Saada, a city and ancient capital in the northwest of Yemen, is the capital and largest city of the governorate of the same name, and the seat of the eponymous district. The city is located in the mountains of Serat (Sarawat) at an altitude of about 1,800 meters. In 2004, it was the tenth-largest city in Yemen and had an estimated population of 51,870.
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.
Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi was a Yemeni Zaidi religious, political and military leader, as well as former member of the Yemeni parliament for the Party of Truth between 1993 and 1997. He was instrumental in the Houthi insurgency against the Yemeni government, which began in 2004. Al-Houthi, who was a one-time rising political aspirant in Yemen, had wide religious and tribal backing in northern Yemen's mountainous regions. The Houthi movement took his name after his assassination in 2004.
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.
Operation Scorched Earth was the code-name of a Yemeni military offensive in the Saada Governorate that began in August 2009. It marked the fifth wave of violence during the ongoing insurgency by the Houthis against the government. In November 2009, the conflict spread across the border into neighboring Saudi Arabia. This conflict led to the Saudi military's incursion into Yemen, marking the first military operation conducted by Saudi Arabia since 1991.
The Al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen is an ongoing armed conflict between the Yemeni government, the United States and their allies, and al-Qaeda-affiliated cells in Yemen. It is a part of the Global War on Terror.
The Battle of Zinjibar was a battle between forces loyal to Yemeni leader Ali Abdullah Saleh and Islamist militant forces, possibly including elements of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), for control of the town of Zinjibar and its surroundings as part of the wider insurgency in the self-declared Al-Qaeda Emirate in Yemen. Many of the Islamist forces operating in Abyan province refer to themselves as Ansar al-Sharia.
Abdul-Malik Badruldeen al-Houthi, also known as Abu Jibril, is a Yemeni politician and religious leader who serves as the leader of the Houthi movement, a revolutionary movement principally made up of Zaidi Muslims. His brothers Yahia and Abdul-Karim are also leaders of the group, as were his late brothers Hussein, Ibrahim, and Abdulkhaliq. Abdul-Malik al-Houthi is the leading figure in the Yemeni Civil War which started with the Houthi takeover in Yemen in the Saada Governorate in northern Yemen.
The following is a timeline of the 2011–2012 Yemeni revolution from 23 September through December 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 2012 Abyan offensive was an offensive by the Yemeni military against Islamist militant forces, possibly including elements of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), in the province of Abyan with the purpose of re-capturing the militant-held towns of Zinjibar and Jaʿār.
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 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, and 19 September, with more than 60 killed in clashes between Houthi fighters and the military and police in northern Sanaa. By 21 September, the Houthis captured the government headquarters, marking the fall of Sanaa.
The Yemeni civil war is an ongoing multilateral civil war that began in late 2014 mainly between the Rashad al-Alimi-led Presidential Leadership Council and the Mahdi al-Mashat-led Supreme Political Council, along with their supporters and allies. Both claim to constitute the official government of 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 siege of Taiz is an ongoing, protracted military confrontation between opposing Yemeni forces in the city of Taiz for control of the city and surrounding area. The battle began one month after the start of the Yemeni Civil War.
The following is a timeline of the Yemeni civil war, which began in September 2014.
Yemen 
Ansar Allah 
