On this episode we discuss Yemen's escalating civil war between forces aligned with the Houthi movement and former president 'Ali 'Abdullah Saleh on one side, and Yemen's recently-ousted president 'Abdu Rabu Mansur Hadi and other regional factions on the other. On March 25, a coalition of foreign governments led by Saudi Arabia joined the war, launching hundreds of airstrikes against pro-Houthi and pro-Saleh forces. Hundreds of Yemenis have been killed so far, most of them civilians.
On March 29 we interviewed Yemeni freelance journalist (and Mafraj Blog contributor) Mohammed Ali Kalfood about the situation in San‘a.
On March 31 we spoke with Summer Nasser, a Yemeni-American living in Aden, on Yemen's southern coast. Since that interview, fighting in Aden has spread to all districts of the city, with pro-Houthi forces shelling civilian neighborhoods.
Summer is one of many Yemeni-Americans working to bring attention to the fact that the US government has done nothing to evacuate or aid American citizens trapped in Yemen. You can read more about that issue here. A group of Arab-American advocacy organizations have set up an online process to collect information about Americans in Yemen trying to get out.
You can find Ann Hironaka's book on intervention in civil wars, which Dana mentions in our third segment, here.
Check out our new campaign to bring attention to the human side of Yemen, #OurYemen.
Read more of our coverage of recent events in Yemen on our blog.