Since 2004, Yemen is facing a rebellious movement by a Shiite militant group called the Houthis1. The Houthis established a parallel rule in northern part of the country and occupied the capital Sana'a. Due to involvement of regional powers including Iran, UAE and Saudi Arabi the nature of conflict became both sectarian and separatist. Following the Arab uprising in 2011, the roots of recent conflict lies in the failure of political transition between the former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his opposition. The geopolitical situation and support of Iran for the Houthis made the station in Yemen more complex. Therefore, the Gulf countries particularly Saudi Arabia was concerned because of the strategic and political situation of its fragile neighbor. This paper provides an insight to the conflict in various aspects including the role of conflicting parties, role of proxies, role of world powers and regional actors to analyze the conflict in a detailed manner. At the end study also discusses the most recent political and strategic developments having implication on the region.

This article explores Arab-Islamic sulh (reconciliation) which is known to be rooted in religious (sectarian) and cultural dynamics, as well as tribal practices of the Arab societies. For this purpose, this article highlights the limitations of the conflict resolution approaches now in use as contextually unsuitable. It further draws attention to the continuing vitality of Arab-Islamic rituals of reconciliation sulh and identifies ways that mediators (US, UK UAE, and others) might benefit from an appraisal of such rituals. To counteract tribal experiences of disempowerment and temper the power-political undertones of the conflicts, mediators would consciously integrate principles and symbolic practices inherent in indigenous Middle Eastern reconciliation methodologies of sulh, alongside musalaha (settlement). Sulh exemplifies key Arab-Islamic cultural values that should be looked at figuratively and literally for insight into how to approach conflict resolution in the Saudi/Yemen armed conflicts. Therefore, as an alternative to the use of force, the sulh would be provisioned to leverage its capability to accommodate political interests that underpin the conflicts as well, with a view to effective resolution.