Sana'a

Analysis April 21, 2025 05:45 MIN January-March 2025 Two Decades of Transformation: The Houthis’ Emergence from the Shadows By Salah Ali Salah When they first emerged from the “Believing Youth” movement in 2004, no one could have imagined the Houthis—a small group of local rebels fighting with traditional weapons— would evolve into a military and political force with influence extending across the regional and international landscape. But the Houthis’ development was not merely a matter of geographic expansion or enhanced military capabilities; it involved deeper transformations in its organizational structure, administrative systems, and political strategies. The growing disruption and threat posed by the Houthis recently prompted the administration of US President Trump to announce its first foreign military operation, and airstrikes against the group expanded dramatically in mid-March 2025. March is the same month in which a Saudi-led coalition launched Operation Decisive… Continue reading Yemen Review section April 21, 2025 04:32 MIN January-March 2025 What if Abdelmalek al-Houthi Were Killed? By Maysaa Shuja Al-Deen As US airstrikes continue to target Houthi leaders in their strongholds, the prospect of Abdelmalek al-Houthi being eliminated raises important questions about the future of the group. This article first examines the significance of leadership within the Houthi group and the extent to which Abdelmalek al-Houthi influences it. It then challenges a narrative popular among some analysts that the Houthis are adept at leadership change, evidenced by the transition from Hussein al-Houthi to his brother, Abdelmalek, following Hussein’s death in 2004. To conclude, it presents scenarios likely to emerge if the US were to bring down the Houthi leader. In many ways, the Houthis adhere to traditional Zaidi principles. At the core of Zayidi tradition is the belief that leadership… Continue reading Analysis April 21, 2025 06:20 MIN January-March 2025 New Technologies in Houthi Drones By Khaled Mukhtar On February 13, 2025, the National Resistance forces, led by Presidential Leadership Council member Tareq Saleh and based on Yemen’s Red Sea coast, announced the seizure of a smuggled shipment of military equipment intercepted en route to the Houthi group (Ansar Allah). The shipment included devices and equipment that suggest the Houthis are working to enhance their drone capabilities by integrating new and previously unused technologies—or at least technologies not widely deployed. Specifically, these include jet engine technology and first-person view (FPV) systems, both of which have the potential to significantly amplify the scale of threat anticipated in any future local or regional escalation. Among the items seized, the National Resistance forces showcased several jet engines, which, judging by their… Continue reading Yemen Review section April 21, 2025 06:12 MIN January-March 2025 Targeting the Houthi Leadership is Not a Game-Changer By Eleonora Ardemagni The US administration’s recent airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen mark a strategic shift, as Washington is now explicitly targeting the Houthi leadership in its efforts to restore freedom of navigation in the Red Sea. While the assassination of Houthi leaders would no doubt be a blow to the group, it’s unclear whether the tactic would threaten its survival, as the group has displayed great adaptability during past domestic and regional crises. US President Donald Trump has emphasized that the attacks on Houthi-held areas of Yemen hit “terrorists’ bases, leaders, and missile defenses.” National Security Advisor Michael Waltz claimed that early rounds of strikes had “taken out key Houthi leadership, including their head missileer,” although without providing any evidence. The… Continue reading Yemen Review section April 21, 2025 11:09 MIN January-March 2025 Military and Security By William Clough The first weeks of 2025 offered hope that peace in Gaza could offer a reprieve in Yemen, as Houthi (Ansar Allah) leader Abdelmalek al-Houthi announced on January 16 that the group would suspend its attacks on commercial vessels, and a January 19 letter to shipping companies stated that any future strikes in the Red Sea would be limited to Israeli-linked vessels. The decision seemed, at first, a watershed moment (attacks have been ongoing since November 2023), but experts familiar with Yemen were quick to note that little had changed in practice. While the strategy ostensibly brought the Houthis back to Phase One of their five-tier escalation strategy, the group has a well-documented history of mistakenly firing on ships that were… Continue reading Yemen Review section April 21, 2025 12:31 MIN January-March 2025 Politics and Diplomacy — The Yemen Review, January-March 2025 By Casey Coombs The year-long Houthi (Ansar Allah) campaign of military attacks on Red Sea shipping came to a halt on January 19, following news of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza. Houthi leader Abdelmalek al-Houthi announced a conditional suspension of the attacks on US- and UK-affiliated shipping as long as Western airstrikes in Yemen ceased. However, the group said Israeli-linked vessels would still be barred from Red Sea transit and threatened to resume attacks if the Gaza ceasefire deal was broken. Two days into the ceasefire, the Houthis released the crew of the Galaxy Leader, a cargo ship the group had hijacked in November 2023. Houthi officials said the move came at the request of Hamas and Omani mediators. Despite the Houthi pause… Continue reading Yemen Review section April 21, 2025 18:21 MIN January-March 2025 The Economy — The Yemen Review, January-March 2025 By Wadhah Al-Awlaqi, and Aylin Junga The first quarter of 2025 saw escalating US sanctions against the Houthis. The sanctions, intended to suffocate the Houthis financially, could have a negative impact on Yemen’s already fragile financial system, and threaten to disrupt flows of crucial humanitarian aid and remittances, further destabilizing the economy. In mid-January, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the Yemen Kuwait Bank for Trade and Investment for providing financial support to the Houthis. OFAC accused the bank of allowing the Houthis to exploit the Yemeni banking sector to launder money and transfer funds to their allies, including the Lebanese group Hezbollah. The bank was also alleged to have helped the Houthis establish and finance front companies involved… Continue reading Yemen Review section April 18, 2025 03:51 MIN January-March 2025 In Dealing with the Houthis, US Diplomacy is the Silver Bullet By Abdulghani Al-Iryani Ever since the Houthis started disrupting commercial marine traffic through the Red Sea in late 2023, calls for the use of force have been sounded from every corner of the anti-Houthi camp. The Yemeni government has advocated for international military action, while UAE-sponsored armed groups have hinted at their willingness to spearhead an international offensive against the Houthis. Clearly, none of these parties learned the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan. Civil wars are not settled by foreign intervention. At best, foreign forces can tip the balance in favor of their domestic allies, but more often than not, they merely prolong the conflict, fuel the war economy, exacerbate the bloodshed, and then withdraw in a hurry, leaving local partners to their… 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 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 Main Publications March 18, 2025 14:57 MIN Renewed US Bombing and Houthi FTO Designation Signal Shift in Yemen Conflict By Maged Al-Madhaji, Ned Whalley, Abdulghani Al-Iryani, Hussam Radman, and Salah Ali Salah US military forces recommenced strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen on March 15 as part of a new pressure campaign against the group and its primary backer, Iran. The bombing campaign, which so far has killed a reported 53 people and wounded more than 100, followed a Houthi threat to resume attacks against Israeli-linked vessels in the Red Sea in response to Israel cutting off aid to Gaza. US airstrikes so far have been reported in Sana’a, Sa’ada, Al-Jawf, Marib, Dhamar, Hudaydah, Al-Bayda and Taiz governorates. US officials said the strikes would likely last several weeks. Meanwhile, the Houthis have claimed several attacks against US naval ships. Shortly following the US escalation in Yemen, Israel resumed major bombing in Gaza,… Continue reading Publications February 27, 2025 18:32 MIN Recovering from Attacks on Education in Yemen By Alexander Kochenburger Education is often one of the greatest casualties of war. In Yemen, this reality is borne out by the thousands of damaged and destroyed schools, tens of thousands of child soldiers, hundreds of thousands of teachers working without regular pay, and millions of students out of school. Mere numbers, however, are not sufficient to encapsulate the true toll. A generation of Yemenis have had their right to education and hope for a better future stripped away by airstrikes and fighting, by landmines and armed groups in and around their schools, and by beleaguered teachers presiding the best they can in over-crowded classrooms. This policy brief examines the effects of Yemen’s armed conflict on the country’s education system, focusing in particular… Continue reading