Yemen: A Battle for the Future

Speakers: Ginny Hill, LSE Middle East Centre; Baraa Shiban, Reprieve Chair: Robert Lowe, LSE Middle East Centre Yemen is embroiled in multiple civil wars, triggered by a long-term decline in oil production, the failure of state-building, strong sub-national identities and internal competition between rival elite networks that comprised the regime of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Ginny Hill and Baraa Shiban present their paper for the Remote Control Project, examining the use of special forces, mercenaries and armed drones. They highlight the moral and political risks for Western governments training and arming regional protagonists, such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, to fight in Yemen. They argue that the implications of the Saudi-led intervention may extend far beyond Yemen’s borders to influence the conduct of future wars. Recorded on 9 November 2016. Image credit: Richard Messenger, Flickr. Sanaa, Yemen.