Global Islamism Monitor No. 136

BACK TO A DIVIDED YEMEN?
For nearly two decades during the Cold War, the southern Gulf state of Yemen was divided between the anti-communist North and the Soviet-aligned South. After the 1990 fall of the Berlin Wall, Yemen's North and South unified. However, the country eventually descended into conflict along that former divide. The Yemeni civil war has raged since 2014, causing massive destruction and famine as the country's Iranian-supported Houthi rebels (who originate in the North) have steadily gained ground. That, in turn, is spurring Yemen's embattled anti-Houthi forces to think about going back to the future.

In a recent interview with Al-Hurra, Major General Aidarus al-Zoubaidi, who led the Southern military force and was governor of Aden, floated a different kind of "two state solution." Al-Zoubaidi envisions the eventual defeat of the Houthis in south Yemen, leading to the creation – or re-creation – of separate Northern and Southern states. The logic, he posits, is clear. "90 percent" of the territory held by the Southern Transitional Council, the internationally recognized government of Yemen, "is in the South," making it a natural candidate for some sort of partition.

The proposal is ambitious. "The South aspires to a federal state where each governorate governs itself locally," Al-Zubeidi says. He also envisions the new southern state as a partner of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and the broader Gulf, along with being an active member of the Gulf Cooperation Council. (Al-Hurra, October 8, 2025)

TURKEY IS SHAPING SYRIA'S FUTURE
When opposition Islamist forces unexpectedly overthrew the government of long-standing Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad late last year, it was widely understood that Turkey had played a prominent role in the effort on account of its support for Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and other nonstate actors. Some ten months on, worries over Ankara's hold over the new government in Damascus have abated somewhat in the West. But in neighboring Israel, concerns still abound – and a new report from the ALMA Research and Education Center details why.

"The vacuum created following the fall of the Assad regime and the withdrawal of its allies, Russia and the Iranian-Shiite axis, from the Syrian arena, was exploited by Sunni Turkey, which quickly became the central player shaping the new Syrian army," the ALMA study notes. "Turkey is establishing itself as the main ally of the al-Sharaa regime, while acting to build the strength of its new army through professional training and by supplying weapons and military equipment, so that it can establish its control over the country."

The objective of this effort is clear. "This is a strategic Turkish move to strengthen the Sunni-state alliance in Damascus, designed to project Turkey's power, the neo-Ottoman and Islamist agenda of Turkish President Erdoğan, and to build a Syrian military capability that can be activated against targets designated by Ankara, including internal targets such as the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)," the ALMA report details. "The question of whether this force will be used against an external rival, with Israel leading the list, remains open." (ALMA, October 19, 2025)

PAKISTANI ISLAMIST PARTY BANNED... AGAIN
On October 23rd, Pakistan once again banned the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Party (TLP) following a deadly clash between the group and police. The move marks the second time that the TLP, Pakistan's fourth largest political party, which secured two million votes in the country's 2018 election, has been banned by authorities in the past four years. The clashes with police took place at a protest organized by the Islamist party ahead of the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and resulted in five deaths. (Reuters, October 23, 2025)