Mar 31, 2021
For the past six years, Yemen has been the center of a heated armed conflict between its Saudi and UAE-backed government and the rebel group “Ansar Allah,” more commonly known as the Houthis, leading to countless deaths and internally displaced persons. On top of the global challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic, Yemenis are continuing to face dire health crises exacerbated by the war, causing what is widely regarded as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. In the wake of a recent ceasefire proposal by Saudi Arabia, what is the current state of the conflict in Yemen? What are the broader geopolitical dynamics at play between neighboring powers that are fueling this war, and how is the Biden administration approaching this enduring foreign policy issue?
This episode’s guest is Dr. Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a Fellow in the Baker Institute’s Center for the Middle East. He is a top expert on the geopolitics of the Persian Gulf region who has recently published a number of policy analyses on the conflict in Yemen and other pressing foreign policy questions, all of which are available on the Baker Institute website.