Hudaydah

Threatened with new attacks, Saudi Arabia has forced the Yemeni government to abandon efforts to cut off the Houthi group (Ansar Allah) from the international banking system. Financial sanctions enacted by the government-aligned Central Bank of Yemen in Aden (CBY-Aden) were perhaps the government’s last card in its efforts to negotiate economic relief or affect the power imbalance ahead of…

Following the widespread dissemination of leaked documents and a very public debate on the risks of agricultural pesticides, including accusations that Houthi leaders are involved in the trade of banned chemicals, Mahdi al-Mashat, the head of the group’s Supreme Political Council, addressed the thorny issue on May 19. Al-Mashat spoke during a meeting with leaders from the Ministries of Agriculture…

In assessing the situation in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in early April, one might have said Operations Prosperity Guardian and Aspides, the US- and EU-led coalitions tasked with defending the seas from Houthi attacks on commercial vessels, were achieving their declared goals. Attacks on ships were down, and Pentagon officials even speculated that the Houthis could be…

In April 2023, a Saudi delegation was invited to visit the Houthi-held capital of Sana’a. Over the next couple of days, the media arm of the Houthi group (Ansar Allah) distributed a series of photographs to international and local media outlets featuring Mahdi al-Mashat, head of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, smiling warmly in a stately reception hall and shaking…

The political situation in Yemen has been completely upended by the regional and domestic fallout wrought by Houthi attacks on maritime shipping and the conflict in Gaza. Peace talks between Saudi Arabia and the Houthi group (Ansar Allah) are now on hold indefinitely, and the future of a seemingly imminent deal is now unclear. Attacks on vessels transiting the Red…

Houthi attacks on commercial shipping have continued unabated since the beginning of the year, undeterred by a series of countermeasures from the United States and its allies, including retaliatory strikes, a terrorist designation and associated financial sanctions, and the formation of multiple anti-Houthi naval operations. Since January 1, the Houthis have targeted 34 commercial vessels, 13 of which they have…

The war has broken many of the basic elements of Yemeni society — but the legacy of its now-shattered higher education system will endure far beyond the cessation of hostilities. Unpaid salaries, plummeting enrollment, and unregulated privatization have eroded the quality of Yemen’s higher education system and left it teetering on the brink of collapse. The consequences of this collapse…

This policy brief summarizes the environmental issues Yemen faces and outlines policy and technical responses to limit their impact. These include environmental problems caused by the absence of state intervention or by misguided policies, and those that are symptoms of global warming, pointing out the frequent synergy between them. Yemen, like other developing countries, suffers the consequences of climate change…