Egypt

Analysis December 12, 2025 11:09 MIN The STC Moves Into Eastern Yemen – Reaction from Sana’a Center Experts By Hussam Radman, Yasmeen al-Eryani, Abdulghani Al-Iryani, and Maysaa Shuja Al-Deen In early December, armed forces affiliated with the secessionist, UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) seized control of Hadramawt and Al-Mahra, displacing tribal forces led by Amr Bin Habrish and 1st Military Region army units affiliated with the Islah party. With its eastward expansion, the STC now controls nearly all of the territory of the former South Yemen state, including its most productive oil fields. The takeover has ushered in a new phase of the Yemen conflict, with the potential for territorial lines to be redrawn and the regional balance of power now in flux. Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) chief Rashad al-Alimi and Prime Minister Salem bin Breik have left the interim capital for Saudi Arabia, where they have held a… Continue reading Main Publications December 11, 2025 03:03 MIN Energy Transition in Yemen: A Path to Justice and Sustainable Development By Abeer Al-Eryani, and Musaed Aklan Yemen’s energy sector is currently facing a severe crisis. For millions of Yemenis, accessing reliable electricity is a daily struggle, characterized by prolonged blackouts, limited fuel supplies, and deteriorating infrastructure, which in turn exacerbate the country's humanitarian conditions. This policy brief underscores the importance of a just and conflict-sensitive energy transition in Yemen, addressing the interconnected challenges of conflict, economic instability, and energy poverty. It emphasizes the urgent need for an energy transition that enhances energy access, promotes decarbonization, and supports peacebuilding and socioeconomic recovery. The brief outlines the current energy landscape in Yemen, identifies critical policy gaps, and highlights both top-down and grassroots opportunities for sustainable energy development. It acknowledges the significant challenges in the energy sector, including its… Continue reading Main Publications August 4, 2025 08:01 MIN Yemen International Forum 2025 Report The third Yemen International Forum (YIF III) took place in Amman from February 16 - 18, 2025, gathering more than 300 participants to discuss peace prospects and stability in Yemen. Since the outbreak of the war on Gaza in October 2023, Yemen has been tested in myriad ways. Attacks on the Red Sea and the rising prominence of the Houthis within the “Axis of Resistance” have thrust Yemen into regional conflict, undermining hope for an end to its decade-long war. Since the last YIF held in the Hague in June 2023, where discussions centered on cautious optimism for a potential peace settlement, Yemen has undertaken a dramatic U-turn. Peace efforts have taken a backseat while international attention has increasingly turned… Continue reading Yemen Review section July 22, 2025 09:08 MIN April-June 2025 Israel’s Genocide in Gaza Destabilizes Yemen and the Region By Magnus Fitz The Middle East has been marked by escalating violence and deepening volatility since October 7, 2023. Hamas’ assault against Israel opened the door for the realization of long-standing Israeli ambitions of a reconfigured region, which has fanned the flames of instability in several countries. In Gaza, these ambitions have been propelled not merely by Western indifference but by direct abetment. In Yemen, instability has manifested in Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and against Israel, which has invited direct military action by some of the world’s great military powers. The sum of Israel’s wars–from Gaza and the West Bank to Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, and Iran–has been tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of deaths and immense destruction, sowing the seeds… Continue reading Analysis April 27, 2025 12:38 MIN The Lasting Legacy of Raufah Hassan (1958-2011) By Lara Uhlenhaut “It is my opinion that democracy cannot be invented by a country nor imposed by a government. However, it grows within a house. A man and a woman who do not practice democracy between themselves cannot form a democratic society.” —Raufah Hassan April 27 marks the anniversary of the death of Raufah Hassan, who passed away in Cairo in 2011 at the young age of 53. Deeply loved and revered by generations of Yemenis, Raufah Hassan was a pioneer in Yemeni women’s rights and a respected journalist, academic, writer, and intellectual. To countless admirers, however, she represented much more than these titles convey; she was seen as someone who “carried the cultural truth of Yemen” and who was, in essence,… Continue reading Analysis March 28, 2025 13:05 MIN Leaked Texts and Limited Strategy: The US Strikes in Yemen By Ned Whalley “This [is] not about the Houthis.” US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, March 2025. Recently leaked US attack plans, shared inadvertently with Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, were startling not just in their disclosure but in what they disclosed – that the Trump administration may have no intermediate or long-term plan for how to deal with the Houthis. Rather, the airstrikes appear intended simply to reassert American power, with little concern for their potential to escalate Yemen’s civil war, the security risks this would produce, or the humanitarian toll it would exact. The American strategy risks failing on its own terms. Houthi attacks in the Red Sea are less an act of solidarity with the Palestinians than an exercise in propaganda,… Continue reading Analysis October 16, 2024 07:23 MIN Quarterly: July-September 2024 Egypt Maneuvers in the Horn of Africa By Maher Abu al-Majd Since October 2023, the Middle East has witnessed a series of geopolitical developments, which Cairo has perceived as a direct threat to its national security. These include: 1) the Israeli war on Gaza; 2) Houthi escalation in the Red Sea and a subsequent decline in Suez Canal revenue; 3) Ethiopia's quest for a seaport and plans to establish a naval base on the coast of Somaliland; and 4) the crisis in Libya and the potential for renewed conflict. This rapid succession of events has shattered Egypt's longstanding pillars of foreign policy, which for four decades were built on the principles of good neighborliness, non-intervention, and investing in mediation and diplomacy. In response, Cairo has undertaken a series of proactive measures… Continue reading Analysis July 15, 2024 06:13 MIN Quarterly: April-June 2024 Abdelmajeed al-Zindani: The Demise of Political Islam’s Leading Figure in Yemen By Tawfeek Al-Ganad With a long flaming red beard, distinctive square face, unconventional white turban, and a voice that was immediately recognizable – Abdelmajeed al-Zindani was perhaps the most famous political-religious figure in Yemen of the past 50 years, a controversial persona who stirred endless debate, even after his death on April 22 in Istanbul at the age of 82. Al-Zindani was born in the Al-Sha’ar district of Ibb governorate in 1942 and learned to read and write in its traditional kuttab school. He moved to Aden to continue his education and subsequently to Cairo, where he started the enigmatic journey of his political life between Yemen, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and, finally, Turkey. In the 1950s, Al-Zindani was affiliated with the pan-Arab… Continue reading Yemen Review section April 9, 2024 19:34 MIN Quarterly: January-March 2024 Politics and Diplomacy — The Yemen Review, Quarterly: January-March 2024 By Ned Whalley The political situation in Yemen has been completely upended by the regional and domestic fallout wrought by Houthi attacks on maritime shipping and the conflict in Gaza. Peace talks between Saudi Arabia and the Houthi group (Ansar Allah) are now on hold indefinitely, and the future of a seemingly imminent deal is now unclear. Attacks on vessels transiting the Red Sea have continued despite more than two months of American and British airstrikes, which inject further uncertainty into the conflict. The Houthis have built a propaganda campaign around their operations to build support and consolidate control. The divided internationally recognized government lacks the capacity to respond, and with few good options, the West’s strategy remains unclear. With negotiations stalled, Yemen… Continue reading Main Publications March 21, 2024 31:19 MIN The Impact of Flooding on Agricultural Communities in Yemen By Musaed Aklan Yemen's agricultural communities face a perfect storm of growing ecological threats amid protracted conflict. Flash floods destroy farms, crops, and irrigation systems. Late rains risk drowning mature harvests, and waterlogged fields hinder root growth. Coastal areas battle salinization, and collapsed roads and buried wells hamper recovery. As flooding and changing rainfall patterns undermine yields, farmers struggle to sustain their livelihoods. Over half of Yemen's population is dependent on farming and agricultural work for income. Terrain altered by flooding has stirred tensions as property lines and irrigation channels shift, displacing communities already uprooted by the war. Traditional flood management faces pressure from uncoordinated development and fading communal cooperation, and information gaps persist due to outdated estimates and limited monitoring capacity. Stakeholders… Continue reading Main Publications December 19, 2023 32:42 MIN Challenges to Yemen’s Public Revenues By Ned Whalley, and Wadhah Al-Awlaqi Since April 2022, the war in Yemen has mutated from a high-casualty conflict to a protracted stalemate with relatively stable frontlines. The contest is now over the economy, as the Houthi group (Ansar Allah) leverages negotiations and its military power to put fiscal pressure on the internationally recognized government. The current phase has been marked by the expansion of economic warfare, with the Houthi authorities shutting down trade from government-controlled areas, stoking discontent as public utilities break down and the currency tumbles. The Houthi attack on government revenue streams began last fall with a blockade of oil exports and has expanded into competition for customs revenues and a ban on cooking gas produced in government-held areas. The precipitous decline in… Continue reading Analysis November 20, 2023 15:26 MIN September and October 2023 The Black Waters of Total By Quentin Müller A strange curse seems to be hanging over Sah district. Cultivable plots, once lush with crops, pastures, limes, watermelons, and onions, have been abandoned. Blackened at the base, twisted and staggering, the trail of date palms stands out in the desolate landscape. On his doorstep sits 36-year-old Mohammed Ali Salem Sourour, listening to the song of the birds, which are increasingly rare in this region. In the darkness of the house, a small child hesitates to step into the light. His 6-year-old son Adam finally reveals a startling birth defect. One eye, larger than the other, seemed to have detached from his left eyebrow, dropping a few centimeters below. “We live in the most poisoned land in Yemen,” says Mohammed,… Continue reading