Yemen

Yemen

The civil war in Yemen continues with no solution in sight. The Saudi-UAE led coalition versus the Houthis has shown signs of fracture, particularly in the secessionist southern region, and United Nations-mediated talks have achieved some small successes. The humanitarian crisis—named by the United Nations as the most catastrophic humanitarian crisis in the world—continues to spiral and a resolution to the conflict remains out of reach.

Featured commentary & analysis

Looking Forward in Yemen: Challenges, Opportunities, and the International Community’s Role

Podcast
Jun 18, 2026

“Shoot everybody”: US contractors in San Diego court

By
Alia Brahimi

In Season 2, Episode 16 of the Guns for Hire podcast, host Alia Brahimi is joined by Daniel McLaughlin, an international lawyer and Legal Director of the Centre for Justice and Accountability (CJA), a California-based legal nonprofit working on behalf of victims of torture and other atrocity crimes. Daniel and CJA are leading a civil suit in San Diego against a Delaware-registered PMC, Spear Operations Group, for war crimes in Yemen. They represent the Yemeni parliamentarian Anssaf Ali Mayo, who was one of the targets of an alleged hit-squad in Yemen. Daniel talks us through the facts of the case, how it ended up in a California courtroom ten years later, and which US and international laws were ostensibly broken by the PMC. He also argues forcefully that the US government has a duty to regulate how former members of its military use their training and know-how.

Middle East
Rule of Law

Looking Forward in Yemen: Challenges, Opportunities, and the International Community’s Role

MENASource
Mar 10, 2026

Will the Houthis join the Iran war?

By
Allison Minor

Houthi involvement in the Iran war could reignite the Yemen war after four years of relative calm, with significant implications for Yemen and the region.

Conflict
Iran

Looking Forward in Yemen: Challenges, Opportunities, and the International Community’s Role

MENASource
Oct 16, 2025

After the Gaza cease-fire, what’s next for the Houthis?

By
Osamah Al Rawhani

Will the Houthis cease their regional hostilities? The brief response is yes—but likely, only for the time being.

Maritime Security
Middle East

Learn more about the Middle East programs

Middle East Programs

Working with our allies and partners in Europe and the wider Middle East to protect US interests, build peace and security, and unlock the human potential of the region.

EXPLORE THE ATLANTIC COUNCIL’S MIDDLE EAST PROGRAMS

Content

Event Recap

Oct 25, 2012

Looking Forward in Yemen: Challenges, Opportunities, and the International Community’s Role

By Jason Harmala

In order to examine the challenges and opportunities with Yemen’s much awaited National Dialogue, the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East and the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) sponsored an event on October 25 featuring commentary by Atiaf Alwazir, a prominent youth activist in Yemen; Ibrahim Mothana, a co-founder of the new Watan […]

Yemen

External

Oct 1, 2012

IntelBrief: Yemen and Somalia: Assessing the Threat

By Bronwyn Bruton

In the tenth in the series of “IntelBriefs” on African security issues being produced by the Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center in partnership with the Soufan Group, an international strategic consultancy, Ansari Center Deputy Director Bronwyn Bruton weighs the evidence of and potential for operational cooperation between the various Islamist extremist groups in Yemen […]

Yemen

Event Recap

Sep 28, 2012

Yemen’s Transition: The Way Forward

By Jason Harmala

In a major public event hosted by the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East at the Atlantic Council and the Woodrow Wilson Center, President of Yemen Abdrabo Mansour Hadi provided a stark assessment of Yemen’s political, economic and security conditions and what failure there would mean for the United States and the international community.

Yemen

MENASource

Sep 4, 2012

Rallying for Yemen in Riyadh

By Danya Greenfield

At the start of a major donor conference for Yemen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on September 4 and 5, reports indicate half of Yemen’s twenty-five million people are on the verge of starvation, suffering a growing food crisis and lack of access to basic services. Despite the availability of food in the market, rising prices, […]

Yemen

Press Release

Aug 30, 2012

Yemen’s Transition Hangs in the Balance

By Jason Harmala

More than half of Yemen’s 25 million people are on the verge of starvation, according to aid agencies that have been sounding the alarm over the past several months regarding Yemen’s growing food crisis. Next week, at a donors’ conference on September 4 and 5 in Riyadh, attention will turn to the dire economic and […]

Yemen

Event Recap

Aug 29, 2012

Yemen’s Humanitarian Crisis: Impact on the Political Transition

By Jason Harmala

On Wednesday, August 29, the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, the Project on Middle East Democracy, and Mercy Corps hosted a panel discussion on Yemen’s humanitarian crisis and its impact on the political transition.

Yemen

New Atlanticist

Aug 29, 2012

Democracy Is Discipline and Self-Restraint

By Odeh Aburdene

The Arab uprisings over the last twenty months have shown that power flows from the bottom up, and people eventually will defy unjust tyranny and oppression. The Arab uprisings are a testament to the power of the powerless.

Libya North Africa

New Atlanticist

Aug 20, 2012

Reversing the Anti-American Sway in Yemen

By Danya Greenfield

While John Brennan’s, President Obama’s chief counterterrorism advisor, recent speech on U.S. policy in Yemen still echoed in the halls of the Council of Foreign Relations, the rebel Houthi movement was busy planning an anti-American demonstration galvanizing hundreds of supporters across the country. Although the Houthis are by no means representative of the Yemeni public, […]

Drones International Organizations

Press Release

Jun 26, 2012

Leading Experts Call for Recalibration of US Policy on Yemen in Letter to President Obama

By Jason Harmala

WASHINGTON — Twenty-seven leading foreign policy experts have sent a letter to President Obama, calling for a broader approach on US policy towards Yemen that “expands beyond the narrow lens of counterterrorism.” As US intelligence agencies point to the rise of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) activity making Yemen the next front in […]

Yemen

Resources

Jun 26, 2012

Danya Greenfield and Other Experts Write Open Letter to President Obama on Yemen

By Jason Harmala

Twenty-seven leading foreign policy experts, including Danya Greenfield, deputy director of the Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, sent a letter to President Obama, calling for a broader approach on US policy towards Yemen that “expands beyond the narrow lens of counterterrorism.”

Yemen
Load More

Experts

Fellow

Osamah Al Rawhani

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative

Middle East Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding

Fellow

Eric Alter

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative

Arabic French

Fellow

Khaled H. Alyemany

Former Nonresident Senior Fellow

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative

Arabic Middle East

Expert

Jon Wilks

Distinguished Fellow, Transatlantic Project

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Arabic Crisis Management