About this book:

*Yemen: Anatomy of a Forgotten War* provides a comprehensive analysis of the Yemeni conflict, tracing its roots from ancient civilizations and the Zaydi imamate through the 1962 republican revolution and the fraught 1990 unification. The book details how the patronage-based "Saleh system" eventually collapsed under the pressure of the 2011 Arab Spring, leading to a failed transition that allowed the Houthi movement to seize Sana’a in 2014. This internal power struggle transformed into a regionalized catastrophe with the 2015 intervention of a Saudi-led coalition, creating what the authors describe as a multi-layered contest over state legitimacy and regional influence.

The text meticulously examines the conduct of the war across diverse frontlines, highlighting the evolution of asymmetric technologies such as Houthi drones and missiles, and the strategic importance of the maritime theater in the Red Sea. It explores the rise of localized de facto authorities, including the Southern Transitional Council, and the opportunistic expansion of jihadist actors like AQAP. A central theme is the "war economy," where formal institutions have been replaced by predatory networks that exploit smuggling and resource extraction, further incentivizing the continuation of hostilities.

Stark attention is paid to the resulting humanitarian calamity, characterized by widespread famine, the collapse of the healthcare system, and historic outbreaks of cholera. The book emphasizes that the crisis is not merely a byproduct of fighting but a consequence of deliberate strategies, including blockades and the systematic non-payment of public sector salaries. The narrative illustrates how displacement and the erosion of education have specifically endangered women and children, threatening to leave a generational legacy of trauma and social fragmentation.

The concluding chapters argue for a pragmatic, inclusive peace roadmap that moves beyond high-level diplomacy to incorporate local tribal mediation and grassroots peacebuilding. The authors assert that durable stability requires comprehensive security sector reform to integrate various militias into a national force, alongside urgent economic stabilization measures. By reunifying financial institutions and ensuring equitable revenue sharing, the book suggests that Yemen can move from state collapse toward a recovery that is fundamentally Yemeni-owned and regionally guaranteed.