Yemen Stampede

In recent years, 150,000 Yemeni have died due to the war between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia. This conflict began in around 2015, and has since hospitalized millions of innocent Yemeni civilians. In 2014, Houthis took control of Yemen’s government, backed by the country of Iran. This is what prompted Saudi Arabia to step in, and attempt to restore the government. These events are basically what lead to the proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia. According to the U.N., over 21 million people in Yemen need some sort of help or protection, and there are millions more at threat. The United Nations also has a goal of 4.3 billion dollars they want to raise for Yemen, but as of February, they have only raised 1.2 billion.

Nearly 80 Yemenis died after a stampede at a charity event for Ramadan. Late Wednesday, a crowd was startled by an electrical explosion.Dozens of people began to stampede, killing 78 and injuring 73. Besides Yemen’s long running war, this has been one of the country’s most unfortunate tragedies in years. This tragedy came right before the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan. A graphic video on social media shows dozens of people screaming, with bodies on the floor. Two local business men from Yemen, who orchestrated this charity event, have been arrested and are under investigation. The explosion was allegedly caused  by a gunshot sent into an electrical wire. The gunshot was fired by a Houthi, in an attempt to control the crowd. The Houthis are an Islamist political and armed organization founded by Hussein al-Houthi in 1992. The Houthis were apparently only trying to control the chaos of the charity event.