This country is larger than France, borders the Red Sea, and is the birthplace of mocha coffee, but you must not go there

[This country is larger than France, borders the Red Sea, and is the origin of Mocha coffee, but you must not go there]

China Enterprises Think Tank, the first think tank for entrepreneurs:

The Republic of Yemen is located at the southwestern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, adjacent to Saudi Arabia and Oman, and bordering the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea.

Yemen, with an area of ​​550,000 square kilometers, is larger than mainland France and equivalent to twelve Netherlands, with a population of nearly 26 million;

Yemen is most famous for its Mocha coffee. For hundreds of years, the famous Yemeni coffee was mostly exported to countries around the world through the Yemeni port city of Mocha, so Yemeni coffee gradually became known as Mocha. For many years, Yemeni Mocha coffee has been considered the best coffee in the world.

Impression of Yemen: Either fighting or on the way to fighting. How did such a war-torn land come about? Is the root cause of the war history, religion, ideology or conflicts of interest? Today we will learn about the real cause of the Yemeni civil war.

At the beginning, the Yemeni civil war was a four-way battle between the "Islamic State", "Al-Qaeda", "government forces and multinational coalition" and the "Houthi armed forces". By the end of January this year, an armed force called the "Yemen Southern Transitional Council" suddenly took control of Yemen's temporary capital Aden after two days of fierce fighting, turning the "four-war zone" into a "five-way melee".

The fighting in Yemen seems to be getting more and more intense as the war gets more and more intense.

Key strategic location

The country has an extremely important geographical location, controlling the key waterway of the Mediterranean-Red Sea-Indian Ocean, bordering Saudi Arabia to the north, Oman to the east, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to the west, and the Gulf of Aden to the south. I don't know whether it is a blessing or a disaster to be born here. Maybe Yemen is just born to be strong, but it doesn't have the ability to become strong.

In the past, if the Japanese invaded Yemen by sea, they could push northward and occupy Mecca and Medina in western Saudi Arabia today. If they invaded Yemen by land, they could cross the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and further expand into East Africa. These two routes of conquest were actually staged in history.

Today, 11% of the world's oil trade passes through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait near Yemen and through the Suez Canal to enter European and North American markets.

Given Yemen's strategic location, both in the past and now, this dry land has never lacked competition and struggles among foreign countries. Ethiopia, the Arab Empire, Ottoman Turkey, and the British Empire have all invaded Yemen, and Yemen has been divided into South Yemen and North Yemen many times. Today's Yemeni melee is still shrouded in the shadow of foreign forces competing for the right to speak in the region. With wars and divisions from ancient times to the present, it is not easy for Yemen to integrate and progress.

Harsh natural conditions

Yemen, which is drought-stricken in most areas all year round, is not suitable for human survival. Of course, it is impossible for a strong unified country to be born in the region, let alone a splendid history and civilization. Most of its areas are like the above. Yemen has an area of ​​550,000 square kilometers, but only less than 3% of the land is arable. The average annual precipitation is only 50mm, and there is no permanent river in the whole territory. Such a thirsty land is home to 28 million people. The food production capacity is too little for a large population.

Agriculture is not good, industry is not developed, oil and gas resources are also very scarce and developed very late, iron, coal and copper mines are nowhere to be seen, the location is critical, industry and agriculture are backward, and there is no economy to speak of. At the same time, Yemen is also divided into different and weakly connected geographical spaces by deserts, mountains and plateaus. Such a place, being coveted by a circle of countries, it would be strange if it is not chaotic.

Religious Conflict

Most conflicts in the Middle East are closely related to religious disputes, and Yemen is one of them. From the picture, it seems that the two major sects in Yemen have a huge difference in power, but from the population point of view, Sunnis account for 52% and Shiites (Zaydis) account for 40%, which can be said to be evenly matched. In the Middle East where the relationship between Shiites and Sunnis is very tense, this is not a good thing. If one faction can gain an absolute advantage, there may be hope for peace. In this way, the situation where no one can do anything to the other is probably more terrifying.

The above basically explains the root causes of the Yemeni civil war. Let’s take a look at how many times Yemen has fought wars:

The North Yemen War began in 1962 and lasted for eight years. In the end, the Republicans supported by Egypt defeated the North Yemeni royal family supported by Saudi Arabia.

The South Yemen War, which began in 1963, lasted for four years. It was a war in which South Yemen resisted British colonial rule.

In 1986, civil war broke out again in South Yemen.

In 1994, the unified Yemen broke out into a civil war.

In 2015, the second Yemeni civil war broke out.