Publications

Yemen Review section February 4, 2025 22:54 MIN October-December 2024 The Economy — The Yemen Review, October-December 2024 By Wadhah Al-Awlaqi, and Aylin Junga Yemen is experiencing a severe economic downturn as it tries to navigate long-term fiscal challenges. A World Bank report on Fiscal Vulnerabilities in Low-Income Countries released in late November highlighted Yemen’s dire fiscal situation as among the worst in the world. The World Bank’s Yemen Monitor for Spring 2024 noted that the current crisis is caused by plummeting oil and customs revenues, which had long been the backbone of Yemen’s economy. The government has also forcefully cut down fiscal expenditures, limiting the provision of essential services and jeopardizing sustainable economic development and growth. Despite attempts to address these challenges by centralizing financial control, the government’s fiscal health remains precarious. Many employees have received their salaries late. Limited Saudi support, tainted… Continue reading Analysis February 4, 2025 09:13 MIN October-December 2024 A Year in Patriarchy: Key Setbacks in Yemeni Women’s Rights in 2024 By Bilqees Al-Lahbi, Rim Mugahed, and Lara Uhlenhaut Away from the Red Sea crisis that dominated the headlines of 2024, the space for female political and social actors in Yemen has continued to shrink, largely unchecked. Today, the distinction between the repression in areas controlled by the Houthis and those under the internationally recognized government is becoming increasingly blurred. In Houthi-controlled areas, a campaign of terrifying arrests of civil society actors that started last June and continues to date has seen various female activists and peace workers targeted, some of whom are languishing in prisons incommunicado under dire conditions. In areas under government control, polarization and conflict among the various political factions are primarily to blame for undermining women’s rights. Political partisanship and a policy of divide and… Continue reading Analysis February 4, 2025 05:36 MIN October-December 2024 Israel’s Calculations in Responding to the Houthis By Salah Ali Salah Tit-for-tat operations have seen a surge in missile and drone attacks launched by the Houthis toward Israel as part of what the group calls the fifth phase of escalation in support of Gaza. The conflict has cast a wide net over both parties and continues to evolve gradually. Israel has carried out retaliatory airstrikes inside Yemen in response to Houthi attacks. Yet the efficacy of their airstrikes thus far has failed to have any tangible impact, as the Houthis have gained considerable experience in withstanding aerial targeting in recent years. The nature of Israeli targets in Yemen also differs significantly from those struck by the United States and the United Kingdom. While US and UK strikes have predominantly focused on… Continue reading The Yemen Review February 4, 2025 12 Sections The Yemen Review Quarterly: October-December 2024 Houthi leader Abdelmalek al-Houthi sought to reposition his movement as the head of the Iran-led Axis of Resistance. Israel’s destruction of Gaza and attacks on Lebanon’s Hezbollah, including the killing of its influential leader, Hassan Nasrallah, have left the alliance weakened, a point underscored by the rapid fall of the Assad regime in Syria. Iran has tried to avoid direct conflict with Israel and the West, leaving the Houthis as the only undiminished group continuing to fight. Abdelmalek has increasingly spoken as if on behalf of the entire alliance, condemning the war in Gaza and chastising Saudi Arabia for pursuing normalization with Israel. The Houthis dissolved their Supreme Council for the Management and Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and International Cooperation… Continue reading Publications January 22, 2025 26:32 MIN Forgotten Victims of Yemen’s War: The Plight of the Muhammashat By Mohammed al-Harbi Members of the muhammasheen community remain among the most vulnerable victims of systemic injustice and suffering in Yemen, a situation made worse by the war. Ostracized and disparaged, the community’s women and girls (muhammashat) are particularly vulnerable. The nature of their work, which commonly entails begging, street-sweeping, and vending, brings them into public spaces, putting them at risk of exploitation, including sexual and gender-based violence. As the upheaval of war in Yemen disrupts law enforcement and customary norms, and many men from this community have either lost their jobs or joined the frontlines, reports of muhammashat experiencing harassment and sexual abuse are on the increase while perpetrators continue to act with impunity. Based on interviews with local activists, researchers, lawyers,… Continue reading Main Publications January 6, 2025 31:12 MIN Mahrah University: Paving the Way for Workforce Transformation By Tawfeek Al-Ganad, and Lara Uhlenhaut For decades, Yemen’s higher education system has been characterized by a persistent mismatch between graduates’ skills and the changing requirements of the market. The last labor force survey carried out in 2014 showed that less than one-third of Yemen’s labor force had secondary or tertiary education, and a qualification mismatch was found among some 83 percent of the employed population. Yemen’s struggle to produce a skilled workforce can be attributed to many factors, including inflexible curriculums, outdated teaching methods, failure to adapt to technological advancements, and a lack of strategic vision for admissions and curriculum development. Undoubtedly, the historical absence of a unified and coordinated vision for higher education has been exacerbated by a decade-long war and its detrimental impact… Continue reading News December 18, 2024 01:49 MIN Regional Workshop Discusses Red Sea Tensions Amid Houthi Attacks On December 16, two days of strategic dialogue aimed at building regional stability concluded in Amman, Jordan. The Sana'a Center for Strategic Studies partnered with the Folke Bernadotte Academy, the Swedish agency for peace, security, and development, to discuss persistent security risks along the Red Sea coast and the Horn of Africa. Since November 2, 2023, Houthi forces have carried out sustained attacks against Red Sea shipping. These have triggered retaliation from a US-led coalition, including airstrikes within Yemeni territory. Israel has also responded to Houthi drone and missile strikes by targeting ports and energy facilities, escalating the intensity of the conflict. These have created a series of geopolitical consequences affecting countries bordering the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, and… Continue reading Main Publications December 9, 2024 29:01 MIN Rescuing Yemen’s Economy By Ned Whalley, and Wadhah Al-Awlaqi A political crisis has wracked the interim capital of Aden as the internationally recognized government struggles to deal with the plummeting Yemeni rial. The currency now trades at over YR2,000 to the dollar, having lost over a third of its value since the year began. Riven by political infighting and lacking the vision or tools to arrest the slide, an acute economic collapse appears imminent if significant and sustained financial support does not arrive. Both short- and long-term factors have put downward pressure on the currency. The roots of the problem are difficult to unpick from Yemen’s troubled pre-war economy, the stressors and destruction of the conflict, and the broader economic downturn that has accompanied it over the past decade,… Continue reading Publications December 3, 2024 04:09 MIN Book Review: Yemen in the Shadow of Transition By Yasmeen al-Eryani This review was originally published in the British Yemeni Society Journal. Yemen in the Shadow of Transition: Pursuing Justice Amid War By Stacey Philbrick Yadav Available for purchase here. This book stands as one of the most significant contributions to understanding contemporary Yemen, offering a dense analysis of events from the 1990s to the present and a grounded examination of the day-to-day challenges of peacebuilding in the context of a protracted war. As Yemen undergoes a radical reshaping of its sociopolitical dynamics, with escalating violence and unresolved historical grievances, the author argues convincingly that justice – broadly defined – is not a luxury to be deferred until after a political settlement but a crucial precondition for any enduring peace. When… Continue reading Publications December 3, 2024 03:54 MIN Book Review: Tribes in Yemen: An Anthology By Maysaa Shuja Al-Deen This review was originally published in the British Yemeni Society Journal. Tribes in Yemen: An Anthology Marieke Brandt (ed.) Ebook open access here. Tribes in Yemen: An Anthology, based on a workshop organized by Dr. Marieke Brandt in 2018, aims to rethink and update research on tribes and tribalism, reconnect the scholarly discourse with the present situation in Yemen, and provide new input to the discussion of tribalism in the Middle East, more broadly. It has achieved these objectives thanks to the distinguished scholars whose research has contributed so much to understanding tribalism in Yemen. Dr. Brandt introduces the book with a brief discussion of the term “qabilah” or “tribe” as a social concept in the western context and how… Continue reading News November 27, 2024 02:02 MIN Climate finance mobilization workshop concludes in Amman A workshop focused on climate finance mobilization mechanisms and strategies relevant to Yemen concluded on Tuesday, November 26, in Amman, Jordan. Held as part of the Rethinking Yemen’s Economy (RYE) Initiative, the Sana’a Center implemented the climate finance workshop aimed at addressing Yemen’s urgent need for funding as the nation faces escalating climate shocks. Climate scientists first began warning of Yemen’s dangerously erratic rainfall patterns nearly 50 years ago. In recent years, the country has witnessed more extreme weather events, including flash floods that swept away vital infrastructure, unearthed unexploded ordinances, destroyed homes, displaced thousands, and contaminated water supplies, contributing to a cholera outbreak. In 2024, flooding in Yemen killed around a hundred people and affected more than half a… Continue reading Publications November 7, 2024 07:17 MIN The New US Administration and Yemen By Abdulghani Al-Iryani Almost four years ago, the incoming Biden administration, deeming peace in Yemen as low-hanging fruit, declared the ending of its war to be a top priority and appointed Special Envoy Tim Lenderking, a veteran of the State Department and competent diplomat, to reap that fruit. At the start of the conflict, the US backed the Saudi-led coalition with arms, intelligence, and logistical support, before pulling back slightly as the campaign against the Houthis turned into a years-long military stalemate and a humanitarian disaster for Yemen. By early 2021, the Houthis began to advance again into government-held territory and cemented themselves as a national security threat to Saudi Arabia via continued cross-border attacks. Well-designed strategic Iranian support, which grew as the… Continue reading