Yemen

Country: Yemen

″Pioneering women in the Arab-Islamic History of Education″: Fatima al-Fihri (source: Raseef22)

Women and Arab-Islamic education

The doyennes of learning

The first university in the world was founded by a Muslim woman. One of the Arab world′s most prestigious and oldest universities was also founded by an Arab princess. Women had a remarkable role in building schools and patronising the sciences throughout Islamic history. By Tharwat Al-BatawiMore

Taha Hussein and the democratisation of education in Egypt: The sea of knowledge The decline of Islamic scientific thought: Don't blame it on al-Ghazali ''The House of Wisdom'' by Jim Al-Khalili: The golden age of learning in the Arab-speaking world

Iraqi boy riding past a burning oil-field following an IS attack in Qayyarah near Mosul (photo: Getty Images/C. Court)

Arab identity crisis

What is left of the Arabs?

Despite war and mass murder, the Arabs were never as numerous as they are today. But they were also never as unsure about who they are. Does an Arab identity survive? What about Arab culture? These are the questions being asked today. In view of the political and social downward spiral, all of this is now at stake, says Stefan Buchen in his essayMore

Political discourse in the Arab world: Defaming democracy Political transformation in the Arab world: Forget the people Critical reflections on the Arab revolutions: Profiteers from authoritarian decay

Handprints as a symbol of protest against Saudi airstrikes in Yemen (photo: Reuters)

Saudi military involvement in Yemen

Chronically insecure

Saudi Arabia began its military offensive against its neighbour to the south in 2015, ostensibly to reinstate Yemen′s deposed president. Instead the war has driven the poorest country in the region to the brink of famine. By Maysam BehraveshMore

Saudi-Iranian rivalry: And the winner is...Sunni-Shia tension: Islam versus Islam Saudi intervention in Yemen: Stoking the fires

The Saudi King Salman (left), British Prime Minister Theresa May (centre) and King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa of Bahrain during the GCC summit on 7 December 2016 in Manama (photo: AFP)

Re-assessing Western involvement in the Middle East

Far from Utopian

A reconfiguration of relations between the West and the Arab world is in the offing. Utopia it will not be, but it may result in a more harmonious and balanced political situation, writes BBC radio journalist and Middle East expert Neville TellerMore

Iran and Saudi Arabia: A plea for Islamic tolerance Saudi-Iranian rivalry: And the winner is...Saudi Arabia's nuclear plans and Iran: Is a nuclear arms race looming in the Gulf?

US MQ-1 drone in Yemen (photo: picture-alliance/dpa)

Military force and drone warfare

Post-truth victims

During the Obama era, the world witnessed what could be referred to as the 'dronification' of killing. Gone are combatant status, war goals and the option of negotiation. No prisoners are taken; people are just killed and anyone who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time just gets killed along with them. By Charlotte Wiedemann

Interview with journalist Chris Woods on drone warfare: "It's not risk-free war, it's displaced war" Drone war in Afghanistan and Pakistan: Living in the shadow of the "angels of death"Interview with the Pakistani lawyer Mirza Shahzad Akbar: Fighting the injustice of the US drone programme Noam Chomsky in interview: Obama's sangfroid

Award-winning journalist Patrick Cockburn (photo: Martin Hunter)

Non-fiction: ″The Age of Jihad ″ by Patrick Cockburn

A catalogue of blunders

″The Age of Jihad: The Islamic State and the Great War for the Middle East″ by journalist Patrick Cockburn traces not just the rise of Islamic State and other extremist groups who are striving for power in Muslim countries, but how American and British foreign policy in this century has contributed directly to their emergence. Richard Marcus read the bookMore

Non-fiction: ″Magic in Islam″ by Michael Muhammad Knight: Finding the hole in the fence The West and the Islamic world: Diplomatic hubris 100 years of Sykes-Picot: "A tapestry of plans and promises"

Yemen′s former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh (photo: picture-alliance/dpa)

Ali Abdullah Saleh and the conflict in Yemen

The lure of power

During the Arab Spring President Saleh faced widespread armed protests and was forced to leave office. Thanks to some unscrupulous wheeling and dealing, however, Saleh may yet pull off his bid to return to power. By Neville TellerMore

Saudi intervention in Yemen: Stoking the fires The destruction of Yemen's cultural heritage: Treasures of humanity under threat Political rule before and after the ″Arabellion″: Internal colonialism and counter-revolution

Treffen der Außenminister Saudi-Arabien, Türkei, USA und Russland. Foto: Getty Images

Saudi-Iranian rivalry

And the winner is...

A cold war is waging in one of the world′s hottest regions. A key component of the sectarian competition between Shia and Sunni Islam in the Middle East is geopolitical, with Iran facing off against Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies in a struggle for regional dominance. By Robert HarveyMore

Syrian conflict: Everyone against everyone Saudi-US relations: Chilly diplomacy Sunni-Shia tension: Islam versus Islam

Yemen′s former minister for human rights, Hooria Mashhour (photo: AFP/Getty Images)

Interview with Hooria Mashhour

On the rebels′ blacklist

Fearing for her life in her home country, a former minister from Yemen applied to Germany for asylum. Now she′s working for the integration of refugees. Interview by Ali AlmakhlafiMore

After the upheaval in the Arab world: Escalating wars The Yemen conflict: The threat of a regional conflagration Media reports on the Yemen conflict: A skewed view of Yemen's plight

US President Barack Obama at the Gulf Co-operation Summit in Riyadh on 21.04.2016 (photo: Reuters/K. Lamarque)

Saudi-US relations

Chilly diplomacy

Relations between the US and its long-term ally Saudi Arabia are at an historically low ebb. President Barack Obama′s recent visit to Saudi Arabia did little to improve the situation. Bernard Haykel, professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, provides an analysisMore

Saudi intervention in Yemen: Stoking the fires Sunni-Shia tension: Islam versus Islam Iran-Saudi conflict: The Middle East′s Cold War

Egyptian police in a suburb of Cairo (photo: AFP)

Reforming the Arab security sector

A plea for transparency

In many Arab countries, comprehensive democratisation and national reconciliation is needed if urgently needed security sector reforms are to have the desired effect, says Yezid Sayigh, Senior Associate at the Carnegie Middle East Center in BeirutMore

Police co-operation with Egypt: Is Germany an "accessory to repression"?New anti-terrorism law in Tunisia: Law triggers hope and concern The crisis of the Arab nation state: Reconstructed reality

Saudi troops on their way to fight Houthi rebels in Yemen

Saudi Arabia and Iran

Defeat Islamic State - or become it

The dawn of 2016 has brought a new round of doomsday predictions that Saudi Arabia’s ruling Al Saud family cannot sustain its autocratic grip on power. The kingdom, pessimists argue, is caught in a perfect storm with economic problems, social challenges and foreign policy crises all converging at the same time. By James M. Dorsey More

Iran-Saudi conflict: The Middle East′s Cold War Saudi Arabia: Janadriyah Festival of Culture: A population ruled by fear ″Islamic State″: lessons learnt: What chance a Muslim reformation?Saudi intervention in Yemen: Stoking the fires

Saudi intervention in Yemen

Stoking the fires

Riyadh′s support for militants fighting the Houthis has greatly benefited al-Qaida and the Islamic State in Yemen. Reversing their advances is likely to prove difficult. By Nasser ArrabyeeMore

Yemen: History can help us to understand Media reports on the Yemen conflict: A skewed view of Yemen's plight The Yemen conflict: The threat of a regional conflagration

Shia Muslims protest in Pakistan following a terrorist attack in Lahore on 22 January 2014 which killed 24 Shia pilgrims (photo: AFP/Getty Images)

Sunni-Shia tension

Islam versus Islam

The religious element of the conflicts raging in the Middle East today is a major reason why they are proving so difficult to defuse. An essay by Shahid Javed BurkiMore

Iran-Saudi conflict: The Middle East′s Cold War Iran-Saudi conflict: Playing the sectarian card Qantara dossier: Sunni-Shia tension

The German writer and Nobel laureate Gunter Grass (photo: picture-alliance/dpa/Gambarini)

Yemen: freedom of expression

The intervention of a Nobel Laureate

Now and then an Arab author will write a novel that doesn′t meet with the approval of one or two influential people. When that happens, the state reveals its true face – the ugly side to which the general public and the international community don′t usually have access, hidden as it is beneath inches of makeup and artifice. By Wajdi al-AhdalMore

Interview with the Yemeni author Ali al-Muqri: ″Sex is the origin of all life″Interview with the Yemeni director Sara Ishaq: "Yemen is like a garden that was full of weeds"Non-violent, Anti-terror Campaign in Yemen: Working for Peace and Tolerance

French support for Bouazizi (photo: Antoine Walter; source: Wikimedia commons.org)

Five years of Arab Spring

The butterfly effect

It was the flap of a butterfly wing that was to trigger a storm in Europe. Mohamed Bouazizi's self-immolation in 2010 sent a clear signal: things were about to change. Despite many setbacks, the impact of this message is still being felt. By Karim El-GawharyMore

Post-Arabellion reform deadlock: The logic of power Political rule before and after the ″Arabellion″: Internal colonialism and counter-revolution Interview with Rafik Schami: "Escape is a life-saver"