On a Sunday night more than three years ago, Rawan, 15, was squeezed onto a motorcycle with her sister and two brothers as their father, Abdulbari Yahyah Farea, sped them away from fighting near their home by Hudaydah airport. The motorcycle struck a landmine, with the explosion killing Rawan's father and two brothers, 3 and 8, instantly. Rawan was slightly…

Since President Abdo Rabbu Mansour Hadi stepped aside in early April, the overwhelming consensus among Yemenis has been “good riddance.” Replacing Hadi with a presidential council was doubtless the best way forward, but the devil is in the details when it comes to political systems, and there are many devilish details lurking in Yemen’s newly appointed Presidential Leadership Council (PLC).…

Truces of various forms have come and gone in Yemen before. They have rarely lasted or been respected by the parties to the conflict, and sometimes have ended before even having begun. However, when a two-month truce came into effect at 7 p.m. local time on April 2, announced by the UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg, there was…

In the early hours of April 7, Yemen witnessed a dramatic political change as President Abdo Rabbu Mansour Hadi dismissed Vice President Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar and then signed over the executive authority he has held for the past decade to a presidential council. The eight-man body, known officially as the Presidential Command Council (PCC), was announced from Riyadh, where Yemeni…

The value of Yemeni rials increased dramatically today, April 7, following the announcement of US$3 billion in new Saudi and Emirati support for the internationally recognized Yemeni government. However, there are strong signs already from the money market that the rebound will be temporary. Consultations in Riyadh between Yemeni parties to the anti-Houthi coalition and Gulf Cooperation Council states yielded…

The protracted conflict in Yemen has killed almost a quarter of a million people directly or indirectly due to inadequate food, health care and infrastructure. It has included unlawful attack after unlawful attack, with homes, hospitals, schools and bridges among the civilian objects that the warring parties have targeted. Fighting has internally displaced more than 4 million people from their…

For seven decades, leaders and pundits from Yemen and Saudi Arabia have capitalized on the differences and conflicting interests between the two nations to advocate adversarial, often antagonistic relations and policies. Incompatibilities pointed out between the two states typically include republic vs. monarchy, poor vs. rich, left-leaning vs. right-leaning, chaotic vs. stable, etc. So, while Yemen depended and continues to…

The Biden administration took office on January 20, 2021, determined to end the war in Yemen. On the campaign trail, candidate Biden had promised not to “sell more weapons” to Saudi Arabia, explaining that Saudi airstrikes in Yemen were “murdering children” and “innocent people.”

The Yemeni governorate of Al-Mahra on the Arabian Sea bordering Oman has a unique cultural identity, its own ancient Semitic language and a distinct history. These factors have helped the governorate maintain its own customs and traditions and preserve social norms that maintain social cohesion and mitigate conflict.

This brief aims to shine a light on this rising level of discrimination – a wave that has turned a city long known for its tolerance and inclusion into one now forcing people out. The purpose of focusing on this transformation is to look at what measures could be taken to deal with this discrimination and to curb its effects.