war

Yasmeen al-Eryani, the Co-Executive Director for Knowledge Production at the Sana'a Center, briefed the UN Security Council today, focusing on the ongoing negotiations, transitional justice, women’s rights, economic insecurity, and ecological justice in Yemen.

Over the course of three days — April 14, 15, and 16 — 887 prisoners were exchanged among Yemen’s warring parties in a deal facilitated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Houthi forces released 706 detainees in exchange for 181 prisoners held by forces affiliated with the internationally recognized government and the Arab coalition. While most detainees…

After eight years of absence from Yemen and my hometown of Sana’a, I decided to travel home, longing to see my family and loved ones after a long separation enforced by the war. The flight from Amman took three-and-a-half hours, landing in Aden in the early hours of the morning. My older brother came to pick me up and accompany…

The agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran to resume diplomatic ties on March 10 was surprising to many, but not entirely unexpected. Important signposts, including rounds of Saudi-Iranian talks in Iraq and Oman since 2021, and a Saudi desire to disengage from the war in Yemen, pointed to an engagement with Iran at some point. The wildcard, however, was the…

Early one summer morning, Mohammed[1] stood among his grove of qat trees in a village south of the capital Sana’a in Sanhan district. Two local men, who work as Mohammed’s mubazigheen (pickers), were busy harvesting qat, plucking leaves, and placing them in plastic shopping bags. Every so often, Mohammed would step in to help, hiking up his crisp white thobe…

Beekeeping in Yemen is as ancient as Yemeni civilization itself. Yemenis have mastered their beekeeping skills over centuries and can trace their rich heritage in apiculture (beekeeping) back to their pre-Islamic ancestors. In the Kingdom of Hadramawt, during the 10th century BC, trading honey was reported to have been the fourth largest economic sector.[1] Greek historian and philosopher Strabo (64…

Yemen: Poverty and Conflict, by Helen Lackner, Routledge, 2022, 184 pp., $48.95 (paperback), ISBN 9780367180508, $170.00 (hardcover), ISBN 9780367180492. An explosion of writing accompanies a war. Conflict journalism typically focuses on immediate outcomes of the fighting, humanitarian publications highlight the terrible human cost, and political and diplomatic observers proffer opinions on various strategic implications. But there is often a temporal…