Despite growing concerns in the United States and the Arab world about Iran’s destabilizing role in the region, Iranian leaders continue to defend the country’s subversive policies in the Yemeni conflict.
In its first official reaction to the fall of Aleppo, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) hailed the seizure of Syria’s second largest city as a “divine gift” to the Iranian regime and a prelude to bigger achievements by Iran and its regional proxies across the Middle East.
The governor of Yemen’s Jawf governorate, in north central Yemen bordering Saudi Arabia, told a press conference, December 15, that the Yemeni army had captured “a large number of militias, including Iranian experts and others from Hizballah… ,” according to al-Arabiya. The governor said that the Iranians and Hizballah personnel were providing the Houthi militias with information and support.
Comment:
Regional Cooperation Series
This Policy Paper is part of the Middle East Institute’s Regional Cooperation Series. Throughout 2016, MEI will be releasing several policy papers by renowned scholars and experts exploring possibilities to foster regional cooperation across an array of sectors. The purpose is to highlight the myriad benefits and opportunities associated with regional cooperation, and the high costs of the continued business-as-usual model of competition and intense rivalry.
Cinzia Miotto contributed to this article.
In a remark that is likely to heighten tension in the Gulf region, the Iranian chief of staff of the armed forces has called for setting up naval bases across on the coasts of Yemen and Syria in the future.
When the Lebanese parliament elected Michel Aoun as the country’s president on October 31, Iran celebrated the news as a “
Diplomatic relations between Iran and the United Arab Emirates are going through another rough patch as the latter recently submitted a letter to the United Nations General Assembly, expressing concern over Iran’s “expansionist” policies in the region.
When Osama bin Laden carefully recruited a number of Saudis to carry out the 9/11 attacks, his intention was to drive a wedge between his two enemies, the United States and the Saudi government. Fifteen years after the attacks, the JASTA legislation appears to be doing just that.
The State Department has welcomed an agreement among all Yemeni parties and the Saudi-led coalition to observe a 72-hour cease-fire beginning on October 19. The warring factions agreed to “implement a full and comprehensive halt to military activities of any kind and help facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Yemenis across the country.”[i]
The parties to the intractable Yemen war appear further entrenched in their enmity than ever before, despite U.S. and British efforts to push Yemeni leaders toward new negotiations.
In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Robert S. Ford, Paul Salem, and Marvin G. Weinbaum provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including Russia’s recent escalation of military force in Syria, deteriorating Saudi-Iranian relations, and an escalation in the Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
Russia’s Sharp Escalation in Syria
Robert S. Ford, Senior Fellow
In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Ruba Husari, Charles Lister, and Charles Schmitz provide analysis on events including OPEC’s upcoming meeting to discuss production rates and a potentil freeze, Russia’s bombardment of Aleppo following the collapse of the latest cease-fire, and the worsening humanitarian disaster in Yemen.
OPEC to Mull Oil Freeze
Ruba Husari, MEI Scholar
September 14, 2016 – Charles Schmitz, MEI scholar and professor of geography at Towson University, sits with Paul Salem to discuss the state of play in Yemen, where more than a year of war has led to thousands of civilian casualties and compounded a long-standing humanitarian crisis.
