Yemen’s Civil War: root causes and fault lines

“I’m not sure … the Saudis and their allies control 80 percent [of Yemen], had they done so we would have seen an end to this conflict a long time ago.”

For War and Peace Talk, we spoke to Professor Sultan Barakat (Director of Research, Brookings Doha Center) about the evolution and root causes of the ‪‎Yemen War.‬

In this episode, Professor Barakat outlines how the combination of domestic conflict drivers and external, geopolitical developments in the region triggered the escalation into an all-out civil war. He also questions the level of control Saudi Arabia and its allies hold over the country.

Sultan Barakat is the Research Director at the Brookings Doha Center and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for Middle East Policy.

The interview was recorded in Amsterdam on June 22nd, 2016.