The people of Yemen are living through one of the world’s worst humanitarian and economic crises.  Yemen, long a tangle of competing interests, has become a battlefield.  Not only are three major entities, each wielding armed force, competing for power, but two Gulf states have been close to war with each other over Yemen-related issues. 

The three main combatants​ are the internationally recognized government, mainly operating out of Riyadh​ in Saudi Arabia; the Southern Transitional Council (STC) until recently based in Aden, but now dispersed;  and the Houthis, entrenched in the capital Sanaa.  Poverty, food insecurity and collapsed public services are affecting the population​s ​of all three.    

In 2025 over 19 million people – roughly half the population – were assessed as needing humanitarian assistance, while more than 80% of Yemenis were found to be living in poverty, many unable to meet basic food needs.

Yemen’s internationally acknowledged sovereign authority resides in the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), established in 2022 after the previous unified republic disintegrated in the aftermath of the so-called “Arab Spring”.  The then-president ceded his powers and the governance of Yemen to the PLC, which is now led by Rashad Muhammad al-Alimi.  He holds the powers of the presidency, and is backed by Saudi Arabia.  

The Southern Transitional Council (STC) was formed in May 2017.  It is an attempt, backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to restore the independent South Yemen that had existed before the unification of north and south in 1990.  The movement is headed by Aidarus alZoubaidi, once governor of Aden, who serves as its........

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