Saudi Arabia

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 Yemen Review section December 27, 2023 13:34 MIN November and December 2023 Red Sea Attacks Provoke International Response The Houthi group (Ansar Allah) has thrust Yemen into the international limelight and put regional politics in turmoil with an escalating series of high-profile attacks on Red Sea shipping. The Houthis have launched dozens of drones and missiles at ships since October and captured the commercial ship Galaxy Leader in a striking airborne commando raid (see Military section). Declaring solidarity with the besieged Palestinian inhabitants of Gaza, the Houthi leadership has now threatened to attack any ships heading to Israel until the Israeli military offensive ceases. Major shipping lines and oil companies are now diverting their vessels round the Cape of Good Hope, as the West and regional powers consider their response. The Houthis first fired on ships soon after… 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 Yemen Review section November 23, 2023 11:05 MIN September and October 2023 Bios: The Houthi Delegates to Riyadh By Adnan al-Jabarni A Houthi delegation flew to Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, on September 14 for the latest round of negotiations to end nine years of war in Yemen. A year after the United Nations officially brokered a truce in April 2022, talks have slowly shifted from backchannels to direct public meetings. The high visibility of their first-ever confirmed visit to Saudi Arabia reveals new information about the insular Houthi group (Ansar Allah). Moreover, a comparison of the latest Houthi delegation to the members who participated in consultations from 2018 through 2022 shows the extent of the group’s transformation. Overall, diversity has declined. In previous years, the Houthis included representatives from the General People’s Congress (GPC) and other independent political parties that the… 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 Yemen Review section November 20, 2023 16:47 MIN September and October 2023 Houthis Visit Riyadh as Bilateral Talks Move Forward A Houthi delegation arrived in Riyadh for discussions with Omani and Saudi officials on September 14, the first time Houthi representatives have publicly visited the Saudi capital since the war in Yemen began. The bilateral talks now appear to be moving rapidly toward the announcement of an agreement. The Houthi delegation met with Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman, and talks took place over five days before Houthi officials announced their conclusion and returned to Sana’a. The Saudi government said it is preparing a roadmap to securing peace in Yemen, and head of the Houthi Supreme Political Council Mahdi al-Mashat indicated the group was “pleased” with the discussions. On September 20, officials in Riyadh praised the “positive results” of the… Continue reading Analysis November 20, 2023 03:11 MIN September and October 2023 The Poisonous Egos in Yemen’s Tragedy By Farea Al-Muslimi The arrival of a Houthi delegation in Riyadh on September 14 represents a breakthrough after nine bitter years of war. The bilateral negotiations with Saudi Prince Khaled Bin Salman have been widely celebrated and encouraged, though there are myriad grounds for skepticism. But the moment is important as well as symbolic - it marks the dampening of the dangerous and destructive egotism that sparked and sustained Yemen’s tragic conflict. Nearly a decade of war, with hundreds of thousands of Yemenis killed, has undone years of progress and development, setting the country back at least a century. There are numerous reasons why the war began, not least the failed national dialogue process after the fall of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the… Continue reading Main Publications October 30, 2023 38:38 MIN Yemen International Forum 2023 Report The Yemen International Forum (YIF) began life as an ambitious if improbable idea. The aim was to have a forum conceived and implemented by Yemenis that would provide a powerful platform for bringing together as many elements of Yemeni society as possible, along with international actors, to discuss the country’s manifold problems. By attempting to build a common vision among the diverse parties beyond the formal peace process, progress might be made, even in small ways. Having a local organization lead an initiative on peace and dialogue at this scale would also empower Yemenis, ensuring solutions brought to the table are locally conceived and led. Two years later, this homegrown approach to peacebuilding is bearing fruit. The YIF provides a… Continue reading Main Publications October 17, 2023 09:21 MIN Submission to the Universal Periodic Review of Yemen Submitted by: Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies 4th Cycle 46th Session April-May 2024 UN Human Rights Council This submission outlines the Sana’a Center’s current concerns regarding the human rights and humanitarian situation and Yemen and the possibility of their future amelioration. Since the previous UPR of Yemen in 2019, there have been ongoing efforts to mediate the conflict, including the process facilitated by the Office of the UN Special Envoy and bilateral negotiations between Saudi Arabia and the Houthi group (Ansar Allah). The need for such efforts to embrace the tenets of transitional justice and take a victim-centered approach is detailed and discussed below. Yemen’s unique political context and background make these considerations indispensable to a durable peace. The political… Continue reading Analysis October 13, 2023 18:39 MIN Al-Qaeda’s Shifting Alliances During the Yemen War By Abu Bakr Ahmed During the fighting in Shabwa last year and more recently in Abyan, forces affiliated with the Southern Transitional Council (STC) locked horns with Islah-affiliated government forces. Both sides accused the other of links to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Such claims have been a feature of the war since 2015, but are usually more rhetorical than real, lacking evidence on the ground. Over the last year, however, AQAP has been more publicly sympathetic to the Islamist Islah party than is normal in its often guarded comments. In a speech in August 2022 by Abu Ali al-Hadrami, a top-tier leader who rarely appears in media, the group expressed frustration that the STC-backed Shabwa Defense forces and UAE-backed Giants Brigades forces… Continue reading News October 5, 2023 01:32 MIN STC’s Al-Khobaji Calls for United Government Response to Saudi-Houthi Peace Negotiations Dr. Nasser al-Khobaji, a senior official with the Southern Transitional Council (STC), expressed support for the talks between Saudi Arabia and the Houthi group (Ansar Allah), and stressed the importance of including other Yemeni parties in order to advance the peace process in Yemen, during the Yemen Media Call – a briefing with international and local journalists organized by the Sana’a Center on October 2. “Any potential agreement between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Houthis is a positive development and a step in the right direction,” said Al-Khobaji, Chairperson of the STC’s Political Commission and Head of the Negotiations Affairs Unit. “We recognize that such talks will help lay the groundwork for a future political settlement that all… Continue reading Analysis September 18, 2023 14:38 MIN Houthis Make Official Visit to Riyadh for Talks with Saudi Arabia By Maged Al-Madhaji, Maysaa Shuja Al-Deen, Hussam Radman, Abdulghani Al-Iryani, and Thomas Juneau A senior Houthi delegation arrived in Riyadh on September 14, the first such trip since the outset of the conflict. Bilateral Saudi-Houthi talks began in earnest after a failure to extend a UN-backed truce last year and accelerated after a Beijing-brokered détente between Saudi Arabia and Iran in the spring. Talks appeared to stall over the summer, but the visit suggests progress on a deal could be shortly forthcoming. The precise details of the negotiations have not been made public. The Saudis are looking to wind down their involvement in the war, fueling concerns that they will abandon the internationally recognized government and ignore the concerns and priorities of other Yemeni parties in their haste to leave, leading to further… Continue reading