Last week, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen killed 68 civilians in a single day with two airstrikes. The first, on a bustling market in southwest Yemen, claimed 54 lives; the second wiped out 14 members of a single family. The military justification for the attacks is tenuous. The marketplace, near no established military base, is in the proximity of recent government-Houthi clashes – ostensibly, it was struck in a wild attempt to eliminate enemy fighters. There is no definitive information yet regarding the strategic significance of the second strike.

Such drastic loss of civilian life has, of course, been met with the usual parade of impotent opinions. The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick, emphasized that “these incidents prove the complete disregard for human life that all parties, including the Saudi-led Coalition, continue to show in this absurd war” and “[reminded] all parties to the conflict … of their obligations under International Humanitarian Law to spare civilians and civilian infrastructure.”

The blatant disinterest in civilian welfare displayed by both sides of the conflict, so obviously reprehensible, is not worthy of deep consideration. Putting egregious human rights abuses aside, who holds legitimacy in this conflict? On the one hand, there are the Houthis, who, betraying a sophisticated understanding of Middle Eastern politics, live by the creed: “God is great, death to the U.S., death to Israel, curse the Jews, and victory for Islam.” They were, until his recent death, allied with ex-Yemeni dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh, who misappropriated billions of state dollars during his tenure.

On the other hand, there is the internationally-recognized government of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi that was turfed out of the capital by the Houthis in 2015. Under the guise of preserving legitimacy, the Saudis have supported Hadi forces since the beginning of the war. Their motives are far from pure: the Saudis, fearing the rising regional influence of Iran, their traditional foe, seek to crush the Houthis, whom they believe to be Iranian proxies. In the process they have likely committed war crimes – the UN, Human Rights Watch, and Médecins Sans Frontières have all accused the Saudis of deliberately targeting civilians.

It is apparent that the Hadi government’s agenda is the only one possessing even a shred of legitimacy, but the government’s cause has been perverted by the incomprehensibly selfish agenda of the Saudis. The Saudi intervention, alongside the Houthis, has triggered one of the worst degradations of human welfare in modern history: the UN has labelled the situation the “world’s largest humanitarian crisis.” The World Food Programme stated this year that around 60% of Yemen’s population is “food insecure,” and 24% is severely so. Over three million people are internally displaced, and, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross, over one million people have contracted cholera. We can attribute blame to both major parties to the dispute, as both have discarded their humanity.

The 68 killed last week are unfortunately not outliers: the conflict has been defined by civilian suffering. The Houthis are untameable, and the Saudis are protected diplomatically by powerful friends, most notably the United States. Citizens of the U.S. should apply domestic political pressure to their leaders in an attempt to shift U.S. policy away from Saudi support. In the meantime, the war continues to be fought and the citizens of Yemen continue to suffer.