lSince ancient times, military blockades and sieges have conveyed violent representations of deprivation, famine and certain death. This is attested to by the inhabitants of Sarajevo, who suffered one of the longest contemporary sieges by Serbian forces between April 1992 and February 1996, with the deaths of at least 12,000 civilians. Although regulated by international humanitarian law, which has attempted to suppress the sieges since the end of the 19th century,my Although a century has passed since humanizing war without preventing it, these two often complementary tactics remain relevant today and still create intentional humanitarian crises where civilians pay a heavy price.
The blockade of Yemen in 2015 and the siege of Mariupol in 2022 are a recent illustration of the utopian character of this international legislation, although it remains necessary in many conflicts. The Gaza Strip, for its part, has the particularity of having suffered a blockade since 2007, followed by a still active siege that began in October 2023, a deadly double sword for civilians whom the law strives to protect.
A blockade is a measure by which one or more states seek to isolate a geographic area in order to force it into submission by depriving it of the resources necessary for its survival. It may take the form of military controls at entry and exit points and economic measures through the imposition of sanctions. Unlike a siege, which is characterized by encirclement, isolation, and attacks intended to destroy resistance, a blockade seeks to suffocate the target in a broader and more indirect manner.
Suffocation strategy
This is an act of war regulated by international humanitarian law, which obliges States to allow, however, the free passage of humanitarian and impartial aid essential to the survival of civilians. Sieges are illegal if they do not respect medical facilities and if there is no agreement on the evacuation of the wounded and sick, children and pregnant women. Furthermore, starvation must not be used as a weapon of war and humanitarian aid must be authorized to respond to the excessive deprivation of civilians.
The example of a recent blockade is the one imposed on the territories controlled by the Houthi militias in Yemen in 2015 by an international coalition in favour of loyalist forces led by Saudi Arabia, with the support of France, the United Kingdom and the United States. This military strategy aimed at weakening the enemy has drastically deteriorated the living conditions of Yemeni civilians, causing a severe food crisis for 17 million people, including 500,000 severely malnourished children. The war also destroyed half of the country’s health systems, making access to care difficult. The cholera epidemic that hit in 2016 illustrates the scale of the resulting humanitarian crisis. International NGOs called for an end to this strategy of suffocation and collective punishment, while deliberate attacks on health infrastructure prevented an adequate humanitarian response.
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