Houthis

Yemenis and the wider world are watching closely to see what the Houthi movement (Ansar Allah) will do if Iran asks them to participate in its defense and join other members of the “Axis of Resistance” in fighting against the military aggression of the United States and Israel. There has been a heated debate over the Houthis' relationship with Tehran…

Yemen's antiquities have endured centuries of looting, smuggling, and trafficking, rooted in a consistent pattern of colonial exploitation that dates back to the 19th century. In his travel memoir Vision of Yemen, Yemeni-Jewish scholar Hayyim Habshush captured Western orientalists’ fascination with Yemeni cultural and archeological wealth, drawing on his experience accompanying French orientalist Joseph Halévy on an archaeological expedition to…

The December incursion of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) into eastern Yemen appeared at first to be a resounding success for the UAE-backed secessionist movement. It was accompanied by triumphal pronouncements in southern media about the imminent resurrection of a southern state. But the rapid advance into the oil-rich hinterland, displacing pro-government and tribal forces, quickly unraveled in the face…

Following the dissolution of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) and the UAE’s sudden withdrawal from Yemen in early January, the country’s southern security architecture has undergone significant upheaval in the first quarter of 2026. In the three months since the STC withdrew troops and heavy weaponry from Al-Ma’ashiq Palace, Saudi Arabia has quickly moved to fill the resulting power vacuum,…

Over the past two years, Yemen's digital landscape has transformed into a battleground for legitimacy, control, and the shaping of public opinion. As the Houthi group (Ansar Allah) has intensified its campaign of arrests targeting local and international humanitarian workers, including United Nations (UN) and international non-governmental organization (INGO) staff, the social media platform X has emerged as a central…

Regional war has forced Gulf states to confront urgent questions about their security architecture. They require defensive capabilities and frameworks that extend beyond their borders, preserve their strategic autonomy, and allow them to press ahead with their ambitious development agendas. It also revives a question that Gulf capitals have long left unanswered: Can a sustainable regional security order be conceived…

On March 28, exactly one month on from the launch of the joint US-Israeli war against the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Houthis claimed two missile and drone attacks against Israel. There had been speculation since the beginning of the war that the Houthis would eventually join the hostilities on the side of their ally, Iran, but why did the…

The ongoing Iran War is reshaping the region in ways that exceed all prior projections, compelling all parties involved in the conflict, or affected by it, to reposition themselves and reconsider the assumptions that have long guided their decisions. What is unfolding is not simply a redrawing of the balance of power in the region. More fundamentally, Iran and its…

As the war on Iran continues to wreak havoc in the region, Yemen has been conspicuously absent from the escalating conflict. All eyes are on the Houthis, who have so far been reluctant to join the war. Should the Houthis mobilize, or should Israel and the US attack Yemen unprovoked, the threat to Sana’a, Yemen’s crown jewel and one of…

The war against Iran by the US and Israel is unleashing chaos across the region. Since the launch of the joint military offensive in the early hours of February 28, Iran’s death toll has reached the thousands, and its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been killed. Tehran’s retaliation continues to widen, with missiles and drones being fired at Israel,…