Abdullah HAMIDADDIN (Editor), The Huthi Movement in Yemen: Ideology, Ambition, and Security in the Arab Gulf (London, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2023)

Abstract

Abdullah Hamidaddin edited a comprehensive study published by Bloomsbury in cooperation with King Faisal Research and Islamic Studies. The book provides outstanding research on the Huthi movement including sections on its ideology, belief system; and role in reconfiguring one of the oldest and strongest culture and history in the region. The current state of the Yemeni government, that is the divided and insecure rule of country since the Arab revolts in 2011 poses military and political threats to the Arab Gulf States and the Horn of Africa. Yemen hosts paramilitary groups like the Huthis and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula along with unorganized groups belonging to Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as well as military groups with links to the Southern secessionists. Yemen is a failed state that poses serious insecurities for its citizens and for other states in the region. The underlining socio-economic problems of Yemen in terms of lack of economic activities, food insecurity, and the security of civilians are closely related with the ongoing proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran; the military intervention led by Saudi Arabia since 2015; the internal conflict among three major groups including Huthis, the Central government and the Southern secessionists. Amid all these overlapping elements of the conflict, the nature of the Huthi movement and how it has evolved to be major actor in Yemen require further attention.