YEMEN'S REAL GOVERNMENT KEEPS UP THE FIGHT
While the Houthis have commanded international attention in recent years, the Iranian-supported group does not formally represent Yemen. Rather, it rose to power in 2014 as a result of the country's long-running civil war. And while the Houthis now control significant swaths of the southern Gulf state, their authority is not recognized by the international community. For its part, the current legitimate government, based in Aden and led by the Presidential Leadership Council, is continuing to work to delegitimize the Houthis. This summer, the PLC's Public Prosecution office announced the freezing of assets and a prohibition on dealings with 398 individuals, entities, and vessels linked to the group. The action was part of Yemen's implementation of international and national resolutions, including UN Security Council Resolution 2624 (2022), National Defense Council Resolution No. 1 (2022), and Presidential Leadership Council Resolution No. 8 (2024), which formally designated the Houthis as a terrorist organization. (Yemen Online, August 20, 2025)
PAKISTAN'S PROBLEMATIC CURRICULUM
The South Asian nation of Pakistan has long ranked as one of the countries most hostile to the state of Israel. That animosity is being perpetuated by the country's deeply problematic educational curriculum, a new study has found. Recent research carried out by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), an educational watchdog group, found systemic antisemitism and demonization of Israel embedded in Pakistani school textbooks. The IMPACT-se study examined over 80 course books from jurisdictions in Punjab, Sindh, and the Federal Directorate, covering subjects ranging from history to Islam and civics. While some passages promoted tolerance, the overall curriculum unequivocally encouraged hostility toward Israel, Jews, and other religious minorities. The textbooks in question included stereotypes of Jews, disseminated conspiracy theories, and omitted discussion of the Holocaust. They also depicted the West and India as enemies of Pakistan, and praised praise the practice of jihad and dictators like Adolph Hitler. At the same time, the curriculum depicts Pakistan as "the vanguard of the Muslim world."
The aggregate result is deeply troubling. "Given Pakistan's prominent regional role, its nuclear status, and large percentage of young people in a population of 240 million, this curriculum has far-reaching consequences," says IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff. "What is taught in classrooms today will define Pakistan's future global outlook, including its relationship with Israel and the Jewish people. There is a pressing need for curriculum reform that prioritizes inclusion, greater respect for Jews and others, and a more peaceful education." (Times of Israel, August 19, 2025)
BEIRUT PUSHES FOR DISARMAMENT
Nearly a year after Israel's Fall 2024 military campaign decimated Hezbollah, the question of the group's status in Lebanese politics and society remains unresolved. But that has not stopped officials in Beirut from pressing for another disarmament – that of historically powerful and unaccountable militias in the country's Palestinian refugee camps. The new initiative, which will begin with the disarmament of the Burj al-Barajneh camp, is part of a larger campaign backed by the United States to restore Lebanon's sovereignty. The Lebanese cabinet has tasked the country's armed forces with disarming non-state forces by the end of the year. The disarmament drive is also the product of an agreement reached during a May summit between Lebanon's new President, Joseph Aoun, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, which affirmed Lebanon's sovereignty and the principle that only the Lebanese state has the right to bear arms. (Reuters, August 21, 2025)
COUNTERTERRORISM COOPERATION OF A DIFFERENT SORT
Shi’a Iran and the Sunni fundamentalist Taliban movement in Afghanistan have wildly differing worldviews, and have clashed repeatedly in the past. Nevertheless, a new analysis by Afghanistan International lays out, a "common foe" is bringing the two together. "Tehran and Kabul are stepping up intelligence cooperation against Jaish al-Adl, a Sunni militant group operating in the lawless border region straddling Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran," the opposition television channel notes. "The unlikely collaboration - corroborated by Afghan security officials both from the ousted US-backed government and the Taliban as well as former Jaish al-Adl members - faces a formidable challenge confronting the shadowy fighters after they scooped up a bonanza of US weapons left amid their hasty withdrawal in 2021."
What is Jaish al-Adl, precisely? The organization is a "Sunni jihadist group hailing mostly from the Baluch ethnic group in southwest Iran," where it has long carried out attacks at elements of Iran's clerical regime. "Jaish al-Adl accuses Iran of religious discrimination against Sunnis, oppression of Baluch communities, and denial of their political, religious and economic rights," Afghanistan International reports. The group is likewise not trusted by Afghanistan's Taliban, despite its prior opposition to the former, pro-Western regime of Hamid Karzai and collusion with the Taliban during its time in the opposition. The result has been a growing dialogue between Iranian and Taliban officials regarding the need "to suppress Jaish al-Adl members in Afghanistan and to enhance security and intelligence monitoring along their common frontier." (Afghanistan International, August 2025)