The six-month-long UN-brokered truce in Yemen, which succeeded in reducing civilian deaths by 60%, expired on October 2nd and has not, to date, been renewed.
The war in Yemen has raged since 2014, pitting the country’s government against the Houthi rebels.
The government counts on the support of Saudi Arabia, a country that has been funding Salafist mosques and madrasas as instruments to exert geopolitical influence. The Houthis, on the other hand, follow Zaydi Islam, which is often described as a Shia sect (although it has as much in common with mainstream Sunnism as with Shiism) and are backed by Iran.
It now remains to be seen whether the conflict will proceed as it did before the truce.
Whatever the case, in the middle- to long term, proxy wars between Saudi Arabia and Iran will likely continue to define Near Eastern politics.
