One is in quiet exile. One was imprisoned and now lives in virtual house arrest. One remains in power, in a country shattered by war. Two met violent deaths.

The news on Monday that Yemen’s ex-president had been killed is not only a key moment in a country that is wracked by civil war, torn by a sectarian proxy struggle between Saudi Arabia and Iran and the home of what has been called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

It is also a reminder of the dashed hopes in the region, seven years after a fruit vendor’s self-immolation in Tunisia touched off what became known as the Arab Spring.