The Seeds of Yemen’s Future Wars
Regardless of how or when the current conflict in Yemen ends, child soldiers are not simply going to disappear.
Gregory D. Johnsen
Non-Resident Fellow, AGSIW; Former Member, U.N. Panel of Experts on Yemen
Gregory D. Johnsen is a non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. He is currently the associate director of the Institute for Future Conflict at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
Johnsen has been a Peace Corps volunteer in Jordan, a Fulbright Fellow in Yemen, and a Fulbright-Hays Fellow in Egypt. In 2013-14 he was selected as BuzzFeed’s inaugural Michael Hastings National Security Reporting Fellow where he won a Dirksen Award from the National Press Foundation and, in collaboration with Radiolab, a Peabody Award. He has a PhD from Princeton University and master’s degrees from Princeton and the University of Arizona. Johnsen is the author of The Last Refuge: Yemen, Al-Qaeda, and America’s War in Arabia (W.W. Norton), which has been translated into multiple languages. From 2016-18 he served on the Yemen Panel of Experts for the United Nations Security Council. In 2019, he served as the lead writer for the United States Institute of Peace’s Syria Study Group. His writing on Yemen and terrorism has appeared in, among others, The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Foreign Policy.
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Blog Post content-type in which the post is published
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Now that the war against the Houthis appears to be nearing an end, the head of the Southern Transitional Council is making his move to push for Southern independence.
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If the international community wants to ensure that Yemen’s war actually ends when the peace deal is signed, it needs to rebuild the country’s economy.
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The Evolving Iranian-Houthi Relationship Spells Trouble for Ending the Yemen Conflict
Iran has leverage, influence, and history with the Houthis. As Saudi Arabia tries to extract itself from Yemen, Tehran will utilize all three to prolong the conflict.
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From the Mountains, Into the Palace: The Houthis Won the War but Might Lose What Comes Next
The Houthis will be more vulnerable after the full withdrawal of Saudi and Emirati forces than they have been at any time during the war.
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The United States wants to end the war in Yemen, but given its lack of leverage over the Houthis, the few policy options it does have will likely make the situation worse.
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At the moment, the Houthis believe they have more to gain from war than peace.
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Shabwa and Cracks in the Foundation of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council
Recent fighting in Shabwa highlights lack of unity of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, threatening its ability to present a common front against the Houthis.
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The Art of the Possible in Yemen
If the United States wants to avoid a disaster scenario in Yemen, it should shift its focus from the failed attempt to resurrect a single Yemeni state to laying the groundwork for a divided Yemen.