FinPol Digest

  Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has vowed that Yemen's Houthis will pay a "heavy price" after a missile launched by the group reached central Israel. This strike represents a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict, as it is the first time a Houthi missile has successfully reached this far into Israeli territory. Early on Sunday, a missile fired by the Houthis landed in an uninhabited area, with fragments discovered at a railway station in the city of Modiin and near Israel's main international airport, causing some damage. The Israeli military confirmed that the missile's shrapnel indicated a failure in the country's air defense systems to intercept the missile before it entered Israeli airspace. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stated that repeated attempts were made to shoot the missile down, but it most likely fragmented in mid-air. The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack, stating that they had used a new type of hypersonic ...

Amid the continued civil unrest and armed conflicts, Yemen’s human trafficking crisis is continuously getting worse. The weakening of Yemeni government control over a significant portion of territory, following the 2011 uprising, has allowed human trafficking to thrive. Although, NGOs are reporting that vulnerable populations are at an increased risk of falling victim to the human trafficking network. A few months ago in February, several migrants were close to reaching the Saudi Arabian border in Houthi-controlled northern Yemen but if Houthis catch them, they frequently have to remain in Yemen with very few ways of leaving. It will be daunting for them if they get caught as the migrants caught by Houthis must pay an exit fee. And since at this point, they do not have money or work and thus become stuck in Yemen. Some migrants face even worse fates if Houthis catch them. Upon arrival, many go to Yemeni detention centers where they wait for their family back home to send a ransom while...

The United Nations had earlier planned to launch its maritime operation to salvage the abandoned oil tanker stationed near Yemen’s port, earlier this month. Experts have warned that the FSO tanker which been left near the Ras Issa Port of Hodeidah City, could pose grave environmental damage due to its dilapidated condition. The UN forces wanted to initiate a damage control operation to prevent any oil leakage from the 45-years old tanker. UN officials warned the Houthi insurgents of the oil spill as the tanker has been holding about 1.1 million barrels of crude oil, four times the oil which the Exxon Valdez was carrying in the 1989 disaster. The UN had to delay the operation to avert the environmental catastrophe indefinitely amid a lack of written guarantee from the extremist group, ensuring the safety of the UN team. The maritime ecological experts said that the 1,188-foot vessel, which has been marooned off near Yemen’s coast for the past 6 years, was nothing less than a floating bo...