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YemenJon Lake investigates the origins and recent military operations

conducted in Yemen, as it heads towards becoming the next terrorist battleground in Southwest Asia.

On the Edge

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Saudi Arabias southern neighbour Yemen has been plagued by instability for decades. Yemen was originally two states, with the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR) being established in the north in 1968, and South Yemen (later the Peoples Democratic Republic of Yemen) being founded in November 1967. The two Yemeni republics did not have good relations with the neighbouring conservative Arab monarchies, Emirates and Sultanates.

UnificationThe two Yemeni states fought with each other in 1972, 1979 and 1986 before finally unifying under Ali Abdallah (President of the YAR since 1978) in May 1990 as the United Republic of Yemen. Marginalisation of the South led to another civil war in 1994, during which the South (which eventually lost) was supported by Saudi Arabia. This was by no means the first time that Saudi Arabia had been involved in Yemens affairs, having previously supported the royalist side in the North Yemen Civil War in 1962-1968.Saleh became Yemens first directly elected

president in 1999, and was then re-elected in 2006. Opposition to Saleh came from the Zaidi Shia sect (known as Ansar Allah or as the Houthis after their leader, Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi); from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and from secessionists in the South. Saudi forces participated in a

major operation against Shia insurgents in the Yemen in 2009, while US forces fought a progressively

Below: An AB212 and a UH-1H-II Huey II of the Yemeni Air Force were both put out of action by an air strike at Sanaa al-Dailami Air Base on March 26. Main image: The Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) F-15S crews were forged into a lethal combination through regularly attending exercises such as Red Flag in the USA. Nate Leong