First Yemenite War

First Yemenite War
	Part of the Cold War and the Arab Cold War
	; North & South Yemen
Date	26 September – 19 October 1972; (3 weeks and 2 days)
Location	North Yemen–South Yemen border
Result	Status quo ante bellum
Belligerents
North Yemen	South Yemen
Commanders and leaders
Abdul Rahman al-Eryani; Ali Abdullah Saleh	Abdul Fattah Ismail

The First Yemenite War was a short military conflict between the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR; North Yemen) and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY; South Yemen).^[1]

Background

South Arabian League (SAL) rebels attacked positions in eastern South Yemen, arriving from Saudi Arabia on February 20, 1972.^[2] The rebels were defeated by South Yemen government troops on February 24, 1972, with some 175 rebels killed during the military hostilities.^[2] Prime Minister Ali Nasir Muhammad survived an assassination attempt by SAL rebels on May 22, 1972.^[2] Six persons were sentenced to death for plotting to overthrow the government on July 9, 1972.^[2] Saudi Arabia continued to oppose South Yemen and supported the Northern Yemeni troops in the upcoming struggle.

Conflict

The war, initiated by North Yemen,^[3] started on 26 September 1972,^[3]^[4] the tenth anniversary of the start of the North Yemen Civil War.^[3] A force composed of members of different political groups and exiled tribesmen from South Yemen, equipped with Alvis Saladin armoured cars provided by Libya and artillery donated by the North Yemeni military, invaded South Yemen in the Qatabah area. In response, the South Yemenis brought several of their battalions to the area of the border with the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen). The South Yemeni air force (PDRYAF) also started bombing the areas invaded by the Northerners, and their military positions. Over the course of one such mission, on 30 September, a PDRYAF MiG-17 fighter was shot down and its pilot killed. In the end, South Yemeni counterattacks supported by air strikes caused over 200 casualties to the invaders, and recovered all of the lost territory. Overall, during the short war, the Southern military demonstrated its capability to run well-planned operations. Its logistics system proved adequate, and the air force's actions in ground-attack and supply missions were deemed effective.^[5] During the conflict, the Yemen Arab Republic (North) was supplied by Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Iran, the United Kingdom and the United States and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South) by the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Iraq, Libya and Cuba.^[1]

Aftermath

Cairo Agreement of 1972

The fighting was short-lived; the war ended 23 days later, on 19 October,^[3] by a ceasefire.^[3] This was followed by the Cairo Agreement of 28 October,^[3] which put forward a plan to unify the two countries in a "republican, national and democratic" state, based on "free and direct" elections.^[3]^[1]

Hostilities in late 1970s

South Yemen instigated and funded a broad-based opposition movement in the north, the National Democratic Front (NDF), during the mid-1970s.^[6]

References

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c Gause, Gregory, Saudi-Yemeni relations: domestic structures and foreign influence, Columbia University Press, 1990, page 98
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "32. South Yemen (1967-1990)".
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Couland, Jacques (1993). Genèse et étapes de l'unité yéménite (facsimile) (in French). Vol. 67. pp. 79–93. doi:10.3406/remmm.1993.1589. Retrieved 18 December 2019. {{cite book}}: |periodical= ignored (help)
^ Lagadec, Jean (April 1974). La fin du conflit yéménite (in French). Vol. 24. pp. 344–355. doi:10.3406/rfsp.1974.418679. {{cite book}}: |periodical= ignored (help)
^ Cooper 2017, p. 37
^ "Yemen - the age of imperialism | Britannica".

Bibliography

Cooper, Tom (2017). Hot Skies Over Yemen, Volume 1: Aerial Warfare Over the South Arabian Peninsula, 1962-1994. Solihull, UK: Helion & Company Publishing. ISBN 978-1-912174-23-2.

[Gause_(1990)-1] Gause, Gregory, Saudi-Yemeni relations: domestic structures and foreign influence, Columbia University Press, 1990, page 98

[uca-2] "32. South Yemen (1967-1990)".

[Couland_(1993)-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Couland, Jacques (1993). Genèse et étapes de l'unité yéménite (facsimile) (in French). Vol. 67. pp. 79–93. doi:10.3406/remmm.1993.1589. Retrieved 18 December 2019. {{cite book}}: |periodical= ignored (help)

[4] Lagadec, Jean (April 1974). La fin du conflit yéménite (in French). Vol. 24. pp. 344–355. doi:10.3406/rfsp.1974.418679. {{cite book}}: |periodical= ignored (help)

[HSOY_1_p37-5] Cooper 2017, p. 37

[britannica-6] "Yemen - the age of imperialism | Britannica".

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[3]

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[6]

v t e People's Democratic Republic of Yemen
History	Timeline 1963: Aden Emergency 1967: British withdrawal from Aden 1969: Corrective Move Al-Wadiah War 1972: First Yemenite War 1979: Second Yemenite War 1986: South Yemen civil war 1990: Yemeni unification
Politics	The Party Presidium Supreme People's Council Constitution People's Vanguard Party Communist Party Government National Liberation Front General-Secritary of the YSP Heads of state Heads of government Democratic Yemeni Union of Peasants Foreign relations of South Yemen Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Yemen General Union of Yemeni Women
Category WikiProject

v t e List of modern conflicts in the Middle East
1910s	Italo-Turkish War World War I Middle Eastern theatre Battle of Robat Karim Arab Revolt Armenian genocide Assyrian genocide Mount Lebanon starvation Unification of Saudi Arabia Simko Shikak revolt 1919 Egyptian revolution Turkish War of Independence Anglo-Turkish War Al-Jazeera Front Greco-Turkish War Turkish–Armenian War Franco-Turkish War Revolts United States Mahmud Barzanji revolts
1920s	Franco-Syrian War Iraqi Revolt (1920) Intercommunal conflict in Mandatory Palestine Adwan Rebellion Arab separatism in Khuzestan Great Syrian Revolt Sheikh Said rebellion
1930s	Ararat rebellion Ahmed Barzani revolt Simele massacre Saudi–Yemeni war (1934) Goharshad Mosque rebellion 1935–1936 Iraqi Shia revolts 1935 Yazidi revolt 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine Dersim rebellion
1940s	World War II Italian bombing of Palestine Allied invasion of Iraq Syria–Lebanon campaign Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran 1943 Barzani revolt Al-Waziri coup Al-Wathbah uprising Kurdish separatism in Iran Iran crisis of 1946 Arab–Israeli conflict 1948 Arab–Israeli War Suez Crisis 1967 Six-Day War 1973 Yom Kippur War 1982 Lebanon War
1950s	1952 Egyptian revolution 1953 Iranian coup d'état Jebel Akhdar War Cyprus Emergency Suez Crisis Yemeni–Adenese clan violence 1958 Lebanon crisis 1958 Iraqi revolution 1959 Mosul uprising
1960s	Cyprus crisis of 1963–1964 Iraqi–Kurdish conflict First Iraqi–Kurdish War Second Iraqi–Kurdish War Dhofar Rebellion North Yemen civil war Feb. 1963 Iraqi coup Mar. 1963 Syrian coup Nov. 1963 Iraqi coup Aden Emergency 1964 Hama riot Israeli–Palestinian conflict 1948 Palestine war First Intifada Second Intifada 1965 Sharjawi coup d'état 1966 Syrian coup d'état 1969 Saudi Arabian coup attempt
1970s	Black September in Jordan 1972 Sharjawi coup d'état attempt Yemenite War of 1972 Turkish invasion of Cyprus Shatt al-Arab clashes Lebanese Civil War Political violence in Turkey Islamist uprising in Syria 1977 Shia uprising in Iraq NDF Rebellion Yemenite War of 1979 Iranian revolution Consolidation of the Iranian revolution 1979 Qatif Uprising Grand Mosque seizure 1979–1980 Shia uprising in Iraq
1980s	Iran–Iraq War 1980 Turkish coup d'état Kurdish–Turkish conflict Turkey–PKK conflict South Yemen civil war 1986 Egyptian conscripts riot 1986 Damascus bombings 1987 Sharjawi coup d'état attempt Mecca massacre Abu Nidal's executions
1990s	Gulf War (1990–1991) 1991 Iraqi uprisings Terror campaign in Egypt (1990s) Yemeni Civil War (1994) Iraqi Kurdish Civil War Islamic insurgency in Saudi Arabia (2000–present) Operation Desert Fox al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen 1999 Shia uprising in Iraq
2000s	Iraq War Balochi insurgency in Iran 2004 Qamishli riots Houthi insurgency in Yemen Iran–Israel proxy conflict 2006 Lebanon War Fatah–Hamas conflict South Yemen insurgency
2010s	2011 Bahraini uprising Egyptian Crisis Sinai insurgency Insurgency in Egypt (2013–present) Syrian civil war Turkish involvement in Syria Syrian War spillover in Lebanon Iraqi insurgency (2011–2013) War in Iraq (2013–2017) Islamic State insurgency in Iraq (2017–present) Yemeni crisis Yemeni civil war (2014–present)
2020s	2021 Beirut clashes Gaza war Israel–Hezbollah conflict (2023–present) Red Sea crisis
This list includes World War I and later conflicts (after 1914) of at least 100 fatalities each Prolonged conflicts are listed in the decade when initiated; ongoing conflicts are marked italic, and conflicts with +100,000 killed with bold.