Presidential Leadership Council

August 12, 2026 | Bridget Toomey |

Fighting in Yemen escalates, raising concern of a return to civil war

The Houthis launched a series of attacks on Yemeni government forces on August 6. It is the most substantial campaign in Yemen from the Iran-backed terror group since a 2022 UN-brokered truce paused...

July 14, 2026 | Bridget Toomey |

Saudi Arabia and Houthis trade attacks over restarting direct flights between Yemen and Iran

Saudi Arabia struck Sanaa International Airport in the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital on July 13 to stop the landing of a plane carrying the Houthi delegation to slain Iranian Supreme Leader...

July 7, 2026 | Edmund Fitton-Brown, Bridget Toomey

Sanaa-Tehran Direct Air Route Would Aid Iranian Efforts To Arm Houthis in Yemen

Despite an air blockade imposed by Saudi Arabia, a delegation of Iranian-backed Houthis from Yemen arrived in Tehran on July 3 — marking the first time in roughly a decade that a commercial...

March 17, 2026 | Jonathan Schanzer |

Blacklisting the Brotherhood

The Trump administration made history on November 24, 2025, when it issued an executive order calling for the U.S. government to designate “certain Muslim Brotherhood chapters as Foreign Terrorist...

December 31, 2025 | Bridget Toomey |

UAE forces to depart Yemen after Saudi demands, strikes

On December 30, the United Arab Emirates announced that its forces would leave Yemen after Saudi Arabia insisted that the UAE withdraw from the country the same day, echoing demands...

October 27, 2025 | Bridget Toomey |

UAE ‘likely’ building airstrip on strategic island in Red Sea

Satellite imagery reviewed by the Associated Press shows an airstrip under construction on Zuqar Island, a strategic island in the Red Sea about 55 miles south of the port of Hodeidah, which...

October 27, 2025 | David Adesnik, Mariam Wahba, Ahmad Sharawi, David Daoud, Natalie Ecanow, Hussain Abdul-Hussain, Bridget Toomey

Patient Extremism: The Many Faces of the Muslim Brotherhood

April 18, 2025 | Bridget Toomey |

Yemeni forces planning ground offensive against the Houthis

Anti-Houthi “Yemeni militias are planning a ground offensive against the Houthis,” according to Yemeni and US officials cited by the Wall Street Journal. The plans follow over a month...

April 16, 2025 | Ahmad Sharawi, Sinan Ciddi

Turkey’s Ties to Al-Qaeda Entities in Yemen Threaten Regional Security

“Turkey is a country that loves us, and we love it,” declared Abu Omar al-Nahdi, a former emir in al-Qaeda’s Yemen branch and now the leader of the newly formed Change and Liberation Movement in...

March 5, 2024 | Seth J. Frantzman |

Yemen’s people and leaders are getting tired of the Houthi problem

Many Yemenis are tired of the way the Houthis have hijacked the country to turn it into a platform for Iran and Iran’s proxy war against Israel, the US, and the region.