Saudi Arabia

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 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 Yemen Review section February 4, 2025 07:42 MIN October-December 2024 The Houthi-Israel Confrontation By Abdulghani Al-Iryani For over a year now, the Houthi group (Ansar Allah) kept the world staring in amazement as they defied all odds and challenged the US, Britain, and a host of Western navies as they enforced a debilitating siege on the Israeli port of Eilat. With the announcement of a ceasefire in Gaza, the Houthis have pledged to continue targeting Israeli vessels until all phases of the deal are complete, and the group’s undiminished capabilities provide a constant threat of new attacks. Houthi missile and drone attacks on Israel caused little material damage and minimal casualties, but their economic and psychological impact is significant. The Houthis struck targets deep into Israeli territory – missiles and one-way drones have hit Tel Aviv,… Continue reading Yemen Review section February 4, 2025 03:44 MIN October-December 2024 An Unlikely Syrian Scenario in Yemen By Maysaa Shuja Al-Deen The rapid and unexpected advance of opposition forces in Syria in late 2024, culminating in the overthrow of the Assad regime, has raised hopes in the anti-Houthi camp that a similar scenario could unfold in Yemen and deal another significant blow to the Iran-led Axis of Resistance. Yemenis see several parallels between their situation and that of Syria. Both the Houthis and the Assad regime were primary belligerents in a devastating civil war. Both were major allies of Iran and other Iranian-backed regional actors, such as Hezbollah. From their respective capitals, Sana’a and Damascus, both adopted a strategy that relied on specific social groups to govern and fight while excluding or marginalizing other social and political factions. However, despite these… Continue reading Analysis February 4, 2025 05:56 MIN October-December 2024 Navigating Yemen’s Ongoing Quest for Peace: Key Challenges and Prospects for 2025 By Alexandra Nikopoulou A year of war across the Middle East has profoundly reshaped the region, shifting power dynamics and redrawing the lines of local conflicts. For Yemen, the Gaza war and its repercussions have served as an intensifier to the conflict, driving peace to a stalemate and exacerbating local divisions. The end of 2024 saw an increase in fighting on several fronts, a further escalation in Houthi-Israeli tensions, and renewed hope for a Houthi retreat within the anti-Houthi camp. International efforts toward a peace settlement continued, with the process following a familiar yet flawed approach in search of a still-elusive breakthrough. In the past three months, little has changed regarding the international community’s approach to achieving peace in Yemen. The Presidential Leadership… Continue reading Yemen Review section February 4, 2025 11:08 MIN October-December 2024 Politics and Diplomacy — The Yemen Review, October-December 2024 By Casey Coombs In response to dramatic regional developments stemming from the Gaza war and domestic pressure inside Yemen, the Houthis (Ansar Allah) pivoted on several fronts. Houthi leader Abdelmalek al-Houthi quickly stepped in to fill the leadership vacuum atop the Axis of Resistance following the September 27 assassination of his Lebanese ally and mentor, Hassan Nasrallah, which severely weakened Hezbollah in its fight with Israel. Over the next eight days, Abdelmalek delivered three recorded speeches, one mourning Nasrallah, the second following a missile attack on Israel, and the third marking the anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attacks. Abdelmalek argued that among Iran-allied groups, the Houthis are the most capable, most influential, and most willing and able to sustain losses on behalf of… Continue reading Analysis February 4, 2025 10:46 MIN October-December 2024 How Yemeni Religious Groups Recruit Fighters By Hussam Radman This article was originally published by the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI). Conflict in Yemen over the past two decades, including the war since 2015, has been dominated by parties with ideologies rooted in religion. Religious ideologies play a key role in the policies adopted by these movements toward the recruitment of fighters into their ranks. There are four main groups in question: the Sunni Islamist Islah party, the Zaidi Shia Houthi movement, the Salafi jihadists of Al-Qaeda, and government-allied Salafis fighting in paramilitary groups backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. These four currents have flourished in Yemen for decades, initially influenced by the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the Afghanistan jihad in the Eighties. Yemen… Continue reading Yemen Review section February 4, 2025 09:21 MIN October-December 2024 Military and Security — The Yemen Review, October-December 2024 By William Clough The final months of 2024 – bookended by the assassination of Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in late September and the announcement of a Gaza ceasefire in January 2025 – were undoubtedly a period of redefinition for Houthi military leadership, as the group once again shifted its strategy in targeting Israel, the United States, and their strategic interests in the Red Sea. While Houthi missile and drone barrages continued throughout the quarter, attacks shifted away from commercial shipping to focus instead on military bases and infrastructure within Israel itself. The decision to target Israel is not new – the Houthis made headlines in July after a drone crashed into a residential apartment near the US Embassy in Tel Aviv. Since… Continue reading 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 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