The myth of Obama’s failure in the Middle East

US diplomacy is actively engaged on all fronts in the region, while the president’s critics offer no feasible alternatives.

Saudi Arabia

Yemen's children in crisis

School conditions in Yemen are among the worst in the world, as Yemen's government fails to invest in education, and 2 million Yemeni children do not even attend school.

Legacy: Gulf

Al-Monitor launches Gulf Pulse

With the launch of its Gulf Pulse, Al-Monitor is expanding its coverage of the region.

Saudi Arabia

Yemen faces increasing weapons, drugs smuggling problem

The trafficking of weapons, drugs and human beings has become a major problem for Yemen.

Yemen

Yemen hit with plague of commissions

Yemeni politicians are fond of forming commissions as a means to dealing with problems, but those commissions rarely produce any results.

Yemen

Yemeni ports see traffic decline dramatically

Piracy and the rise of competing ports has cost Yemen’s Aden Port a lot of business.

Yemen

Yemen’s decade of division

Since the start of the decade, Yemeni society has gone through partisan splits that have devolved into sectarian divisions.

Yemen

Are UN Security Council anti-al-Qaeda terror statutes properly enforced?

The UN Security Council has established a regime for a travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo against the al-Qaeda network since 1999, but new circumstances bring about serious doubts if such a regime is still functioning.

Yemen

Al-Qaeda benefits from unsettled Yemen politics

Yemen’s Gulf Initiative, which gave President Ali Abdullah Saleh and many of his officers immunity in exchange for stepping down, has been followed by a rise in extremism.

Yemen

Yemeni women marginalized even in death

Yemeni officials have prevented the body of a woman killed during the Dec. 5 attack against a Defense Ministry hospital in Sanaa from being buried in the official martyrs’ cemetery.

Yemen

Yemen-Saudi love story highlights political tensions

The recent story of a Yemeni man and a Saudi woman who fell in love and fled to Yemen highlights long-standing political and social tensions between their two neighboring states.

Saudi Arabia

Yemeni tribal checkpoints take travelers off guard

In the past two years, checkpoints set up by gangs and tribes have become widespread in Yemen.

Yemen