Will Alimi Succeed in Managing Contradictions, Resolving Conflicts in Yemen?

Chairman of Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council Rashad al-Alimi, Saba News Agency
Chairman of Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council Rashad al-Alimi, Saba News Agency
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Will Alimi Succeed in Managing Contradictions, Resolving Conflicts in Yemen?

Chairman of Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council Rashad al-Alimi, Saba News Agency
Chairman of Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council Rashad al-Alimi, Saba News Agency

In January 2022, Rashad Muhammad al-Alimi, the Chairman of the newly formed Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, added a fourth chapter to his book that is entitled “Traditional Methods to Resolve Conflicts in Yemen.”

Alimi wrote about settling conflicts in Yemen according to customary rules, especially in the war-torn country’s southern and eastern governorates.

Four months later, Alimi was named chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council in Yemen.

The book, written by Alimi in the early 80s, represents a study of the social history of Yemeni tribes, and methods of justice, customs, and conflict resolution in different ways.

The book had earned Alimi a master's degree from Ain Shams University in Egypt.

With his appointment as head of the new Presidential Leadership Council, which includes seven other Yemeni leaders, the question arises about Alimi’s ability to manage Yemeni contradictions in a highly overlapping and complex environment.

Alimi’s book highlights the importance of identifying the historical, social, and cultural factors that led to the prolongation of norms in resolving conflict in Yemeni society in coexistence with Islamic Sharia throughout the historical period of more than a millennium.

The book’s first three chapters were completed between 1981 and 1984, in which the Yemeni situation was based on the existence of two states: the Yemen Arab Republic, which includes the northern, western, and central governorates of Yemen, and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, which includes the southern and eastern governorates of Yemen.

In 1990, the two republics were united into one.

In the book’s newly added fourth chapter, as mentioned above, Alimi talks about the traditional means of control in the southern and eastern governorates, the customary rules for resolving disputes in Hadramawt, and basic concepts of the rules for resolving disputes in Yemen.



Lebanon’s President Reveals the Country’s Stance on Relations with Israel

 Lebanese President Joseph Aoun looks on during a meeting with Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides at the Presidential Palace in the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun looks on during a meeting with Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides at the Presidential Palace in the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP)
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Lebanon’s President Reveals the Country’s Stance on Relations with Israel

 Lebanese President Joseph Aoun looks on during a meeting with Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides at the Presidential Palace in the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun looks on during a meeting with Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides at the Presidential Palace in the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP)

Lebanon has no plans to have normal relations with Israel at the present time, and Beirut’s main aim is to reach a “state of no war” with its southern neighbor, the country’s president said Friday.

President Joseph Aoun’s comments came as the Trump administration is trying to expand the Abraham Accords signed in 2020 in which Israel signed historic pacts with United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

In May, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said during a visit to France that his country is holding indirect talks with Israel to prevent military activities along their border from going out of control. Talks about peace between Israel and Syria have increased following the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad from power in December.

Aoun added in comments released by his office that only the Lebanese state will have weapons in the future, and the decision on whether Lebanon would go to war or not would be for the Lebanese government.

Aoun’s comments were an apparent reference to the armed Hezbollah group that fought a 14-month war with Israel, during which it suffered major blows including the killing of some of its top political and military commanders.

Hezbollah says it has ended its armed presence near the border with Israel, but is refusing to disarm in the rest of Lebanon before Israel withdraws from five overlooking border points and ends its almost daily airstrikes on Lebanon.

Earlier this week, US envoy Tom Barrack met with Lebanese leaders in Beirut, saying he was satisfied with the Lebanese government’s response to a proposal to disarm Hezbollah.

Hezbollah’s weapons have been one of the principal sticking points since Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000. Since then, Hezbollah fought two wars with Israel, one in 2006, and the other starting a day after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which triggered the war in Gaza.

The Hezbollah-Israel war, which ended with a US-brokered ceasefire in November, left more than 4,000 people dead in Lebanon and caused destruction estimated at $11 billion. In Israel, 127 people, including 80 soldiers, were killed during the war.

“Peace is the state of no war and this is what is important for us in Lebanon at the present time,” Aoun was quoted as telling visitors on Friday. He added that “the matter of normalization (with Israel) is not included in Lebanon’s current foreign policy.”

Lebanon and Israel have been at a state of war since 1948.