Editorial

Editorial October 28, 2025 02:57 MIN July-September 2025 A Lawless Land: Government Factions Must Impose Order or Risk Losing Legitimacy The assassination of Taiz official Iftehan al-Mashhari in broad daylight is the starkest example yet of how political violence and impunity have taken root in the territories under the control of the Yemeni government. Her killing is the latest in a series of assassinations targeting those who threaten the financial interests of powerful warlords who have entrenched their positions during the conflict. These militants flout the law, carry out extrajudicial killings, and terrorize residents, while the nominal authorities either provide them with political cover or turn a blind eye. This pattern of lawlessness has persisted for over a decade. It is a direct consequence of the government’s failure to restrain affiliated armed groups and maintain law and order, undermining its… Continue reading Editorial July 22, 2025 03:25 MIN April-June 2025 Yemenis Deserve Leaders Who Will Put Their Interests First Yemen’s ongoing economic collapse is a tragedy starring a myriad of actors, none of them innocent. The situation has become even more dire in recent weeks amid delays in anticipated financial support from Saudi Arabia for the government of recently-appointed Prime Minister Salem bin Breik, and as the Houthis create an even more repressive environment for humanitarian organizations, civil society groups, and financial institutions. As successive political and economic disasters feed into each other, it’s as if the government and the Houthis are competing over who can better fail the Yemeni people. Since the Saudi-sponsored, UN-backed truce officially ended in October 2022, hopes for a gradual return to economic normalcy, or at least steps toward recovery, have been repeatedly dashed.… Continue reading Editorial April 17, 2025 03:51 MIN January-March 2025 Yemen’s Fragile Stalemate is Starting to Crack The war in Yemen has entered a new, uncertain phase. Over seven years of fighting came to a relative halt in 2022 with a UN-backed truce that cemented the stalemate on the ground. Subsequent Saudi-Houthi talks to normalize ties and launch a Yemeni-Yemeni peace process were upended by the Houthis’ response to the Gaza war, as the group began launching drone and missile attacks on Israel and shipping in the Red Sea. Now, US President Donald Trump has returned to office guns blazing, relaunching the Biden administration’s anti-Houthi military campaign with a gusto that has raised the hopes of some parties that the rebel group could be brought to its knees. But even if Houthi power survives intact, the consequences… Continue reading Editorial February 4, 2025 03:09 MIN October-December 2024 A Last Chance to Tackle Corruption Yemenis have always known that the country’s politics are riven with corruption, but there’s nothing quite like scandalous revelations in the press to bring the point home. Tensions between the prime minister and president and a prolonged standoff between two veteran bureaucrats seem to have been the catalyst for a flood of media leaks that have dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s for observers and ordinary citizens alike on the deep corruption afflicting the state. News media has published details from leaked official reports detailing corruption in the telecoms sector, lavish spending at the consulate in Jeddah and other diplomatic missions, and the establishment of a US$2.8 billion commercial entity in an Omani duty-free zone by state oil firm… Continue reading Editorial October 16, 2024 03:48 MIN Quarterly: July-September 2024 Yemen’s Neglected Climate Crisis Severe storms and flooding have wreaked havoc in Yemen since July, affecting over 560,000 people across the country and causing extensive damage to agriculture and infrastructure. Tens of thousands – including displaced persons – have been left without shelter and clean water in Ibb, Sana’a, Marib, Hudaydah, Al-Mahwit, and Taiz. While there is no final tally as yet of the hundreds of lives lost, now there is concern over the spread of waterborne diseases like cholera. Dead bodies are being pulled out from rubble, under trees, or, in one case of a woman clutching her child in Melhan district in Al-Mahwit governorate, buried in mud – a haunting image that captures the weight of this tragedy. The extreme downpours have… Continue reading Editorial July 2, 2024 03:09 MIN Quarterly: April-June 2024 The Houthi Crackdown on Yemeni Voices and Civil Society: Silence is Not an Option The arrests of dozens of Yemeni aid and NGO workers in recent weeks on allegations of spying for the United States and Israel is no run-of-the-mill crackdown on civil society, but an unprecedented assault that breaks the social norms of political engagement in Yemeni culture. Never have the repressive practices of previous regimes stooped to rounding up dozens of employees of local and international aid organizations that had been working with official approval for years, including the UN, World Bank, and foreign embassies. Whole families, including children, are being held. A series of dramatic TV ‘confessions’ have been aired, humiliating Yemenis who have been in incommunicado detention without formal indictments. After years of serving the country diligently for the sake… Continue reading Editorial April 9, 2024 03:58 MIN Quarterly: January-March 2024 Protect Yemen’s Path to Peace Just six months ago, backchannel Saudi-Houthi peace talks were nearing their conclusion. The basic outlines of a deal were known to government parties and the external players involved in the Yemeni crisis. Many objected to its terms, but Saudi Arabia’s stranglehold over the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) made it feel like a fait accompli. Members of the PLC doubted that the Houthis would ever invite them back into a unified government, except in the most superficial manner. The Southern Transitional Council (STC) feared that the right to self-determination in areas of the former southern state would slip down the agenda. The US, which had been pushing for Saudi Arabia to end the war since 2021, became nervous that Riyadh was… Continue reading Editorial December 27, 2023 03:45 MIN November and December 2023 Red Sea Conflict Gambles with Yemen’s Future With a series of drone and missile attacks targeting Israel and international shipping in the Red Sea, the Houthis seem to have succeeded in their long-held ambition to exercise regional power. The scale and impact of Houthi operations seems to have surprised some observers, who still tend to dismiss the group despite its survival through almost a decade of war against a US-backed Saudi and UAE military campaign. It’s hard to deny that Houthi operations are gaining them plaudits across the Arab and Muslim world. While it’s not surprising that the authorities in Sana’a can mobilize thousands of people for weekly demonstrations in solidarity with Gaza, even domestic adversaries are praising the group. As one senior pro-government military commander recently… Continue reading Editorial November 20, 2023 03:36 MIN September and October 2023 Blackouts and Blackholes: Yemen’s Vanishing Electricity Supply One of the most visceral signs of state collapse in Yemen isn’t frontline fighting or food insecurity – it’s the inability of the internationally recognized government to provide electricity. For several years now, the approach of summer has meant bracing for extended blackouts in many parts of the country. With the intense heat and humidity, life becomes almost unbearable for millions of people, and puts the sick and elderly at risk of death. Even as of late October, residents of Aden were getting only two hours of electricity a day due to a shortage of fuel for power plants. By contrast, although Yemenis living in Houthi-run territories are subject to many deprivations, a lack of electricity is not one of… Continue reading Editorial September 14, 2023 04:21 MIN August 2023 In Gulf Rivalry, Yemen is Collateral Damage Recent revelations of bad blood between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates confirm what observers of Yemeni politics have long known – that the relationship between the two countries leading the military campaign to restore the internationally recognized government has deteriorated to an alarming degree. On the ground, the rift is contributing to political and economic instability, and escalating conflict between the Gulf powers’ respective proxy forces. The Wall Street Journal recently reported Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) stunned journalists at an off-the-record briefing by describing the UAE as having “stabbed us (Saudi Arabia) in the back,” and threatened to take action, echoing its 2017 boycott of Qatar. The diplomatic embargo and economic blockade of Doha failed, but… Continue reading Editorial June 22, 2023 03:54 MIN May 2023 No Freedom Without Press Freedom The release of journalists from Houthi prisons in April has given the government the opportunity to vaunt its commitment to human rights, specifically the cause of press freedom. Four of the prisoners – Tawfiq al-Mansouri, Abdelkhaliq Amran, Al-Harith Hamid, and Akram al-Walidi – were sentenced to death by Houthi authorities on charges of spying for the Saudi-led coalition. Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) leader Rashad al-Alimi later hosted them in Aden in May, in a meeting hailed by pro-government media as a turning point in its rights discourse. Al-Alimi used the occasion to lean into the language of restorative justice, one of the thorniest questions of future peace talks. In widely reported comments, he told the group that he would direct… Continue reading Editorial May 15, 2023 03:25 MIN April 2023 The Risk of a Flawed Peace As direct Saudi-Houthi talks inch toward a roadmap for comprehensive negotiations followed by a permanent ceasefire, it is crucial that the process of resolution be based on a firm footing. We do not need to look far back into Yemen’s past to appreciate the danger of losing the peace, when missteps in the delicate diplomatic dance that brings de-escalation and rapprochement end up opening the door to more rounds of bloodletting. Sadly that was the fate of the 2011 protests and their aftermath. When the government of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh failed to crush a popular uprising against his rule, the Gulf Cooperation Council sponsored a peace process that saw Saleh step aside in favor of his deputy Abdo… Continue reading