A major breakthrough from the Saudi-Houthi backchannel negotiations came in November with the coalition’s release of more than 100 Houthi prisoners and the partial reopening of Sana’a International Airport. A Houthi delegation, including the movement’s spokesperson Mohammed Abdel Salam and senior officials Abdelmalek al-Ajri and Ahmed al-Shami, held talks with Saudi officials in Muscat, Oman, during the month of November.

On Sunday December 15, 2019, the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies and the Swedish Embassy held a report launching event at the Rotana Hotel in Amman, Jordan. A Gendered Crisis: Understanding the Experiences of Yemen’s War explores how gender norms have shaped Yemenis’ experience of conflict, and how conflict is reshaping gender norms in Yemen.

The first Shabwa and Al-Mahra Strategic Forum, hosted by the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies and the Oxford Research Group, was held December 4 - 6, 2019 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

History will likely record the Riyadh Agreement as a game-changing moment in the ongoing Yemeni conflict – how exactly the game will change is still far from certain. What the agreement signed on November 5 in the Saudi capital may mean is that for the first time since the war began the disparate forces that make up the anti-Houthi coalition…

Yemen’s internationally backed government and the Southern Transitional Council (STC) signed an agreement November 5 in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, intended to end their recent power struggle in southern Yemen. As part of the accord, known as the Riyadh Agreement, the STC will be given seats in a newly formed Yemeni government composed of political technocrats, as well as a seat at the negotiating table during any future peace talks. In exchange, all STC-aligned military forces will be placed under the…

(Beirut, Lebanon) - The fourth Yemen Exchange conference, hosted by the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies, was held October 21-26, 2019, in Beirut, Lebanon. The conference offered a platform for a diverse range of Yemeni speakers and foreign experts to present their views and expertise on Yemen-related subjects and recent developments. Over 30 Yemeni speakers from across the political spectrum…

It is sadly common for belligerents to show wanton disregard for the health and welfare of civilian populations during war. What makes the warring parties in Yemen exceptional in this regard is the sheer scale of devastation they are willing to visit upon their fellow Yemenis in the pursuit of relatively trivial gains. 

Attacks on two Saudi oil facilities in mid-September knocked more than 5 percent of the world’s crude production offline, sending oil prices soaring and further stoking tension in the Gulf. The Houthis claimed to have carried out the operation on state-run oil giant Saudi Aramco, though Saudi Arabia, the United States, and European powers have blamed Iran for the attacks. While concerns of a resulting military conflict that could engulf Yemen had not materialized by month’s end, the attacks are…