The political conflict in Yemen and its impact on the Bab al-Mandab

Abstract

Yemen is a country of strategic importance located in the Arabian Peninsula, overlooking the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and enjoying enormous economic potential thanks to its large workforce, long coastal line, and its agricultural and hydrocarbon resources.

As the Arab Sea region and its two strategic approaches, the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab, is a very vital area for the international maritime port, through which most of the international commercial and military shipping lines pass through it. This region has not recently led with its international strategic importance, rather it has always been so. The Suez Canal, in the middle of the nineteenth century, contributed to increasing the pace of international trade and shortening the maritime distance between Europe, India and the Far East. However, this was only an enhancement of the strategic importance inherited from ancient times. The Arab East is only a focal point in the lines of cultural and commercial relations, from As it is a crossroads between East and West.The focal points on global sailing lines were viewed as bottlenecks, especially for oil exports, which are the most important and dangerous at the present time, given that the Arab Gulf region is the main source of energy supplies in the world, given the passage of 61% of global energy supplies, i.e. what Equivalent to 58.9 million barrels per day out of the 96.7 million barrels total global energy demand.The Bab al-Mandab Strait ranks fourth after the Straits of Hormuz, Malaga and the Suez Canal, with a rate of 4.8% of the total international oil trade for the

year 2016, and there is also a reciprocal relationship between the straits  Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab from the direction of the maritime transport lines for oil supplies crossing from the region  The main export is in the Arab Gulf and to Europe in particular, and the Bab al-Mandab Strait exchanges the effect on the load ratio with the Cape of Good Hope corridor, as a good proportion of the cargo will be directed towards the Cape of Good Hope, in the event that something hinders navigation through the Bab al-Mandab or the Suez Canal occurs, as well. Dependent ratio Transit oil trade in the case of oil supply contracts (or liquefied gas with Europe to the north and south, and the United States of America through the Strait of Gibraltar).

The current Yemeni war represents multiple aspects of specifications and characteristics. It is a proxy war between Iran, whose face and tool the Houthis represent in the region, and Saudi Arabia, which has resorted to an Arab and Islamic coalition to end the Houthis since 2015, without achieving any success until the matter reached the Houthis to threaten Riyadh with missile strikes Not to mention the targeting of most of the air bases and camps in the western and southwestern regions.

The Houthi military action aims to confuse the Yemeni government and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which supports it, On all theaters of operations open between the two parties on land, sea and air, but known and ecognized

internationally On a large scale, the war in Yemen launched by Saudi Arabia against the Houthis is a proxy war waged by Saudi Arabia and Iran directly or through third parties, and the Houthis in Yemen, regardless of their. motives for the confrontation, fight with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries on behalf of Iran. The Yemeni civil war is one of its victims, the Yemeni citizen and the Arab national security, which has become like a torn sieve, with more holes and cracks than there are ties in it, the only loser is the Yemeni people and the unity of their country, and to preserve Arab national security in Bab al-Mandeb, a free duty force must be established In Bab al-Mandab, to exercise the right to visit and search. In order to end the conflict in Yemen and reach a solution that satisfies all parties, the two parties to the conflict must show flexibility and good intentions towards each of them, and sit at the negotiating table without preconditions or restrictions in order to preserve the national cohesion of the Yemeni people and not marginalize the Houthis, who constitute a large proportion of Yemeni society and the United Nations sponsor these negotiations on the condition that the negotiations take into account the profit and loss policy, as national unity and the security of the region have an impact on them as a result of this conflict.The research consists of an introduction and two topics. The first topic deals with: the legal and strategic importance of Bab al-Mandab, and the second topic deals with the political conflict in Yemen. Then we finished the discussion with a conclusion that included the most important conclusions that have been reached as well as the most important recommendations that can be made for the benefit of the political stakeholders.