The Fox Hunt by Mohammed Al Samawi

Author:Mohammed Al Samawi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2018-03-08T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Clear and Present Danger

The international community takes notice as conditions deteriorate

Image courtesy of the author

The morning of March 19 brought startling news: Saleh loyalists, allied with the Houthis against Hadi, had stormed the Aden International Airport. The fighting started early in the morning when Saleh’s special police force attacked pro-Hadi forces. Commercial planes were sprayed with gunfire, and at least two shells were dropped, killing three. In the end, though, the Houthis and Saleh loyalists took the base.

I felt sick. The fighting was miles from where I lived, but I couldn’t help but think of the people who’d been killed and injured. Three dead—was this the beginning or the end? I heard a warplane overhead, and I knew that we weren’t done with the grieving and the dying.

And for what? Was it just about north or south leadership, or were there bigger forces at place? If the Iranians were intervening on behalf of the Houthis, it was most likely at the behest of former president Saleh. Was this all for Saleh, or was this a fight between Saudi Arabia and Iran? And what interests did Russia, the United States, and China have in the outcome?

Was this a military battle, or a war against civilians? Sana’a was of strategic importance. What would happen to my parents and siblings if the fighting intensified there? Almost two million people lived in the area. One stray bomb or shell could wipe out entire families.

And for what?

* * *

I contacted my program manager at Oxfam to find out what the situation was like at the office. He’d been away on holiday the entirety of my three-day tenure, but I figured that I should take him up on his previous offer to let him know if he could be of any assistance.

“Things are okay here. The Houthis will be coming, but it’s nothing to worry about,” he said with a move-along-nothing-to-see-here attitude. “They’ll take the city in twenty-four hours. Things will be calm again.”

I wasn’t certain if he was even back in Aden. How could he assess the situation clearly? But I didn’t want to press him too much and make a bad impression, so I hung up without asking him any follow-up. I’d been at Oxfam so briefly and taken the job under such hurried circumstances, I had no idea how long the man had even been in Yemen, for that matter. For all I knew, he had just come here from his home country of Sudan. Given what I knew about Sudan and its upheavals and struggles, the man’s nonchalance was hard-earned and a necessary survival tool, but I wanted a better on-the-ground view of the situation.

So I called Aidroos, the driver who’d shown me around.

“Mr. Mohammed, I’m very sorry, but I will not be able to come to get you to the office. I cannot leave my house. I’m in Al-Ma’ala; there is fighting here.”

I thanked him and hesitated before wishing him well. I didn’t want him to think that I was frightened on his behalf.

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