Warnings of a potential large-scale famine in Yemen following a Saudi naval and air blockade that the Saudis have agreed to ease have brought that country’s dire humanitarian situation to the forefront of media attention. Implicated in the controversy …
Missiles Hit Riyadh: Iran’s Warning to the Gulf Countries
Judging by recent events, Iran appears to be heading towards a new escalation with the Gulf countries. The stalemate between the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels and the Saudi-led coalition persists, as neither of the parties has managed to strike a decisive blow. However, the Houthis have discovered a weak point in the Saudi defense-the vulnerability of […]
The Mirage of the Mid-East “Moderate Alliance”
In recent years, it has become customary in much analysis of the Middle East emerging from Israel to divide Middle Eastern countries into a series of alliances or ‘camps.’ These camps are identified in a variety of ways. But the most usual depiction notes a tight, hierarchical bloc of states and movements dominated by the […]
Tremor in Yemen
The Yemeni civil war, in which an Iran-supported Shia militia, the Ansar Allah movement (the ‘Houthis’) is clashing with a Saud- led coalition supporting the government of President Abd Rabbo Mansur al-Hadi, is largely … Continue reading →
Fall of Eagles: The Eclipse of the Arab Nationalist State
Tower Magazine, June 2015. The most significant dynamic in the Middle East over the last decade has been the collapse of strong, centralized regimes in a series of Arab states and their replacement by chaos, civil war, and the proliferation … Continue reading →
The Saudi-Iranian Proxy War in Yemen
A briefing for the Middle East Forum on April 30, 2015. Click here to hear the audio file The current Houthi uprising is but the latest phase in a prolonged internecine strife. Having long suffered discrimination and marginalization by the central government, this Zaidi Shiite group, about forty percent of Yemen’s population, capitalized on the […]