# Introduction Yemen's civil war began in 2014 and continues to devastate the country. The war pits the internationally recognized government (backed by Saudi Arabia and other Arab states) against Houthi rebels, who control much of the north. The conflict has drawn in global powers, with the U.S. supporting Saudi Arabia, while Iran has been accused of backing the Houthis. It challenges simplified depictions of Yemen as merely a hotbed for terrorism, showing how the country's conflict is shaped by colonial legacies, tribal politics, and revolutionary movements. It criticizes U.S. foreign policy, especially its military support for Saudi Arabia and its counterterrorism operations in Yemen, as part of broader imperialist strategies. #### Brief Yemen Timeline - 1839-1967: British colonial rule in South Yemen, particularly the port city of Aden - 1849-1918: Ottoman Empire in North Yemen, including Sana'a - 1918-1962: Rule by Zaidi Shi’a Imamate and the Mutawakkilite Kingdom, following Ottoman collapse - 1962-1970: Republican revolt and ensuing North Yemen Civil War - 1963-1979: The Aden Emergency, with armed leftist factions forcing British withdrawal - 1990: Unification of North and South Yemen - 2014: Yemeni Civil War --- Yemen has seen significant meddling from foreign actors, particularly the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, and potentially Iran, since the Yemeni Civil War. The U.S. has pledged hundreds of billions of dollars worth of weapons sales to Saudi Arabia. "the offer sends the message that the US cares about the Houthis firing missiles into \[Saudi Arabia]. It is clear that America will maintain its role in what would more accurately be termed the US-Saudi War." The situation in Yemen is often simplified using orientalist tropes— a backwater region exploited by Islamic militants. This justifies US imperialist involvement, and erases the complexity of the situation, including Yemen's history of leftist revolutionary movements. In reality, Yemeni politics: "a remarkable spectrum of different actors, including Marxist-Leninists, Nasserists, liberal reformers that seek greater economic development, tribal confederations that comprise a host of regional and sectarian identities, dictatorial generals that work with Saudi Arabia and the United States, and terrorist groups like AQAP, who, at different times, will either seek to work with or overthrow any of the above." The failure of Yemen's recent democratic movements to fill the power vacuum imparts important lessons for the U.S. left on how to comprise an effective anti-imperialist and anti-war movement in the USA. --- Two major conquests by foreign powers in the early 19th century have shaped modern Yemen, leading to bloody proxy wars and the separate development of North Yemen and South Yemen until their unification in 1990: - In 1839, the British East India Company took control of the port city of Aden in southern Yemen. - In 1849, the Ottoman Empire took control of large sections of northern Yemen, including the capital Sana'a. **The North Yemen Civil** war turned into a proxy war between Nasserist republicans backed by Egypt and Imamate royalists supported by Saudi Arabia, with help from Jordan, Britain, and Israel. Contrary to common analysis, the war was about monarchical rule, not the Sunni-Shi'a divide. The ware ended in a **republican victory in 1970**, but with huge costs, often called "Egypt's Vietnam." After the North Yemen Civil war, tribal relations were reorganized. Under the Imamate, the state and tribal networks were separate, but after the war, tribes became powerful actors within the new republic state. Yemeni tribal leaders have adapted to new political realities and actively influence the political landscape. Despite increased urbanization and modernization, most Yemenis still lived in rural areas and the economy remained weak, lacking redistribution and investment from the richer Gulf states. In South Yemen, the **Aden Emergency (1963-1967)** occurred, with armed leftist factions, such as the National Liberation Front (NLF) and the Front for the Liberation of South Yemen (FLOSY), mobilizing against British colonial control. After British withdrawal in 1967, the People's Republic of South Yemen was established as a Marxist state.