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  • 30k Saudi Troops Deployed to Iraq’s Border after Iraqi Troops Vacate
     

    30,000 Saudi troops have been deployed to the Iraq border after Iraqi troops fled following ISIL’s incursion, according to a report. Al Arabiya reports that the troops are being deployed to secure the border with Iraq after the border was left “unprotected.” The move follows activity along Saudi Arabia’s border to the south with Yemen, […]

     
  • Uptick in US-Saudi Diplomacy including Secretary Kerry’s Praise for Saudi ‘Compassion’ for its $500m Humanitarian Pledge to Iraq
     

    U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry lauded Saudi Arabia’s “compassion” and “generosity” after the Kingdom announced it would donate $500 million in humanitarian aid to all people of Iraq, regardless of ethnicity or religion, according to a release made public by the State Department.  “Saudi Arabia has made an enormous and very significant commitment to help […]

     
  • FOCUS KSA – ‘Saudi Labor in Transition’: Register Now for Wednesday, March 14th 10:00am EST Online Discussion
     

    The international news cycle has moved on from President Obama’s visit to Riyadh in late March. The surge of commentary surrounding his trip tended toward hand-wringing about the status of the US-Saudi Arabia relationship and the tension between American and Saudi perspectives regarding Iran, Syria and Egypt.

     
  • On Saudi Employment, The Numbers Do Not Lie
     

    During the past few weeks the public’s attention has been focused on the labor market, and much has been said about providing jobs for Saudis. There is no doubt that jobs have been created in the past few years, but some figures announced in the media are exaggerated.

     
  • Restructuring Higher Education in Saudi Arabia
     

    Education in Saudi Arabia is still not sufficient to match the requirements of the labor market, especially for the Saudi private sector. Graduates need the right skills as required by the labor market, and those without these skills who focus on more general social sciences will be at a disadvantage. The answer is not more […]

     
  • Drone Revelation Underscores Defense/Security Bonds
     

    The recent news reports that American remotely operated aircraft are operating against Al Qaeda targets in Yemen should come as no surprise to those who have followed the close collaboration between the United States and Saudi Arabia over the course of the historic relationship. The revelations may be uncomfortable to those who seek to keep […]

     
  • The Gulf Military Balance in 2012
     

    The Burke Chair at CSIS is issuing a new report called the Gulf Military Balance in 2012. The report shows that the Gulf military balance is dominated by five major groups of military forces: the Southern Gulf states, Iran, Iraq, outside powers like the US, and non-state actors like the various elements of Al Qa’ida, the […]

     
  • Opening the TASI: What You Need to Know
     

    Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter and the Middle East’s biggest economy, is about to complete a gradual process to open its stock market, known as the Tadawul or TASI, directly to international investors for the first time.  The initial step toward this action was to give other GCC countries the right to invest […]

     
  • Saudi Perspective on the Middle East: Obaid
     

    In this SUSRIS exclusive presentation, the “Saudi Perspective on the Middle East: The View from Riyadh” assessment provides: the background and context for Saudi diplomacy — assets and characteristics; economic and energy data; sources of regional instability; the “New Gulf Union”; profile of Gulf defense configurations; the Kingdom’s role in regional stabilization and its political and […]

     
  • Al-Qaida’s wretched utopia and the battle for hearts and minds
     

    Driving east out of Aden, we were just a few hundred metres past the last army checkpoint when we saw the black al-Qaida flag. It flew from the top of a concrete building that had been part-demolished by shelling. From here into the interior, all signs of control by the government of Yemen disappeared. This […]

     

MUST-READS

  • UN imposes arms embargo on Yemen’s Houthi movement

    The Emirati-proposed measure, an expansion of targeted sanctions on Houthi leaders, was adopted by 11 votes, including all five permanent council members, while four non-permanent members – Ireland, Mexico, Norway and Brazil – abstained.

  • Yemen aid cuts to deepen as funds dry up, U.N. warns

    Yemenis face more cuts in humanitarian aid in coming months because of funding shortages that could reduce food rations in a country where millions face starvation, the United Nations aid chief warned, as the war sees its biggest escalation in years. Martin Griffiths told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that by the end of January nearly two thirds of major U.N. aid programmes had already scaled back or closed.

  • Divergent currency values make life even harder in Yemen

    A Yemeni traveling from the south to the north needs to be ready with the Houthi-approved banknotes or a hard currency such as the US dollar or the Saudi rial. With the government-printed money, nothing can be bought in Houthi-run areas.

  • Five UN workers abducted by suspected al-Qaida militants in Yemen

    The officials said the workers were abducted in the southern province of Abyan late on Friday and taken to an unknown location. They include four Yemenis and a foreigner, they said.

  • Saudi-led coalition asks civilians in ministries in Yemen’s Sanaa to evacuate

    The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen late on Sunday asked civilians in Yemeni ministries in the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa to immediately evacuate, the state news agency (SPA) said, citing the coalition. The coalition said the Iran-backed Houthis use these headquarters to “launch hostile operations,” and in response to the threat a site linked to the latest attack on Saudi Arabia’s Abha international airport would be destroyed.

  • Fighting eases in Yemen’s Marib as Saudi-led coalition revamps forces

    The Saudi-led coalition has deployed newly formed units near Yemen's Marib where battles have abated, according to military and government sources, as the warring sides hold their positions in the fight for energy-rich areas that has led to the war's biggest escalation in years. The Iran-aligned Houthi movement last month responded to losses in Shabwa and Marib at the hand of Emirati-backed forces with unprecedented assaults on alliance member the United Arab Emirates, dealing a fresh blow to stalled peace efforts.

  • US and Saudi Arabia hold talks to tackle Houthi atrocities in Yemen

    Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, has held talks with a senior US official on responding to rights abuse by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Prince Faisal met Yael Lempert, the US Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Monday night. “The two sides discussed ways to end Houthi violations against the Yemeni people which disrupt the political solution and development in Yemen,” the kingdom’s Foreign Ministry said.

  • Fighting eases in Yemen’s Marib as Saudi-led coalition revamps forces

    Marib is vital because it is the internationally recognised government's last stronghold in North Yemen, and the country's sole gas producing region with one of its largest oilfields. Three military sources said the UAE-backed Giants Brigade, southern Salafi Sunni Muslim fighters, have halted their advance in Marib after penetrating a Houthi cordon around the main city and securing the route to oil-rich Shabwa in the south.

  • Opinion: The UAE Finds It Isn’t So Easy to Escape Yemen Conflict

    When the United Arab Emirates withdrew most of its forces from Yemen in the fall of 2019, its leaders might have been forgiven a degree of self-satisfaction. Of the four Arab nations that intervened in the Yemeni civil war — the others are Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt — only the UAE salvaged some semblance of military pride after four years of fighting. While the coalition failed to defeat the Iranian-backed Houthi militia that had overthrown the Yemeni government and overrun Sana’a, the capital, the Emiratis prevented the rebels from capturing the south, including the crucial port of Aden.

  • Hundreds of Houthi rebel child soldiers dead in Yemen war – UN

    "The children are instructed to shout the Houthi slogan 'death to America, death to Israel, curse the Jews, victory to Islam'," the Associated Press news agency quoted the four-member panel of experts as saying. "In one camp, children as young as seven years of age were taught to clean weapons and evade rockets." It called on all parties "to refrain from using schools, summer camps and mosques to recruit children" and recommended sanctions for anyone who did not.