The Gulf of Aden is a young and active ocean basin formed by rifting of Arabia away from Africa (Nubia) and Somalia since the Oligocene. It is an ideal place to study the processes of continental rupture. It shows some striking characteristics such as its obliquity with respect to the relative plate motion and the presence of the Afar hotspot at its western extremity. The oceanic rift initiated from the Carlsberg ridge in the Indian Ocean and progressed westward into Afar hotspot region. The analysis of bathymetric and magnetic data showed the presence of oceanic crust in the eastern and central part of the Gulf of Aden; while the western part is characterized by seismically active continental crust that showing opening at a rate of 2 cm/year. This chapter presents highlight on some geometric and kinematic aspects of the propagation of the Aden rift towards Afar. The axial rift has stepped blocks geometry which accommodates the obliquity of the opening, which leads to segmentation of the axial rift by numerous discontinuities; generally transform faults, parallel to the direction of movement. The age of oceanic crust is progressively younger westward, which reflects its propagation toward Afar. The propagation from one stage to another occurred discontinuously and very quickly with occasional slowdowns and the opening seems asymmetrical. The propagation velocity decreases (12 km/Ma instead of 120 km/Ma) when the oceanic rift reaches the area under the influence of the Afar hotspot. This reduction in propagation is probably related to the rheological changes induced by the hotspot. Therefore Afar hotspot plays a role in thermal weakening of the lithosphere, as well as by initiating and localizing the break-up and it controls the direction and velocity of the rift propagation.