In the Middle Eastern country of Yemen, a battle is being fought leaving much destruction to infrastructure and hundreds of lives lost. Actually it is not so much of a battle as it is a total, one-sided bombardment of this country. This is an attempt from a U.N. sponsored, Saudi led coalition that is trying to persuade Houthi rebels into thinking reasonably and diplomatically by bombing them back into the Stone Age. In order to fully understand what brought the U.N. to a point of agreement on engagement of this operation, it is important to understand the recent history of Yemen and the events leading up to this conflict. Equally important is the geographic location of Yemen, the main actors fighting over this country and who directly benefits from this operation.
During the Arab spring of 2011, armed Yemeni forces removed then President Saleh from power. In 2012, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi ran unopposed for President and was elected. The Houthis are an authentic, legitimate party in the Yemeni government and have been trying to take control since early 2005. They were displeased with Hadi election and began to act rebellious. Former President Saleh saw this as an opportunity to regain Yemen and take Hadi down. With the help of his good friend and old neighbor Iran, Saleh started backing the Houthi and supplying them with equipment to wage war. Saleh still had much influence in Yemen and still controlled a large portion of their Army. This gave the Houthi yet another ally that was already strategically placed throughout Yemen. By Sept 2014, Houthi fighters had captured Yemen's capital, Sana'a and bested the Hadi government, causing much disruption within his administration. A peace deal was made but neither side kept their word or trusted each other and the next day, Hadi fled to the southern coastal state of Aden to set up a temporary capital and the Houthis confirmed their control over Sana'a.