THE SULTANATE OF OMAN’S FOREIGN POLICY TOWARDS THE YEMENI CRISIS: PILLARS AND LIMITATIONS

The study started from the question: What is the role played by the Sultanate of Oman in the Yemeni crisis? What are the most important auxiliary factors and the most prominent obstacles to performing this role? The problem of the study was the difference of the foreign policy of the Sultanate of Oman towards the crisis in Yemen from the policies of other regional countries, especially the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The study adopted the hypothesis that there is an effective and important role played by the Sultanate of Oman in the Yemeni crisis, which it plays through the positions and foreign policy decisions that it has committed to towards the crisis in its neighbor Yemen. The study adopted both the decision-making approach and the descriptive analytical approach. The study analyzed the priorities of the Sultanate of Oman in Yemen, the developments of the Omani position on the Yemeni crisis, and the components and determinants of the Omani role in Yemen. The study concluded a number of results, the most important of which is that the Sultanate of Oman has invested its political neutrality and moderation diplomacy in order to activate channels of dialogue and diplomacy in order to end the ongoing fighting in Yemen, and that despite the difficulty of the Yemeni file, the Sultanate of Oman remains more qualified than others to play the role of a neutral mediator. This is reinforced by the fact that the Sultanate is not a party to the conflict in Yemen, as is the case with other regional and international parties.