Electricity

Spring 2025 marked a turbulent new phase in Yemen’s conflict, as the region experienced one of its most volatile and contradictory periods in recent years. In the past three months, an intensified US air campaign, multiple Israeli airstrikes, a rumored anti-Houthi ground offensive, and direct military confrontation between Israel and Iran deepened regional instability and emboldened the Houthi group (Ansar…

On May 3, Yemen’s embattled Prime Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak resigned after just over a year in office, following months of clashes with Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) chief Rashad al-Alimi, as well as other PLC and cabinet members. Finance Minister Salem bin Breik was immediately named as his replacement. Bin Mubarak said his resignation stemmed from his efforts to…

Ever since the internationally recognized government fled from Sana’a after the Houthi takeover in 2014, it has failed to develop a strategy to adapt to its new environment and the challenges it poses. Instead, it has continued to act as if nothing has happened, and only a few tweaks are required to keep going. This can be seen clearly in…

The year-long Houthi (Ansar Allah) campaign of military attacks on Red Sea shipping came to a halt on January 19, following news of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza. Houthi leader Abdelmalek al-Houthi announced a conditional suspension of the attacks on US- and UK-affiliated shipping as long as Western airstrikes in Yemen ceased. However, the group said Israeli-linked vessels would still…

The first quarter of 2025 saw escalating US sanctions against the Houthis. The sanctions, intended to suffocate the Houthis financially, could have a negative impact on Yemen’s already fragile financial system, and threaten to disrupt flows of crucial humanitarian aid and remittances, further destabilizing the economy. In mid-January, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)…

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…

Away from the Red Sea crisis that dominated the headlines of 2024, the space for female political and social actors in Yemen has continued to shrink, largely unchecked. Today, the distinction between the repression in areas controlled by the Houthis and those under the internationally recognized government is becoming increasingly blurred. In Houthi-controlled areas, a campaign of terrifying arrests of…

Members of the muhammasheen community remain among the most vulnerable victims of systemic injustice and suffering in Yemen, a situation made worse by the war. Ostracized and disparaged, the community’s women and girls (muhammashat) are particularly vulnerable. The nature of their work, which commonly entails begging, street-sweeping, and vending, brings them into public spaces, putting them at risk of exploitation,…