The 'Forgotten War' in Middle East That Mainstream Media Chooses to Overlook

The war in Yemen has resulted in 50 percent of the population living below the poverty line. However, compared to the Syrian conflict coverage, there are few reports floating around in the mainstream media about this catastrophic war.

The lack of mainstream media coverage on Yemen was discussed during a meeting between the deputy of the Council Committee of  the Federation on International Affairs, Vladimir Lukin, with one of the leaders of the party of “General National Congress of the Republic of Yemen,” Abu Bakr al Kirbi, according to the Parliamentary newspaper.

In an interview with Sputnik, Abu Bakr al-Kirbi said that the main purpose of the visit was to break the information blockade about what is actually happening in Yemen.

According to him, the Ansar Allah movement wants a peaceful solution to the conflict, although “they are credited with having an opposite position”. He further said that Houthis have accepted and supported the peace initiative of the US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Al-Kirbi said that he has no information about the UN peace initiative as until now there has been no official comment about it.

As for the statements of the representatives of the military coalition led by Saudi Arabia in particular the statements by Saudi General Ahmed al Asiri, the respondent told Sputnik that that “military always tries to present the situation somewhat different from the reality.”

According to al-Kirbi, Russian Foreign Ministry has well understood their position and together they agreed that the only way to resolve the conflict is through political means.

“The Security Council should develop a roadmap with the initiative of John Kerry. Five permanent members should come to some common decision to support this agreement,” al-Kirbi concluded.

Yemen has been engulfed in a military conflict between the government headed by Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and Shiite Houthi rebels, who have been supported by army units loyal to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

A Saudi-led coalition of mostly Persian Gulf countries has been engaged in an air campaign against the Houthis in Yemen since the beginning of the conflict in the spring of 2015.

Human rights groups and anti-war activists have been calling on the United States as well as the United Kingdom to stop selling weapons to Saudi Arabia because of the thousands of civilians being killed in the air campaign.