 |
Guns for HireAuthor: Atlantic Council
The Guns for Hire podcast is a production of the Atlantic Councils North Africa Initiative. Taking Libya as its starting point, it explores the causes and implications of the growing use of mercenaries in armed conflict. The podcast features guests from many walks of life, from ethicists and historians to former mercenary fighters. It seeks to understand what the normalisation of private warfare tells us about the world as we currently find it, but also about the future of the international system and about what war could look like in the coming decades. Written and hosted by Dr Alia Brahimi. Language: en-us Genres: Science, Social Sciences Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it Trailer: |
Listen Now...
Strait talk: Yemen, mercenaries and the Iran war
Episode 18
Tuesday, 22 September, 2026
Send Alia a Text MessageIn this first video episode of the podcast, Alia is joined by Ibrahim Jalal, an expert on Yemen and the Gulf. Ibrahim describes the major escalation in Yemen and explains its timing and connection to Iran's bid to generate a two-strait crisis in advance of US midterm elections. They discuss the Russia and Iran-linked mercenary recruitment networks preying on young men of fighting age: Yemeni bodies may be sourced by the Houthi to fight for Russia in Ukraine in exchange for benefits such as intelligence sharing. They also consider whether ordinary Houthi soldiers are fighting for private gain, given the Houthis’ co-optation of the humanitarian aid system. Throughout, Ibrahim explores deep links to other Iranian-aligned groups in the region, including Iraq’s PMF militias, who were taught to bring down drones by Yemenis. The Guns for Hire podcast is written, produced and hosted by Dr Alia Brahimi. Get in touch at: gunsforhirepodcast@gmail.com. Subscribe to Alia's (free) Substack, "highly irregular": https://highlyirregular.substack.com/
