View from Yemen: Violence, Siege, Prospects for Peace

Children play near damaged buildings in the Al-Ora's neighborhood of Zinjibar. (Photo: UNHCR/A.Al-Sharif)

View from Yemen: Violence, Siege, Prospects for Peace

'Its really a very grave situation here in Yemen,' warns journalist Sharif Kouddous.

After more than two months of war and an increasingly dire humanitarian crisis that has become lost in the global news cycle, independent journalist Sharif Abdel Kouddous reports Tuesday from the ground in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa to offer an up-close look at the devastation.

Speaking with Democracy Now! on Tuesday, Kouddous warned that Yemenis face rising food costs, declining economic life, failing infrastructure, and mounting civilian casualties amid daily bombings and "vicious street battles." He warns, "Its really a very grave situation here in Yemen."

We Interrupt This Article with an Urgent Message!

Common Dreams is a not-for-profit news service. All of our content is free to you - no subscriptions; no ads. We are funded by donations from our readers. This media model only works if enough readers pitch in. We have millions of readers every month and, it seems, too many take our survival for granted. It isn't. Our critical Mid-Year fundraiser is going very slow - only 598 readers have contributed a total of $23,000 so far. We must raise $27,000 more before we can end this fundraising campaign and get back to focusing on what we do best.
If you support Common Dreams and you want us to survive, we need you.
Please make a tax-deductible gift to our Mid-Year Fundraiser now!

In his recent report for Foreign Policy, Kouddous noted a marked shift in the war: "Since the beginning of June, analysts and residents in the capital say, the bombing campaign has entered a new phase: Planes have begun targeting the homes of Saudi Arabia's enemies, rather than just military targets. Civilians have found themselves increasingly caught in the crossfire."

The Democracy Now! interview with Kouddous, as well as Wall Street Journal correspondent Joe Lauria, is available below:

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.