Saturday, April 13

For the first time since the war began, Yemen’s parliament held a session with a quorum of members participating; President Hadi was in attendance. The purpose of this session was to fill parliamentary positions and focus on ways to combat the Houthis. However, this is difficult as elections have not been held since 2009, and many pre-war parliamentarians remain in San’a, where the Houthi administration also claims the support of the legislature. It is unlikely that this parliament will make any significant contribution to the peace process.

Sunday, April 14

The Washington Post is reporting that the Islamic State and al-Qaeda are in a deadly contest for territory, recruits, and influence in Yemen. Clashes are occurring and fighting has escalated in central Baydha province between Yemeni tribal forces that are aligned with the two groups. Elisabeth Kendall, a Yemen expert at Oxford University, states that the feud is “linked to local territorial and power rivalries.”

Monday, April 15

It is reported that French weapons “may have been used to commit war crimes” in Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition. France has previously said that French-made weapons were only used defensively, but they have not responded to these  specific allegations yet. Moreover, Amnesty International is urging France to immediately suspend all arms transfers to Yemen.

Friday, April 5

The Saudi ambassador to the UN is calling on the UN Security Council to “disarm” Houthi militias, citing the Houthis’ stockpile of missiles and drones, and the incident last week in which two Houthi drones were intercepted over the kingdom.

Saturday, April 6

Al Jazeera reports on the cholera epidemic that has made a resurgence and has killed at least 300 people since the beginning of the outbreak. Last month more 76,000 suspected cases were registered. The UN believes this outbreak could be as bad as the one in 2017 that killed more than 3,000 people. Treatment is limited and prices of medication are high. Cholera is spread primarily through polluted food and water, and the conflict only exacerbates the problem. The feature states that it is likely the disease will be contained only when the war ends and reconstruction begins.

Southern news outlet Aden al-Ghad reports clashes between Houthi militias and the pro-government Giants Brigade outside the city of Ta’iz.

Houthi shelling in al-Tuhayta directorate of Hudaydah province killed seven and wounded seventeen people, reports Aden al-Ghad.

Friday, March 29

In an interview with The Guardian, Mohamed Ali al-Houthi criticized UK Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt for pressuring Germany to end its ban on arms sales to Saudi Arabia, saying that the UK can not be a peace-broker and an arms seller. German parties have reached a compromise that will extend the ban for another six months, while allowing German firms to fulfill existing contracts with other European arms makers.

Aden al-Ghad reports that a Southern Yemeni women’s group, Southern Women for Southern Independence, sent a letter to the UN. The letter expressed the group’s objections to not having been included in the recent Yemeni Women’s Conference entitled “Mediators for Peace,” organized by UN Women in Amman, Jordan.

Saturday, March 30

SPA reports that government forces “besieged” areas in southeast Ta’iz, and “liberated” areas in al-Aqrud from the Houthis.

Sunday, March 31

In a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr. Anwar Gargash rejects a report by the Group of Eminent experts on Yemen and instead believes that the Human Rights Council should refocus efforts on supporting Yemen’s government. The UAE is responsible for the abduction, torture, and murder of Yemeni civilians in their network of extralegal prisons in the south, as well as for war crimes associated with the coalition’s air campaign.

CARPO, the Center for Applied Research in Partnership with the Orient, released their latest report on Yemen, Understanding Peace Requirements in Yemen, on March 5, 2019. The report highlights political and social factors that impact the ongoing conflict, identifying requirements for peace in relevant sectors, and important actors that can play a role in meeting these requirements.

While the war in Yemen is often portrayed as having two sides---the Houthis aligned with GPC-San’a against the Saudi-led coalition and Hadi’s government forces--in reality, both sides are fragmented, with groups representing different political loyalties, often resulting in conflict among the groups within each alliance.