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Abstract

The humanitarian situation induced in Yemen since 2015 is likely the event of our lifetimes by which future generations will judge our humanity. The paradox of this humanitarian catastrophe is that unlike other historical man-made disasters of comparable scale, the Yemeni catastrophe is happening before the eyes of the world, yet no one is taking full responsibility to resolve it. This is the outcome of a narrative which presents the situation in Yemen as resulting from a myriad of factors – mostly man-made, yet none of them fully deliberate. If something was not caused intentionally, it is more challenging to demand of those who are causing it to cease their actions. Yet, refusing to turn our heads away from this tragedy by convincing ourselves the disaster in Yemen is the result of a web of factors too complex to understand, is the least we owe to the Yemeni people. This study analyzes in-depth the actions of the Saudi-led Coalition, and in arguing this actor is most responsible for the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen, it does not really introduce many new highlights to the general understanding of this event. Nonetheless, its main contribution is in its introduction of a novel purpose, which it argues, drives Saudi actions in Yemen. This is the first study which interprets Saudi methods of warfare in Yemen as not stemming out of pure ‘military’ purposes related to the current (2014-) conflict, but from a historical Saudi perception of Yemen as a “demographic threat”. This Thesis demonstrates that if Saudi Arabia was pursuing its officially stated purposes for involvement, and/or other popularly embraced explanations of its goals in Yemen, we would have seen a different military strategy and methods of warfare, resulting in an outcome different from what we are seeing in Yemen after more than six years of Saudi engagement. Instead, the result of Saudi engagement in Yemen is the killing of an “entire generation of children” under five – which this study argues, is more compatible with a Saudi goal to induce a population decline, stemming from its perception of Yemen as a “demographic threat”, rather than being explainable with the Saudi desire to restore the Hadi government and protect its security.

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