Yemen faces a multitude of problems that have the potential to become sources of extreme instability for its neighbours. The country faces an insurgency from Al Qaida, a powerful rebellion from Al Houthis and a separatist movement that threatens to split the country once again. The most immediate concern for regional states is that extremists there may set up a franchise of Daesh (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) on the borders of Saudi Arabia and Oman. In such a scenario, Gulf states will be surrounded by Daesh in the north and south. It is a nightmare scenario that must be avoided at any cost.
The region’s preoccupation should, however, not be confined to immediate threats and immediate solutions. Yemen also happens to be the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula and it has a bulge of politically aware and disgruntled youths while much of its agricultural land is used for the cultivation of a narcotic that is drying up the country’s water resources. These are just some of the incubators of the misery the country finds itself in. If Gulf states want to prevent chaos in Yemen tomorrow and in the next decade, they must address Yemen’s long-term issues, which are just as crucial as its short-term ones.
