I first went to Yemen 28 years ago. I was filming a documentary about the Ottoman wars in Yemen. We began filming from the port of Hodeidah and continued along the road to Sanaa, and I was astonished by what I saw. The changing climate and natural conditions were striking.
In Hodeidah, located on the coast, we saw the iron structures of houses corroding because of the humidity. As we travelled toward Sanaa, we suffered from the intense heat of the desert, and then felt the cold as we climbed through steep, rugged rocks. Sanaa, situated at an altitude of 2,500 metres, had a completely different climate and atmosphere.
Yemen was one of the most difficult and fascinating countries I had ever seen, particularly because of its geography. When a country’s geography is rugged, it imposes a particular way of life and a distinct style of warfare, peace and livelihood. The Ottomans faced great difficulties in Yemen.
When I went to Yemen in 1998, I saw crescents and stars painted on the sides of boats along the coast and on the walls of old houses. This was the design of the flag used during the Ottoman era.
While I was walking through the streets of Sanaa with an elderly man, he grabbed my arm and said: “You should not have left here, and we should not have fought you.”
Yemen deeply affected me during the week I spent there. Today, it is affecting the entire world.
I began the article with this introduction because the days I spent in Yemen came back to my mind as the Houthis took control of the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
Anyone who has never seen Yemen or does not know the Yemenis would find it very difficult to answer questions such as: What does fighting there mean? Under what circumstances are the confrontations taking place? And why is the Bab al-Mandab Strait important?When we add to this the geopolitical transformations and increasingly complex balances of power, analysing and understanding developments becomes even more difficult.
Unfortunately, the repercussions of the Iranian-American war sparked by Israel – first across the region and then around the world – have not diminished. Instead, they have expanded and are now affecting the entire world.After the Strait of Hormuz, growing risks to trade routes through Bab al-Mandab and the Red Sea are directly affecting energy prices and the economy. Even if the Houthis have not yet closed the waterway, the mere possibility that they could do so at any moment is enough to drive up prices and affect trade.
Anyone who knows the region well can also see the influence of different countries. It is an arena where Iran, which supports the Houthis, confronts the Yemeni government and its supporters, while the United States and Israel are indirectly involved in the events.Because of the Makkah Agreement, Türkiye and Pakistan have also begun to be mentioned as parties to this conflict. While some Houthi spokespeople have openly threatened Türkiye and Pakistan, statements concerning the conflict have also been issued by both countries.The question on everyone’s mind is: Will the Makkah Agreement become effective in this confrontation?
Immediately after missiles struck Saudi Arabia, reports published in Israeli, Iranian and American media suggested that there were parties seeking to kill the Makkah Agreement before it could even be born.The Makkah Agreement between Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan generated a major international response, particularly among countries opposed to it. Immediately after the Houthis targeted Saudi territory with missiles, media outlets hostile to the agreement used the attacks to promote the narrative that the absence of Turkish and Pakistani support for Riyadh had effectively killed the agreement before it could become operational.
It seems unreasonable to expect members of an alliance signed less than three months ago to enter a direct war because of it. Nevertheless, those countries used the Houthi attacks to score political points against the agreement.
During the Iranian war, when the Houthis launched missiles at Israel, the United States bombed their positions several times. This time, however, it did not do so, despite leaks circulated in the media claiming that Saudi Arabia had requested it.
[by Kemal Öztürk in Aljazeera]
Compiled and translated by Faizul Haque