
provocation that the Houthi rebels had given to Saudi Arabia from across the border. The war
preparations of the Houthis in Yemen had alarmed Saudi Arabia, and they had retaliated by
tightening the presence of military at the border with Yemen. The Houthis had provoked the
Saudi forces by issuing the declaration that they shall destroy the Saudi forces. Even before the
2014-15 Houthi uprisings, in the year 2009 the Houthis had launched a rebellion against the
Yemeni Government and a repercussion of it had been felt in Saudi Arabia as well. In 2015, the
Houthis had begun an offensive against the Saudi Army at the border, naturally Saudi Arabia had
backfired unleashing deadly attack on North Yemen controlled by the Houthis and also at the
capital of Sana’a, with the aim of dismantling the Houthi stronghold at Sana’a and reinstate the
government of Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi who had been on exile at Aden and the at Saudi Arabia
(Albon & Wolfberg, 2016).
Secondly, the Shiite Iranian involvement in the Yemeni Civil War had also been a cause
of alarm for the Sunni Al Saud family. Iran had been involved in fuelling the Houthis and
inciting them against the Sunni Government at Sana’a. Saudi Arabia had taken notice of it and
had retaliated by launching attacks against the Houthis. Iran had made an attempt to increase her
sphere of influence in the Arabian Peninsula and so did Saudi Arabia, thereby making Yemen a
political hotspot for proxy wars between Iran and Saudi Arabia, based on Shia and Sunni
sectarian lines respectively. Iran had deployed her naval vessels and even by supplying logistical
support to help the Houthis through the northern Yemeni ports. Saudi Arabia had retaliated by

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garnering the support of other Gulf nations to impose a blocade on the Gulf of Aden to cut off
arms and food supply to the Houthis through the ports of North Yemen (Juneau, 2016).
There have been an estimated recorded casualty of almost 7000 people due to the
ongoing strife in Yemen, and the common people are suffering from poverty and homelessness
as a result of the ongoing war in the nation and particularly because of the sanctions imposed by
Saudi Arabia (Perkins, 2017). There has been a rise of diseases especially cholera and instances
have been reported that the people of Yemen are satisfying their hunger by means of eating
leaves of the trees. Yemen produces only 5% of the wheat the population consumes and the rest
is imported, but the lack or irrigation has inhibited wheat production which has led more farmers
to grow the cash crop of qat, a narcotic substance that is consumed by most Yemenis. Cholera
has spread like an epidemic and the access to medication has become quite less. The sanctions
imposed on Yemen is depriving the people of the basic necessities which is making Yemen pay a
heavy price for ten Civil War and also because of the sanctions imposed by Saudi Arabia
(Tehsin, Ali & Qumber, 2019).
Analysis of the role played by Arab League in the Conflict in Yemen
Yemen had joined the Arab League in the year 1945, first North Yemen had joined,
followed by South Yemen. One of the most important goals of the Arab League had been that of
pooling in of the resources of the nation in order to help a member nation in distress and also
take an active part in resolving the disputes between the member nations (McLean, 2016).
However the Arab league has failed to reach at any solution with regard to solving the crisis in
Yemen. Arab League has along with the European Union, USA and the GCC nations tried to
reach at a common ground in settling the political dispute in Yemen, however no solution could

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be reached and the conflict is continuing in the country. Rather the problem has taken a different
dimension and the involvement of the ISIS in the conflict has incurred more unleashing of
violence, especially from USA, who has vowed to put an end to the terrorist organization
(Maddy-Weitzman, 2016).
Irresponsiveness of the Arab League
Not that the Arab League has remained silent over the affair, but the problem is that the
efforts of the organization has not proven to be effective. One of the greatest flaws that have
been committed by the Arab League in the Yemen Civil War is that of the lack of efforts to
avoid the outbreak of violence between Saudi Arabia and Yemen, which is tantamount to the
violation of one of the principles through avoidance, cherished and vowed upon by the member
nations who had originally laid the foundation stone of the confederation, namely Egypt, Syria,
Transjordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Yemen. The six nations who had led to the
founding of the Arab League had vowed to observe “close cooperation” on issues such as
economic development, inter member state communication, upholding cultural integrity,
fostering mutual respect and recognition among the various nationalities, extend social welfare
schemes among the member nations, and address health issues and concerns among the member
nations (Maddy-Weitzman, 2016).
The member nations have also vowed upon avoidance of the deployment of violence
against any member nation, rather the goal of peaceful settlement of disputes was supposed to be
cherished along with the subscription to the vow of collaboration in military affairs. The decision
was ceremoniously given due recognition by making all the signatories sign pact that was agreed
upon in the year 1950. However, those vows which had been acceded to were not adhered to in

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case of the Yemen Civil War which has been waging violence ever since the year 2015 till
present (MacDonald, 2015).
It had been discussed in the previous section dealing with the analytical overview of the
conflict in Yemen that the Houthi rebels had been the aggressors against Saudi Arabia, both in
2009 as well as in 2014. The retaliation had begun by Saudi Arabia from the year 2015. The
Arab League should have taken strict steps against Yemen in countering the act of violence
unleashed by Yemen on Saudi soil. The actual violence and the genesis of the civil war in
Yemen had been in the year 2009, when the Arab League should have intervened but it did not,
as the intensity of violence and political instability had not escalated itself to the level it had
escalated in the year 2015, when full fledged horrific unleashing of offensive and defensive
attack had begun. Saudi Arabia had not just unleashed violence against the Houthis just across
the border, but had also launched air strikes at the Yemeni capital of Sana’a which had caused
casualty of the civilians in huge numbers (Albon & Wolfberg, 2016).
Non materialization of the intervention of the Arab League in the Yemen Crisis
Arab League had turned its attention to the Yemen Civil War only in the year 2015 in the
month of March. An emergency meeting of the member nations was convened at the coastal city
of Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt, wherein the decision to form the Joint Arab Force was moved and
approved as well with the intention of bringing about a sense of stability in Yemen. The seeds of
the ineffectiveness of the Arab League in solving the conflict in Yemen was very much
immanent in the basis of the formation of the Arab Joint Force. The member nations were not
bound to contribute to the fulfillment of the Arab Joint Force and naturally the project did not
materialize. Thus the vow of collaborating in military affairs and peaceful settlement of conflict
among the member nations was not adhered to (Mohamedou, 2016).

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Weakness of the Arab League compared to the Gulf Council Cooperation
There lies enough reasons for the member nations of the Arab League to not contribute to
the formation of the Arab Joint Force as the Arab League can outshine another regional
organization the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in terms of numerical strength, the former has
22 member nations while the latter has just 7 members. However the nations of GCC are both
politically as well as economically much more influential than the Arab League. Most of the
nations who are a part of the Arab League suffer from political instability as a result of regime
change that had taken nations by sweep (Brownlee, Masoud & Reynolds, 2015). The precedent
of the Arab Spring had been Tunisia and had spread to neighbouring nations. Ironically, Ben Ali,
the ousted authoritarian President of Tunisia had taken refuge in Saudi Arabia, a member of the
Arab League itself. This has earned the League the ignominy of supporting despotic regimes,
which has proven itself to be true in the context of Yemen Crisis. The rule of President Hadi in
Yemen was no less despotic than his precedent President Saleh, and one of the goals of Saudi
intervention in Yemen was to reinstate President Hadi whom the Houthis alleged to be extremely
corrupt and his rule also marginalized the Shia minorities of Yemen (Brownlee, Masoud &
Reynolds, 2015).
Egypt, the nation to provide leadership to the formation of the Arab League had been
swept by the Arab Spring as well and ever since the ousting of President Mobarek in 2011, no
government has been stable (Silver, Caudill & Mixon Jr, 2017). Libyan President had been
ousted by Western Forces making the nation face the same fate as post Mobarek Egypt. Syria
and Iraq are battling their own share of battle against ISIS. Palestine suffers at the hands of Israel
on a daily basis losing its population to Israeli weapons. Somalia too is in a state of Civil War.
With political instability these nations of the League have grown economically too weak to

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contribute to the Arab Joint Force (Fraihat, 2016). The GCC nations, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,
Bahrain, Qatar, UAE and Oman are on the other hand are quite rich and they are politically
stable compared to most nations of the Arab League and the support of the GCC nations towards
Saudi Arabia, witnessed in form of the sanctions that they had imposed on Yemen jointly
(Sandwick, 2019).
The success of the sanctions have been possible on Yemen owing to the fact that Saudi
Arabia had received no resistance from the Arab League and the immense support from the GCC
nations. The overlapping of the membership of the Arab League and the GCC; the relative
political and economic supremacy of the GCC members; the vacuum left by the incapacity and
reluctance of the Arab League to intervene in the Yemen Crisis and the vacuum being filled by
the GCC members proves that the Arab League had been inefficient in dealing with the Yemen
Crisis (Sandwick, 2019).
Violation of the Vows of the Arab League
The Arab League had also not condemned or prevented the violence and the war
preparations that Saudi Arabia had embarked upon by means of buying sophisticated weaponry
from foreign nations to unleash large scale destruction of Houthis in Yemen, which is a blatant
violation of the vow of peaceful settlement of conflicts acceded to by the member nations. Rather
the Arab League can be called to have encouraged Saudi Arabia and the statement of the chief of
the League Nabil Al Arabi that the Saudi attacks on Yemeni shall be continuing until the Houthis
surrendered makes it clear. The Arab League had been critical of the Houthis for their militancy
towards the Hadi Government, however it has never acknowledged the fact that Houthis had
taken up arms as a last resort. The aim is not to justify the violence on part of the Houthis as they
too had caused civilian unrest and casualties, however they could be prevented from growing

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violent had their grieveances as sectarian minorities been met. The rise of Houthi militancy is
thus rooted in the manhandling of the domestic affairs by the Yemeni government (Lackner,
2019).
Not just the lack of political competency, the Arab League had also failed to uphold the
human rights of the Yemeni civilians. The blocade imposed on Yemen by Saudi Arabia had
deprived the civilians of their basic necessities for survival. The Arab League members could
have provided for the logistical support necessary for the Yemeni civilians just like the Western
European nations did for West Germany when USSR had erected the Berlin Wall. However that
would have happened had the Arab League intervened, instead of being critical of Yemen and
the Houthis (Guidero & Hallward, 2019).
From the analytical discussion on the role of the Arab League in the Yemen Crisis it
becomes clear that it has been inefficient and incapable of upholding any of the goals it seeks to
achieve in the given context. Not only has the Arab League been inefficient, it has also violated
its own promises by letting the violence in Yemen proceed unchecked.
Conclusion
Thus due to economic and political weakness of the Arab League, owing to the fact that
majority of the members are weak, it has failed to mediate and solve the political problems in
Yemen. The League has not only been ineffective but also reluctant to solve the political
problem in Yemen and that had given the more powerful and richer GCC the opportunity to
intervene which had made Yemen feel betrayed as a member of the Arab League.

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