Houthi

Yemen Review section April 14, 2023 09:16 MIN March 2023 Fighting Escalates on Multiple Fronts March witnessed increased clashes on fronts across the country, with Houthi forces making gains in southern Marib and along the Al-Bayda-Shabwa border. Heavy fighting between Houthi and mainly Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces in Al-Dhalea claimed dozens of casualties. Southern Hudaydah continued to see clashes between the Houthis and the Joint Forces, during which Houthi forces carried out regular explosives-laden drone attacks. In late March, Taiz Governor Nabil Shamsan, Minister of Defense Mohsen al-Daeri, and Chief of Staff Saghir bin Aziz survived two separate attacks on their convoys while traveling in Taiz governorate. The government accused the Houthis of carrying out the attacks. Fighting between Houthi forces and units from the UAE-backed Saba Axis of the Giants Brigades saw the… Continue reading Yemen Review section April 14, 2023 12:24 MIN March 2023 Saudi-Houthi Talks Move Forward After weeks of little movement, the bilateral Saudi-Houthi talks appear to be headed toward agreement on a comprehensive ceasefire, though resolution of longstanding issues remains elusive. At month’s end, Saudi Arabia organized a meeting in Riyadh, framed officially as Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) President Rashad Al-Alimi summoning the leading figures of his government. After the Saudis met individually with each PLC member to discuss the recent talks in Oman, they reportedly agreed in principle to an initiative presented by Saudi Ambassador Mohammed al-Jaber. The proposal to the Houthis described a three-stage process for PLC-Houthi talks, to take place over two years. During the first six months, confidence-building measures would be taken, including the payment of salaries to civil servants to… Continue reading Yemen Review section March 10, 2023 05:07 MIN January-February 2023 Book Review – Yemen: Poverty and Conflict By Ned Whalley Yemen: Poverty and Conflict, by Helen Lackner, Routledge, 2022, 184 pp., $48.95 (paperback), ISBN 9780367180508, $170.00 (hardcover), ISBN 9780367180492. An explosion of writing accompanies a war. Conflict journalism typically focuses on immediate outcomes of the fighting, humanitarian publications highlight the terrible human cost, and political and diplomatic observers proffer opinions on various strategic implications. But there is often a temporal gap in English-language literature between descriptions of contemporary violence and the most recent available histories of the belligerents. This is perhaps unavoidable. Comprehensive histories take time to research. Government archives and accurate data, and the trends that can be ascertained from them, are not available right away. Any modern history concludes the day the author finishes writing. They cannot know… Continue reading Editorial March 10, 2023 03:08 MIN January-February 2023 The Saudi-Houthi Talks Are Dangerously Exclusive Reports of bilateral peace talks between Saudi Arabia and the armed Houthi movement have been trickling out since last October, and their recent confirmation in media reports has fueled widespread optimism and speculation. The talks should be welcomed as a step toward ending Yemen’s disastrous war. But to establish a lasting peace, they must quickly expand to include representation of all Yemenis. The current status of Saudi-Houthi negotiations is unclear. They have broached issues that have been on the table since last year’s truce talks, including the provision of public sector salaries, the easing of restrictions at Houthi-held ports, and guarantees on border security. But of fundamental importance is their current exclusivity. The government believes they will soon be brought… Continue reading Analysis March 10, 2023 14:53 MIN January-February 2023 Israel’s Maritime Security in the Red Sea: Historical Competition and the New Houthi Challenge By Ahmed El-Deeb Since the early days of the conflict in Yemen, the Houthi movement has been in control of much of the Red Sea coastline. The waterway serves as the main artery for trade between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, estimated at about US$700 billion a year. Some 4 million barrels of oil pass through Bab al-Mandab Strait every day en route to Europe, and about 25,000 ships, or 7 percent of world maritime trade. As a result, Houthi control over parts of the Red Sea has been a subject of international concern, including in Israel. Asian imports and exports account for about a quarter of Israel’s total foreign trade, transiting mainly via Red Sea routes, making the safety of… Continue reading Yemen Review section March 9, 2023 06:39 MIN January-February 2023 Nation’s Shield Forces Bolster Al-Alimi’s Influence Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) chief Rashad al-Alimi formally announced the formation of the Nation’s Shield forces in late January, a Saudi-funded military force of eight battalions led by Salafi commander Bashir al-Madrabi that was officially declared last September, but which is composed of Al-Yemen Al-Saeed brigades formed over the previous year. The units operate directly under Al-Alimi, who, unlike most other members of the PLC, had no military forces of his own. So far, units have been deployed to Al-Dhalea, Abyan, and Lahj. There are also efforts to bring three Giants Brigades battalions commanded by Hamdi Shukri al-Subaihi under the Nation’s Shield umbrella. Last year Al-Subaihi refused to get involved in the UAE-Southern Transitional Council (STC) battle to oust Islah-affiliated… Continue reading Yemen Review section March 9, 2023 08:11 MIN January-February 2023 Govt Receives New Financial Support By Wadhah Al-Awlaqi On February 21, Saudi Arabia agreed to supply the Central Bank of Yemen (CBY) in Aden with a US$1 billion deposit to prop up Yemen’s faltering economy and support the value of the rial in government-held areas. The aid will not be deposited directly with the CBY-Aden, but rather handled through the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) as part of the AMF agreement announced in November. Access to the new money is expected to be granted soon given the progress the government has made to implement reforms demanded by Saudi Arabia, but the inflexible structure of the support could limit the central bank’s capacity to auction foreign currency to stabilize the rial and finance the import of basic commodities. The timing… Continue reading Analysis March 2, 2023 19:29 MIN Bridging the Divide: Mitigating the Impacts of the CBY Schism on Yemen’s Banking Sector By Wadhah Al-Awlaqi The September 2016 rupture of the Central Bank of Yemen (CBY) into rival branches associated with the main warring parties has severely undermined the country’s banking sector. The most fundamental issues affecting Yemeni banks are the differing currency systems that have emerged between areas controlled by the internationally recognized government and Houthi authorities, and the associated competing centers of financial sector regulation, which have adopted increasingly coercive measures in their attempts to assert exclusive authority. The banking sector liquidity crisis, which emerged prior to the central bank schism, has only been compounded and complicated since. This policy brief was produced as part of the Yemen International Forum (YIF) 2022 and will offer an overview of the evolving challenges facing the… Continue reading Analysis February 28, 2023 34:17 MIN Leadership from Iran: How Al-Qaeda in Yemen Fell Under the Sway of Saif al-Adel By Hussam Radman, and Assim al-Sabri When Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed by a US drone strike in Afghanistan last July it had only limited impact for the group’s Middle East branches in North Africa, Yemen, and Somalia. This was in part a result of the internal cohesion created by organizational policies introduced since 2011 that gave regional branches significant autonomy. But it also spoke to Al-Zawahiri’s reduced importance as a leader in recent years as he took on more of a symbolic role as the successor to Osama bin Laden who had obtained the allegiance of Al-Qaeda’s central Shura council. One of the key reasons why leadership on all the key fronts – security, organizational, and financial – shifted away from Al-Zawahiri was the… Continue reading The Yemen Review February 20, 2023 27:56 MIN Yemen Annual Review 2022 By Sana’a Center Staff The past year has been one of extreme consequence for Yemen. The war has entered a new phase of low-level violence and economic warfare. Casualties are down since a truce was signed in April, and have remained relatively low even after its acrimonious expiration in October. The internationally recognized government has sworn in a new executive body, but it has been unable to bridge internal rifts or reverse the territorial and economic decline of recent years. The United Arab Emirates has fully re-engaged in Yemen through a variety of proxy groups, most importantly the secessionist Southern Transitional Council (STC), which holds sway across much of southern Yemen. Saudi Arabia is pursuing talks of its own with the Houthis, though its… Continue reading Analysis November 14, 2022 03:59 MIN October 2022 Failed Truce Reflects Houthi Willingness to Leverage Gov’t Divisions, Global Needs By Omar Munassar The UN-brokered truce in Yemen that collapsed October 2, despite efforts to prolong it, disappointed Yemenis and those in the international community who had hoped it could be the groundwork for a lasting peace agreement ending more than seven years of war. During the preceding six months, the truce lessened some of the conflict's devastating effects. Economically, it allowed for restrictions to be lifted on foreign fuel shipments entering the Hudaydah port as well as on commercial flights from and to Sana’a International Airport. Politically, it quieted frontlines, especially in flashpoint regions like Marib, and increased popular optimism for lasting peace. Aside from that, it shielded Saudi Arabia from energy security threats that had been prevalent for years due to… Continue reading Analysis November 14, 2022 04:35 MIN October 2022 The Mandatory Celebration of Hardship By Maysaa Shuja Al-Deen In the past, the Yemeni state celebrated only holidays that held national significance. These included the anniversaries of several major political moments in Yemen’s history: September 26, marking the ousting of the Imamate and the establishment of a republican regime in the north; October 14, commemorating the start of the uprising against British colonial rule in the south; November 30, marking the south’s declaration of independence from the United Kingdom; and May 22, commemorating the unification of north and south and the birth of the Republic of Yemen. Other public holidays included religious occasions such as Mawlid al-Nabi (the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday), the beginning of the Islamic new year, and the two Eid festivals, Eid al-Adha during Hajj and Eid… Continue reading