User:Marii29/sandbox

Marib (Arabic: مَأْرِب, romanized: Maʾrib) is a governorate of Yemen, situated in the northeastern part of the country. It is part of Saba'a, one of the six regions of Yemen. The estimated distance separating the Marib governorate from the Yemeni capital, Sana'a, is 173 km. The city of Marib is the capital of the governorate. It houses almost half of the governorate's total population. It was established after the discovery of oil deposits in 1984.[2] The total number of residents living in the governorate was 238,522 according to the 2004 census, and the rate of growth was 2.72%.[3]

Historical context
When Islam first came to Yemen, it mostly took the form of Zaydism, a shia sect. It was not until the arrival of the Rasulids that Shafi'i Sunnism became popular. From there on, the two groups, Zaydis in the north and Rasulids in the South, started competing with each other. The state of rivalry was cut short by the fall of the Rasulid rule and the succession of imperialist powers’ involvements in the Middle East, notably the expansionist Ottoman empire.

The defeat of the Ottomans in the first World War eventually gave way to the first unification (although not complete) of Yemen. This was possible during the Hamid al-Din dynasty under Imam Yahya and his son’s rule. The unification also meant the establishment of a hierarchy within which Zaydis had authoritative power over Sunnis. As a consequence, the difference in status became instituted and normalized. The Hamid al-Din dynasty faced the Zaydis’ discontent due to a non-conformity to Zaydi traditions, thus coming to an end with the overthrow of Imam Yahya’s grandson, Imam Badr, in 1962. What followed was a civil war opposing republicans to royalists. Helen Lockner explains that such a division was not ideological; it was based on past feuds. Nonetheless, external powers like Saudi Arabia intervened for ideological motives, as the latter sought to maintain the monarchy system which it adhered to itself. Despite Saudi Arabia’s original intentions, in 1970, the republican form was retained.

While these developments took place in the North, liberation movements against British presence broke out, amounting to the creation of a socialist state, hence Soviet Union ally, in the Southern Arabian region. It was named the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY).

The PDRY was involved in the internal disputes of its northern counterpart. It had previously supported the republicans in fighting off Saudi Arabia's influence, but it was the Hamdi regime that was most notorious for its politices that aimed to reduce Saudi presence in Yemeni politics. His rule was, nonetheless, short-lived. A series of political unrest marked by the assassination of former presidents, led to Colonel Ali Abdullah Saleh’s rise to the presidency of the Yemen Arab Republic. Saleh’s rule lasted for 33 years. The major event that marked his regime was the unification of Yemen in 1990. His attempt was not entirely successful as a civil war broke out in 1994. However, he was able to come out of it victorious. Subsequently, the Republic of Yemen became constitutionally established.

Saleh tried to maintain his position through constitutional amendments, hoping for his son to take over, but strong opposition and protests pressured him out of office. Meanwhile, the group “Friends of Yemen” was created, initially to stop al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) after evidence pointed at it as the main perpetrator behind multiple attacks on US military bases and equipment. The “Friends of Yemen” group becomes more involved in Yemen during the Arab Spring following suit the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and United Nations recommendation to put the management of Yemen’s “crisis” in the hands of global actors.

Religious minorities
The US government estimates that religious minorities in Yemen constitute less than 1% of the population. They are categorized into four groups including Baha’is, Jews, Christians and Hindus. The Houthi movement has been said to be intolerant towards religious minorities. It was claimed that Houthis attachement to their own practices has lead to a discriminatory stance against other types of faiths present in territories that are under their control. The Baha’i International Community stated that a number of Baha’is were imprisoned by the Houthi for religious reasons.

In the province of Al-Bayda, AQAP was responsible for the execution of four people on January 10th, 2019. The justification given related to their atheist beliefs.

As of March 2020, the Jewish Cemetery in Aden was destroyed; as of April 2020, the fate of the last 50 Jews in Yemen was reported to be unknown. On 13 July 2020 it was reported that the Houthi Militia is capturing the last Jews of Yemen of the Kharif District. On 16 July 2020, five Jews were allowed to leave Yemen by the Houthi, leaving 33 Jews in the country. In July 2020, the Mona Relief reported on their website that as of 19 July 2020, of the Jewish population in Yemen there were only a "handful" of Jews in Sanaa. On 29 March 2021, the Iranian-backed Houthi government deported the last remaining Yemenite Jews to Egypt, ending the continuous presence of a community that dated back to antiquity.

United Nations response
The United Nations has been closely following the Yemeni war since its beginning. It has looked for solutions to alleviate security concerns in Yemen and stop the Hadi-Houthi conflict from escalating. The Peace and National Partnership Agreement in 2014 was its final attempt at quelling the dispute before it transformed into a war.

The United Nations representative Baroness Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said on 2 April 2015 that she was "extremely concerned" about the fate of civilians trapped in fierce fighting, after aid agencies reported 519 people killed and 1,700 injured in two weeks. The UN children's agency reported 62 children killed and 30 injured and also children being recruited as soldiers.

Russia called for "humanitarian pauses" in the coalition bombing campaign, bringing the idea before the United Nations Security Council in a 4 April emergency meeting. However, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United Nations questioned whether humanitarian pauses would be the best way of delivering humanitarian assistance.

On March 22, 2015, the UN declared its recognition of Hadi as the sole legitimate president and encouraged the peaceful resolution of the dispute. A few days later, Saudi Arabia intervened military with an air strike.

On 14 April 2015, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution placing sanctions on Abdul-Malik al-Houthi and Ahmed Ali Saleh, establishing an arms embargo on the Houthis, and calling on the Houthis to withdraw from Sanaʽa and other areas they seized. The Houthis condemned the UN resolution and called for mass protests.

Jamal Benomar, the UN envoy to Yemen who brokered the deal that ended Ali Abdullah Saleh's presidency during the 2011–12 revolution, resigned on 15 April. Mauritanian diplomat Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, formerly the head of the UN's Ebola response mission, was confirmed as the new UN Envoy to Yemen on 25 April. The Panel of Experts on Yemen mandated by the Security Council, UN submitted a 329-page report to the latter's president on 26 January 2018 denouncing the UAE, the Yemeni government and the Houthis for torturing civilians in the Yemeni conflict.

In December 2018, UN-sponsored talks between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed government were expected to start. The UN also started using its jets to carry wounded Houthi fighters out of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, to Oman, paving the way for planned peace talks after nearly four years of civil war.

According to United Nations, more than 3.6 million Yemenis have been displaced in the 5-year-old conflict. The World Food Programme, which feeds more than 12 million Yemenis needs more funding to continue the ongoing operations and ramp back up operations in the north. Without funding, 30 of 41 major aid programmes in Yemen would close in the next few weeks.

On 27 September 2020, the United Nations announced that the Iran-backed Houthi rebels and the Hadi government supported by the Saudi-led military coalition, agreed to exchange about 1,081 detainees and prisoners related to the conflict as part of a release plan reached in early 2020. The deal stated the release of 681 rebels along with 400 Hadi government forces, which included fifteen Saudis and four Sudanese. The deal was finalized after a week-long meeting held in Glion, Switzerland, co-chaired by UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths. The prisoner-swap deal was done by the UN during the 2018 peace talks in Sweden which produced the Stockholm Agreement. The latter was comprised of three major documents. The first one suggested the formation of a committee; the second called for the exchange of prisoners; the third aimed at creating the United Nations Mission to support the al-Hodeida Agreement (UNMHA). Both parties agreed on several measures including the cease-fire in the strategic port city of Hodeida. However, the implementation of the plan clashed with military offensives from Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition, which aggravated the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, leaving millions suffering medical and food supply shortages.

On 7 October 2022, the UN Human Rights Council adopted, without a vote, a futile resolution on Yemen that failed to establish a credible independent and impartial monitoring and accountability mechanism. The adoption came a year after the same body rejected the renewal of the mandate for the Group of Eminent Experts (GEE), an international, impartial, and independent body established by the Human Rights Council in 2017 that reported on rights violations and abuses in Yemen. The Houthis have long been accused of being proxies for Iran, since they both follow Shia Islam (although the Iranians are Twelve-Imam Shias and the Houthis are Zaydi Shia). The United States and Saudi Arabia have alleged that the Houthis receive weapons and training from Iran. While the Houthis and the Iranian government have denied any military affiliation, Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei openly announced his "spiritual" support of the movement in a personal meeting with the Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdul Salam in Tehran, in the midst of ongoing conflicts in Aden in 2019. Also, IRGC commander Nasser Shabani was quoted by the Fars News Agency, the semi-official news agency of the Iranian government, as saying, "We (IRGC) told Yemenis [Houthi rebels] to strike two Saudi oil tankers, and they did it," on 7 August 2018. The Eritrean government has also been accused of funneling Iranian material to the Houthis, as well as offering medical care for injured Houthi fighters. It has called the allegations "groundless" and said after the outbreak of open hostilities that it views the Yemeni crisis "as an internal matter". According to a secret United Nations document, North Korea had aided the Houthis by selling weapons.

Foreign involvement
Main article: Foreign involvement in the Yemeni Civil War

Houthi allies
In April 2015, United States National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan stated that: "It remains our assessment that Iran does not exert command and control over the Houthis in Yemen".

The Houthis have long been accused of being proxies for Iran, since they both follow Shia Islam (although the Iranians are Twelve-Imam Shias and the Houthis are Zaydi Shia). The United States and Saudi Arabia have alleged that the Houthis receive weapons and training from Iran. While the Houthis and the Iranian government have denied any military affiliation, Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei openly announced his "spiritual" support of the movement in a personal meeting with the Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdul Salam in Tehran, in the midst of ongoing conflicts in Aden in 2019. Also, IRGC commander Nasser Shabani was quoted by the Fars News Agency, the semi-official news agency of the Iranian government, as saying, "We (IRGC) told Yemenis [Houthi rebels] to strike two Saudi oil tankers, and they did it," on 7 August 2018. The Eritrean government has also been accused of funneling Iranian material to the Houthis, as well as offering medical care for injured Houthi fighters. However, it has called the allegations "groundless" and said after the outbreak of open hostilities that it views the Yemeni crisis "as an internal matter". According to a secret United Nations document, North Korea had aided the Houthis by selling weapons.

Yemeni government supporters
The Yemeni government meanwhile has enjoyed significant international backing from the United States and Persian Gulf monarchies. U.S. drone strikes were conducted regularly in Yemen during Hadi's presidency in Sanaa, usually targeting Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The United States was also a major supplier of weapons to the Yemeni government, although according to the Pentagon, hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of that material has gone missing since it was delivered. Saudi Arabia provided financial aid to Yemen until late 2014, when it suspended it amid the Houthis' takeover of Sanaʽa and increasing influence over the Yemeni government. According to Amnesty International, the United Kingdom also supplied weaponry used by Saudi-led coalition to strike targets in Yemen. Amnesty International also says that U.S.-based Raytheon Company supplied a laser-guided bomb that killed six civilians on 28 June 2019.

In May 2019, State Secretary Mike Pompeo announced an "emergency" to push through $8.1 billion of arms sales to Gulf allies like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan, citing Iranian activity in the Middle East. Despite widespread congressional opposition, an August 2020 report by the Office of Inspector General detailed that Pompeo complied with the legal prerequisites to do so. The report, however, also noted that the possible threat to the lives of the civilians caught in the crossfire was not assessed properly at the time of the emergency. The State Department was also accused in the report of violating the threshold of the Arms Export Control Act while approving arms sales to Gulf states.

In August 2020, confidential Saudi documents revealed the kingdom's strategy in Yemen. The 162 pages of classified Saudi documents dates back prior to 2015. The pages showed the kingdom's inaction in stopping the Houthis from capturing Sanaa, despite Saudi intelligence reports. The records also exposed that Saudi Arabia had worked to hamper the rebuilding projects commissioned by Germany and Qatar in Saada. This happened after the fighting between the two warring camps came to a halt due to a ceasefire.