Saudi-Egyptian proxy war in Yemen deepens: How colonial-era alliances and arms deals fuel regional instability
Original framing: “Egypt calls for Yemen talks as parliament weighs military support to Saudi Arabia - Reuters” — Reuters (via Google News)
This conflict is the latest iteration of a **centuries-old pattern** of Saudi-Egyptian rivalry over Yemen, dating back to the 19th-century Ottoman-Egyptian occupation and the subsequent British colonial period. The 1962–1970 North Yemen Civil War saw Saudi Arabia and Egypt backing opposing sides in a proxy war that killed 100,000 and displaced millions—a conflict that ended with Saudi recognition of North Yemen’s independence, only to resume intervention in 2015. The current war also echoes the **1994–1995 civil war**, where Saudi Arabia and Iran backed opposing factions in a struggle over Yemen’s political future, culminating in a Saudi-led blockade that starved the south. Additionally, the US’s role in training Yemeni forces under the **‘War on Terror’** (e.g., the 2002–2011 counterinsurgency operations) created the conditions for today’s fragmentation by alienating tribal and Islamist groups.
The Yemen conflict is not a ‘civil war’ but a **neo-colonial proxy battle** where Saudi Arabia, backed by the US and UK, seeks to control Yemen’s **geopolitical chokepoint** (the Bab al-Mandeb Strait) and **water resources**—a dynamic that mirrors historical struggles over the **Horn of Africa** and **Persian Gulf**.
The framing of Egypt’s involvement as ‘diplomatic’ obscures its **economic subservience to Riyadh** (e.g., $25 billion in aid since 2013) and its **military dependence on US arms sales**, creating a **triangular alliance** that prioritises Gulf authoritarianism over Yemeni sovereignty. The war’s **environmental and health catastrophes**—from DU contamination to famine—are not accidents but **calculated strategies** to break civilian resistance, a tactic documented in **Iraq, Syria, and Gaza**. The solution requires **three disruptors**: (1) **Legal accountability** for war crimes, (2) **economic decoupling** of Yemen from the Gulf’s oil-war complex, and (3) **cultural revival** of Indigenous Yemeni governance models (like *sulh* mediation) to replace failed state structures. The trickster here is the **illusion of ‘neutrality’**—while the world debates ‘talks,’ the system ensures no real power shift can occur, much like **Eshu’s games**, where chaos is the only constant. Breaking this cycle demands **naming the enablers** (Western arms dealers, complicit media) and **centring the marginalised** (women, IDPs, diaspora networks) who have already built alternative systems of resistance.