Yemen

Geography

Formerly divided into two nations, the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen and the Yemen Arab Republic, the Republic of Yemen occupies the southwest tip of the Arabian Peninsula on the Red Sea opposite Ethiopia and extends along the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula on the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. Saudi Arabia is to the north and Oman is to the east. The country is about the size of France. A 700-mile (1,130-km) narrow coastal plain in the south gives way to a mountainous region and then a plateau area.

History

The history of Yemen dates back to the Minaean (1200–650 B.C. ) and Sabaean (750–115 B.C. ) kingdoms. Ancient Yemen (centered around the port of Aden) engaged in the lucrative myrrh and frankincense trade. It was invaded by the Romans (1st century A.D. ) as well as the Ethiopians and Persians (6th century A.D. ). In A.D. 628 it converted to Islam and in the 10th century came under the control of the Rassite dynasty of the Zaidi sect, which remained involved in North Yemeni politics until 1962. The Ottoman Turks nominally occupied the area from 1538 to the decline of their empire in 1918.
The northern portion of Yemen was ruled by imams until a pro-Egyptian military coup took place in 1962. The junta proclaimed the Yemen Arab Republic, and after a civil war in which Egypt's Nasser and the USSR supported the revolutionaries and King Saud of Saudi Arabia and King Hussein of Jordan supported the royalists, the royalists were finally defeated in mid-1969.
The southern port of Aden, strategically located at the opening of the Red Sea, was colonized by Britain in 1839, and by 1937, with an expansion of its territory, it was known as the Aden Protectorate. In the 1960s the Nationalist Liberation Front (NLF) fought against British rule, which led to the establishment of the People's Republic of Southern Yemen on Nov. 30, 1967. In 1979, under strong Soviet influence, the country became the only Marxist state in the Arab world.

The Republic of Yemen was established on May 22, 1990, when pro-Western Yemen and the Marxist Yemen Arab Republic merged after 300 years of separation to form the new nation. The poverty and decline in Soviet economic support in the south was an important incentive for the merger. The new president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, was elected by the parliaments of both countries.

New Nation Falls into Civil War

Differences over power sharing and the pace of integration between the north and the south came to a head in 1994, resulting in a civil war. The north's superior forces quickly overwhelmed the south in May and early June despite the south's brief declaration of succession. The victorious north presented a reconciliation plan providing for a general amnesty and pledges to protect political democracy.

Militants Strike in Yemen

The president's party, the General People's Congress, won an enormous victory in the April 1997 parliamentary elections, the first since the civil war. In 1998–1999, a militant Islamic group, the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army, kidnapped several groups of Western tourists, which led to the deaths of several during a poorly orchestrated rescue attempt. The group's leader, Zein al-Abidine al-Mihdar, threatened to continue attacks on tourists and government officials. The goal of the militants is to overthrow the government and turn Yemen into an Islamic state.

On Oct. 12, 2000, 17 Americans died and 37 were wounded when suicide bombers attacked the U.S. Navy destroyerCole, which was refueling in Aden, Yemen. The U.S. had numerous clashes with Yemeni authorities during the investigation of the terrorist act. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S., however, Yemen increased its cooperation with the U.S. and assisted in antiterrorism measures. In Oct. 2002, a French tanker, the Limburg, was also the victim of a terrorist attack off the coast of Yemen. Ten suspects of the Cole bombing escaped from prison in April 2003; seven, including the two suspected masterminds of the attack, were recaptured in 2004. Fifteen militants were convicted in Aug. 2004 on a variety of charges, including the attack on the Limburg. In September, two key al-Qaeda operatives involved in the Cole bombing were sentenced to death.

In presidential elections in Sept. 2006, incumbent Ali Abdullah Saleh was reelected with 77% of the vote. In March 2007, President Saleh appointed Ali Muhammad Mujawar prime minister and asked him to form a cabinet.

Regional Violence and the Strengthening of al-Qaeda Make Yemen a Volatile State

The government and a rebel group from northern Yemen, called the Houthi movement, signed a cease-fire in February 2008. Thousands died since the two sides began fighting in 2004. The Houthis are members of a political movement based in northern Yemen. They are backed by Iran and adhere to a branch of Shiite Islam, Zaydism. The truce fell apart just a month later, as battles broke out again between the parties. Intermittent violence continued, and the Houthi have proven to be quite resilient and successful in gaining control of land in the northern border region of Saada. In August 2009 the army launched an offensive against the rebels, which prompted fierce retaliation. As many as 50,000 people were displaced in the fighting, in addition to another 150,000 who've been made homeless since 2004. The government has accused the Houthi movement of receiving aid from Iran, while the rebels contend that Saudi Arabia backs the Yemeni government. The rebel group belongs to a branch of Shia Islam.

In September 2008, a car bomb and a rocket strike the U.S. embassy in the capital city of Sanaa as staff arrived to work, killing 16 people, including four civilians. At least 25 suspected al-Qaeda militants are arrested in connection to the attack. Yemen continues to be a fragile state and a breeding ground for al-Qaeda militants. In January 2009, al-Qaeda groups in Saudi Arabia and Yemen joined to create a single branch: al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

In December 2009 on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, a 23-year-old Nigerian man allegedly attempted to ignite an explosive device hidden in his underwear. It failed to detonate. The alleged bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, told officials later that he was trained and directed by the terrorist group Al Qaeda. Soon after, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a group based in Yemen, took responsibility for orchestrating the attack. The attempted attack underscores the United States' troubled relationship with Yemen, and the likelihood that Al Qaeda is trying to set up an operational and training hub in that country to rival the one currently in Pakistan.

Yemen-Based Al Qaeda Cell Linked to France Attack; High-Ranking Al-Qaeda Leader Reportedly Killed

AQAP claimed responsibility for the January 2015 attack at the Paris office of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical weekly magazine. Twelve people were killed in the shooting. It said that the leader of Al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahri, ordered the attack in retaliation for the magazine's caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.

Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the leader of AQAP and the second-in-command of the entire al Qaeda network, was reportedly killed in a U.S. drone strike in in Yemen in June 2015. Yemeni officials and members of al Qaeda confirmed the report, but the U.S. government has yet to verify the information.

The Islamic State Claims Responsibility for Mosque Attacks as Violence Escalates in Yemen

Sana Province, an affiliate of the Islamic State, said it was responsible for two coordinated attacks on Zaydi Shiite mosques in Sana that killed about 140 civilians during prayers on March 20, 2015. The attacks highlighted the deteriorating security conditions in Yemen, a terrorist training ground. The U.S. has counter-terrorism advisers based in Yemen, and after the attacks it withdrew 125 members of the Special Operations unit.