Helen Lackner is the author of Yemen in Crisis: The Road to War (2019) and Yemen: Poverty and Conflict (2022). She worked in rural development and lived in the three Yemeni states for fifteen years.
Ten years ago today, the Ansar Allah movement, known as the Houthis, took power in Yemen’s capital, Sana’a. The group’s response to the Israeli attack on Gaza over the last 12 months has brought it global attention while peace talks in Yemen stall.
Joe Biden has launched yet another US war in the Middle East with his air strikes on Yemen. The bombing campaign won’t stop attacks on Red Sea shipping — but an end to Israel’s war on Gaza will.
In a wide-ranging interview, Yemen scholar Helen Lackner examines the Houthis’ politics, their support for Palestine, and the long history of a country torn by civil war.
The Biden administration has chosen to open up a new front in Yemen instead of pressuring Israel to stop its onslaught against Gaza. Air strikes are unlikely to deter attacks on Red Sea shipping, but they could undercut a deal to end Yemen’s bloody civil war.
The Arab Spring was an inspiring explosion of democratic energy that ended tragically in autocracy and violence. Understanding the protests’ ultimate failure requires concrete analysis of political and economic factors, not superficial cultural explanations.
Yemen’s Houthi movement attracted global attention by seizing an Israeli-linked ship in the Red Sea and firing rockets toward Israel. They felt obliged to act because of the strong, historically rooted support for Palestinians among the Yemeni people.
Ongoing efforts to negotiate a peace agreement in Yemen haven’t brought an end to fighting between the Houthi movement and a Saudi-led alliance. Even if those efforts bear fruit, Yemenis will suffer the consequences of a humanitarian disaster for years to come.
South Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Arabian Peninsula, gave birth to its most radical government in the 1960s and ’70s. The achievements and failings of Yemeni socialism are a vital case study as Yemen seeks to recover from a catastrophic war.
Yemen’s rich and complex history was upended by its catastrophic civil war beginning in 2014. A peace agreement could help Yemenis recover the frustrated hopes of the 2011 uprising — if Saudi Arabia stops demanding victory for its allies.
Ten years ago, inspired by revolts in Egypt and Tunisia, Yemenis challenged an authoritarian ruler and dared to dream of a new future for their country. But a backlash by Yemen’s old guard and interference by foreign powers crushed those hopes and plunged the country into war.
Thirty years ago today, Yemen united as one country in a mood of optimism about the future. Those hopes were to be cruelly disappointed, thanks to the destructive, self-serving record and rivalry of Yemen’s political elites.
The Saudi-led, US-backed war in Yemen has produced a humanitarian hellscape. And there’s no end in sight.
Yemen had the longest and deepest Arab Spring — why did the country collapse into civil war?