Saudi Arabia

Main Publications March 28, 2023 18:34 MIN An Ancient Tradition at Risk: Yemen’s Beekeeping and Honey Production in Times of War By Dr. Abdullah Nasher, and Farea Al-Muslimi Beekeeping in Yemen is as ancient as Yemeni civilization itself. Yemenis have mastered their beekeeping skills over centuries and can trace their rich heritage in apiculture (beekeeping) back to their pre-Islamic ancestors. In the Kingdom of Hadramawt, during the 10th century BC, trading honey was reported to have been the fourth largest economic sector. Greek historian and philosopher Strabo (64 BC – 24 AD) wrote about honey being a popular commodity in Yemen, observing how Yemenis climbed mountains in search of bee colonies, including Yemen’s Beni Saleem Mountains, which were known for their abundance of honey and have maintained this reputation since pre-Islamic times. To this famed liquid gold, Yemeni lyricists, poets, and singers have in more recent times offered… 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 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 Analysis February 21, 2023 06:00 MIN A Looming Battle over Wadi Hadramawt By Maged Al-Madhaji As the fragile undeclared truce continues between the internationally recognized government and the Houthi movement in Yemen, another cycle of political and military tension is escalating in southern Yemen. In Wadi Hadramawt, polarization over the future of the Seyoun-based 1st Military Region threatens a new round of fighting between groups within Yemen’s anti-Houthi camp. Tensions over Wadi Hadramawt stem from bitter divisions that Yemeni parties have been unable to overcome over the course of the war; in fact, the conflict has served to deepen preexisting rifts. A North-South divide continues to exist in many minds, which has led to demands among some southern groups, most prominently the Southern Transitional Council (STC), to roll back unification and restore the state of… 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 04:14 MIN October 2022 The Saudi Overture to the Houthis By Abdulghani Al-Iryani In the second week of October, the Saudi government made a bold proposal to the Houthis. They invited the nominal leader of the de facto authorities in Sana’a, Mahdi al-Mashat, President of the Supreme Political Council and Supreme Commander of the armed forces, to visit Riyadh, meet Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, and discuss a peace deal. This was the breakthrough that the Houthis have been working for since they overthrew the internationally recognized government in 2014. Direct talks with the Saudis would confer a degree of international legitimacy to the Houthi government, but they also represent a recognition of the legitimacy that the Houthi authorities themselves have established in eight years of consolidating their rule over most of Yemen’s… Continue reading Yemen Review section November 14, 2022 07:42 MIN October 2022 Oil Port Attacks Threaten Government Finances Houthi drone attacks on Nushayma and Al-Dabba oil terminals in the latter half of October paralyzed oil exports and threatened to undermine government finances. Although its effects were not felt in October, prolonged loss of oil revenue would cut the government off from by far its largest source of revenue, which would have widespread knock-on effects, including eroding the ability of the Central Bank of Yemen in Aden (CBY-Aden) to continue financing basic commodity imports, support the value of new rials and keep inflation subdued. Representatives from the government-aligned Central Bank of Yemen in Aden (CBY-Aden) met with officials from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the US Federal Reserve in early October, with IMF officials praising recent CBY-Aden policies… Continue reading Analysis September 20, 2022 04:50 MIN Weak and Divided, the General People’s Congress Turns 40 By Tawfeek Al-Ganad The General People’s Congress (GPC) is going through an unprecedented period of weakness as it recently marked the 40th anniversary of its founding on August 24. The party was born from the national dialogue conducted in the early 1980s following a brutal civil war, and every Yemeni president since has been a high-ranking member of the party. Former President Ali Abdullah Saleh was the chairman of the GPC and ruled under its name until he stepped down following massive protests in 2011. His vice president and second in command in the GPC, Abdo Rabbu Mansour Hadi, became president in February 2012. After Hadi was removed from power in April of this year, another high-ranking member of the GPC and a… Continue reading