Sample Solution

A large majority of OPEC members such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt have large stake in Bab el-Mandeb and these other locations, which leads to massive tension when their stake is threatened as it was in 2015. 2015 marked the beginning of the ongoing war in Yemen that continues to impact oil prices today; the end is not in sight. The conflict is a result of a failed Arab Spring movement within Yemen in which the political transition from Ali Abdullah Saleh, an authoritarian president, to Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi; due to Hadi’s inability to fend off separatists, al-Qaeda, unemployment, poverty, starvation, corruption, Iran’s intervention on behalf of the Houthis, and a military that still held loyalties to Saleh, he failed to bring stability to the country and people of Yemen (Yemen Crisis).

The Houthis, a group of armed religious individuals who affiliate with the Zaidi Shia Muslim sect, took this transition period as the prime moment to strike. They had fought against President Saleh many times yet had failed (Yemen Crisis). This time around, they preyed on Hadi’s transitional weakness and gained control of Saada province and other areas of which surrounded the region. Then, the Houthis made a grab for control of the entirety of Yemen, which forced Hadi to seek refuge elsewhere in March of 2015. It is known that Iran has been backing the Houthi’s military and that the United States has recently poured $110 billion USD worth of arms into the Saudi Arabian military (Trump and Saudi Arabia). This Iranian backed instability incited Saudi Arabia and other countries such as UAE, Senegal, Sudan, Morocco, and Qatar, to bomb-strike with the hopes of Hadi regaining power and stability being renewed to Bab el-Mandeb. There have been many strikes since on both sides. At one point, Saudi Arabia tightened its blockade of Yemen even further due to a ballistic missile being fired with the intent of hitting Riyadh (Yemen C