Raiman al-Hamdani

“The problem is that reaching that point may require another period of serious escalation before any settlement.”

Raiman al-Hamdani · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-05

Al-Hamdani added that reaching a settlement may require another period of serious escalation.

“This all seems to be moving into a more dangerous phase, and while the appetite for a full-scale war may exist among elements of the leadership on both sides, the reality is more complicated,”

Raiman al-Hamdani · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-05

Al-Hamdani said the most recent fighting hints at a new escalation in the conflict.

“The [internationally recognised government’s] ground forces are big on paper and quite sizeable, but scattered across a bunch of fronts and running on old pre-war gear, so they can hold their lines but [currently] can’t push the Houthis out of their mountain strongholds,”

Raiman al-Hamdani · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-05

A London-based Yemen analyst told Al Jazeera that the internationally recognised government's forces are scattered across multiple fronts and cannot push the Houthis from their mountain strongholds.

“In the longer term, the more plausible outcome is not the military destruction of one side by the other, but a negotiated and imperfect political settlement in which the Houthis retain substantial influence in northern Yemen, Saudi Arabia obtains greater security guarantees, and Yemen’s competing political and military factions are forced into some form of power-sharing arrangement,”

Raiman al-Hamdani · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-05

Al-Hamdani added that a more plausible long-term outcome is a negotiated political settlement rather than the military destruction of one side.