Battle of Sanaa | |||||||
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Part of the Yemeni Civil War (2014-present) | |||||||
Old City of Sanaa | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Houthis | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Abdul-Malik al-Houthi Mohammed Ali al-Houthi Mohammed Abdul Salam | Abdrabbuh Hadi Mohammed Basindawa Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
100+ killed [4] | Unknown | ||||||
274 [5] –340 [6] killed overall |
The Battle of Sanaa in 2014 marked the advance of the Houthis into Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, and heralded the beginning of the armed takeover of the government that unfolded over the following months. Fighting began on 9 September 2014, when pro-Houthi protesters under the command of Abdul-Malik al-Houthi marched on the cabinet office and were fired upon by security forces, leaving seven dead. The clashes escalated on 18 September, when 40 were killed in an armed confrontation between the Houthis led by military commander Mohammed Ali al-Houthi and supporters of the Sunni hardliner Islah Party when the Houthis tried to seize Yemen TV, [7] and 19 September, with more than 60 killed in clashes between Houthi fighters and the military and police in northern Sanaa. [8] [9] By 21 September, the Houthis captured the government headquarters, marking the fall of Sanaa. [7] [10]
Zaydi Muslims loyal to Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, a powerful tribal leader from the northern Saada Governorate, participated in the Yemeni Revolution in 2011 and 2012. However, the Houthis also clashed with Islamists from Yemen's Islah party, with sporadic and sometimes intense fighting in the northern village of Dammaj, as well as several neighboring governorates. In January 2014, the Yemeni government began evacuating Wahhabi residents from Saada Governorate, handing victory in the region to the Houthis. [11] The Houthi insurgents pressed their advantage, seizing control of 'Amran in a bloody battle with Islah Party-aligned jihadists loyal to General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar [12] [13] [14] and entering the Sana'a Governorate by July. [15]
In August, the Houthis began holding mass demonstrations in Sana'a, pressuring President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi to reverse a cut to fuel subsidies and calling on the government to step down. Representatives of the group met with government officials in an attempt to find a solution to the standoff, but the Houthis rejected the government's concessions as insufficient. [16]
On 9 September, Houthi protesters in northwest Sana'a were fired upon by security forces as they marched on the cabinet office. Seven were killed. [7]
Fighting broke out between the Houthis and army units in northwest Sana'a on 16 September and continued into the following day. [17]
On 18 September, fighting claimed 40 lives in the district where Yemen TV, the state broadcast station, is located in northern Sana'a. The Houthis and loyalists of the Islah Party, both heavily armed, fought over the neighbourhood. [7] The Houthis also reportedly attacked an army position, escalating the conflict further. [4] Flights into and out of Sana'a International Airport were suspended. [18]
Houthi fighters attacked Sana'a in earnest on 19 September, shelling the state television station and clashing with both government forces and Sunni militias[ citation needed ]. The Houthis took Saddeq Hill, overlooking Al-Iman University and the military headquarters of General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar. [19] They also fired on a military aircraft, although it was unclear if they succeeded in forcing it down. [4] More than 60 were killed in clashes on 19 September. [8] President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi met with the ambassadors of G10 states and called the Houthi attack an "attempted coup" against his government. UN envoy Jamal Benomar urged a peaceful end to the fighting. [4]
Yemen TV continued to burn on 20 September as the Houthis advanced deeper into Sana'a. [4] That evening, Benomar announced an agreement that would end the crisis. [17]
By 21 September, the Houthis declared themselves in control of Sana'a, [20] having taken over the offices of the prime minister, the state television building, and military headquarters. Al-Ahmar's forces reportedly surrendered to the Houthis after fighting, [20] although the general himself was believed to have escaped capture. [21] The rebels signed a deal with the government, prompting Prime Minister Mohammed Basindawa to resign. However, they refused to sign an annex to the agreement under which security forces would resume control of areas seized by the Houthis and confiscate the Houthis' weapons. Nonetheless, Hadi declared an immediate ceasefire and urged all factions to respect the agreement. [22] Basindawa criticised Hadi in his resignation, saying "autocratic measures" shut him out of the political process and kept his government "in the dark" with regard to Yemen's deteriorating security situation. [17]
Sana'a was widely regarded as having fallen to the Houthis in just a handful of days. Several Arab publications described the events as "shocking" and suggested they marked a major turning point for the country, which had been labouring through a protracted political crisis since the 2011 uprising that dislodged longtime president Ali Abdullah Saleh. [7] [20] [21]
While the Houthis gained control of the capital and used the threat of force as leverage to wring concessions out of the government, including Basindawa's resignation, more subsidies on fuel, and a pledge to form a "unity government", they refrained from an immediate coup d'état. [2] [17] However, the group maintained control of key points in the city, despite the government's call for the Houthis to turn them over to security forces, and it kept a firm grip on the government. In October, when Hadi moved to appoint his chief of staff, Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, as prime minister to replace Basindawa, the Houthis effectively vetoed the choice. [23]
Al Jazeera later claimed to have received taped phone conversations between Ali Abdullah Saleh, the former president, and Houthi officials indicating that Saleh aided the Houthis in their takeover of Sana'a. [24] Saleh's party, the General People's Congress, joined the Houthis in announcing an eleventh-hour boycott of the unity government led by Hadi and Prime Minister Khaled Bahah in November. [25]
The Houthis continued to apply pressure on the weakened unity government, kidnapping bin Mubarak for several days in January 2015 in an attempt to gain more control over the drafting of a new constitution. [26] They stepped up their efforts by shelling Hadi's residence and capturing the presidential palace on 20 January, actions from which they had refrained in September 2014. These attacks prompted Hadi, Bahah, and the entire cabinet to resign. [27] The Houthis then took control of the House of Representatives, declared it dissolved, and installed a Revolutionary Committee to administer the country in February 2015. [28] [29] [30]
The Yemeni Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of Yemen. They include the Yemeni Army, Yemeni Navy and the Yemeni Air Force. The capital of the country, Sana’a is where the military is headquartered. Per the constitution of Yemen, the President of Yemen serves as the commander-in-chief.
Ali Abdullah Saleh al-Ahmar was a Yemeni politician who served as the first President of the Republic of Yemen, from Yemeni unification on 22 May 1990, to his resignation on 27 February 2012, following the Yemeni Revolution. Previously, he had served as President of the Yemen Arab Republic, or North Yemen, from July 1978, to 22 May 1990, after the assassination of President Ahmad al-Ghashmi.
The Houthi insurgency, also known as the Houthi rebellion, the Sa'dah War, or the Sa'dah conflict, was a military rebellion pitting Zaidi Shia Houthis against the Yemeni military that began in Northern Yemen and has since escalated into a full-scale civil war. The conflict was sparked in 2004 by the government's attempt to arrest Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, a Zaidi religious leader of the Houthis and a former parliamentarian on whose head the government had placed a $55,000 bounty.
The Houthi movement, officially known as Ansar Allah, is a Shia Islamist political and military organization that emerged from Yemen in the 1990s. It is predominantly made up of Zaidi Shias, with their namesake leadership being drawn largely from the Houthi tribe.
The Battle of Saada was a military confrontation that erupted in March 2011 between Houthi rebels and tribal forces loyal to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in the northern city of Saada. Following days of heavy clashes, the Houthis managed to capture the entire Saada Governorate including its provincial capital and established an independent administration, thereby marking the first such Yemeni governorate to fall out of central government control since the nationwide uprising began in 2011. Saada later becomes known as the Houthi stronghold since its takeover.
Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi is a Yemeni politician and former field marshal of the Yemeni Armed Forces who served as the president of Yemen from 2012 until 2022, when he stepped down and transferred executive authority to the Presidential Leadership Council, with Rashad al-Alimi as its chairman. He was the vice president to Ali Abdullah Saleh from 1994 to 2012.
The Yemeni Revolution followed the initial stages of the Tunisian Revolution and occurred simultaneously with the 2011 Egyptian revolution and other Arab Spring protests in the Middle East and North Africa. In its early phase, protests in Yemen were initially against unemployment, economic conditions and corruption, as well as against the government's proposals to modify Yemen's constitution. The protesters' demands then escalated to calls for the resignation of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Mass defections from the military, as well as from Saleh's government, effectively rendered much of the country outside of the government's control, and protesters vowed to defy its authority.
Ali Mohsen Saleh al-Ahmar, sometimes spelled Muhsin, is a Yemeni military officer who served as the vice president of Yemen from 2016 to 2022, when he was dismissed by President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who transferred the powers of the president and vice president to the Presidential Leadership Council. He is a general in the Yemeni Army and was the commander of the northwestern military district and the 1st Armoured Division. He played a leading role in the creation of the General People's Congress.
The Battle of Sanaa was a battle during the 2011 Yemeni uprising between forces loyal to Yemeni leader Ali Abdullah Saleh and opposition tribal forces led by Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar for control of the Yemeni capital Sanaa and, on the part of the opposition, for the purpose of the downfall of president Saleh.
The following is a timeline of the 2011–2012 Yemeni revolution from 3 June through 22 September 2011. The Yemeni revolution was a series of major protests, political tensions, and armed clashes taking place in Yemen, which began in January 2011 and were influenced by concurrent protests in the region. Hundreds of protesters, members of armed groups, army soldiers and security personnel were killed, and many more injured, in the largest protests to take place in the South Arabian country for decades.
The siege of Dammaj began in October 2011 when the Houthis, a Zaydi-led rebel group which controls the Sa'dah Governorate, accused Salafis loyal to the Yemeni government of smuggling weapons into their religious center in the town of Dammaj and demanded they hand over their weapons and military posts in the town. As the Salafis refused, Houthi rebels responded by imposing a siege on Dammaj, closing the main entrances leading to the town. The town was controlled by the Houthis and the fighting was mainly centered at Dar al-Hadith religious school, which was operated by Salafis.
The Houthi takeover in Yemen, also known as the September 21 Revolution, or 2014–15 coup d'état, was a popular revolution against Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi led by the Houthis and their supporters that pushed the Yemeni government from power. It had origins in Houthi-led protests that began the previous month, and escalated when the Houthis stormed the Yemeni capital Sanaa on 21 September 2014, causing the resignation of Prime Minister Mohammed Basindawa, and later the resignation of President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi and his ministers on 22 January 2015 after Houthi forces seized the presidential palace, residence, and key military installations, and the formation of a ruling council by Houthi militants on 6 February 2015.
The following lists events that happened in 2015 in Yemen.
The Yemeni crisis began with the 2011–2012 revolution against President Abdullah Saleh, who had led Yemen for 33 years. After Saleh left office in early 2012 as part of a mediated agreement between the Yemeni government and opposition groups, the government led by Saleh's former vice president, Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, struggled to unite the fractious political landscape of the country and fend off threats both from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and from Houthi militants that had been waging a protracted insurgency in the north for years.
The aftermath of the Houthi takeover in Yemen refers to developments following the Houthis' takeover of the Yemeni capital of Sana'a and dissolution of the government, which eventually led to a civil war and the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen.
On 26 March 2015, Saudi Arabia, leading a coalition of nine countries from West Asia and North Africa, launched an intervention in Yemen at the request of Yemeni president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who had been ousted from the capital, Sanaa, in September 2014 by Houthi insurgents during the Yemeni Civil War. Efforts by the United Nations to facilitate a power sharing arrangement under a new transitional government collapsed, leading to escalating conflict between government forces, Houthi rebels, and other armed groups, which culminated in Hadi fleeing to Saudi Arabia shortly before it began military operations in the country.
The battle of 'Amran, refers to a battle that took place in the summer of 2014, between the Houthi Zaydi movement, and the Yemeni government of President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. The Houthis eventually won the battle, leading them to the capture of Sanaa.
The following is a timeline of the Yemeni civil war, which began in September 2014.
The Battle of Sanaa (2017) was fought between forces loyal to Ali Abdullah Saleh and the Houthis in the Yemeni capital of Sana'a. Both sides were allied during the 2014–15 Houthi takeover of the government but the alliance ended when Saleh decided to break ranks with the Houthis and call for dialogue with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, who are leading a military intervention in Yemen. Fighting then broke out between the Houthis and forces loyal to Saleh as the Saudi-led coalition began bombing Houthi areas, ultimately resulting in Saleh's death and a Houthi victory.
The Nihm Offensive was a military operation that began in mid-December 2015 in the District of Nihm, when government forces took control of "Mas camp" which borders the governorates of Al-Jawf, and Marib. On 19–20 December, government forces coming from Marib and al-Jawf, took control of the 312th Armored Brigade camp, and 334th Armored Brigade camp. Government forces faced fierce resistance that lasted until February 2016, when they were able to take control of the 312th Armored Corps camp.