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Yemeni civil war: A Visual History

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Visual history of a war

Since 2014: the Houthis' seizure of Sanaa, a Saudi-led bombing campaign, famine and cholera in the Arab world's poorest country, and Red Sea attacks that drew in the West.

Fought
2014 to present
Duration
12 years
Dates
September 2014 to present (ongoing)
Deaths
About 377,000 by end-2021 (UNDP), 60 percent from hunger and disease; over 150,000 in violence
Houthi side
Ansar Allah (Houthis); Saleh's forces until 2017; Iranian arms and Hezbollah advisers
Anti-Houthi
Hadi government, then Presidential Leadership Council; Saudi-led coalition (Saudi Arabia, UAE, others); Southern Transitional Council; US, UK, French arms; US-UK strikes from 2024
Status
Truce since April 2022; de facto partition; Houthi Red Sea and Israel attacks; sporadic strikes

The Yemeni Civil War began in September 2014 when the Houthi movement, Zaydi Shia rebels from the north allied with the ousted president Saleh, seized Sanaa and then drove President Hadi from Aden. In March 2015 Saudi Arabia and the UAE launched an air and blockade campaign to restore Hadi; the front froze with the Houthis holding the populous north-west and a fractured coalition of Hadi's government, southern separatists (STC) and UAE-backed forces holding the south and east. Air strikes on markets, funerals and hospitals, a blockade, cholera (2.5 million cases) and famine made it the world's worst humanitarian crisis; the UN estimated 377,000 deaths by end-2021. A 2022 truce largely held; after October 2023 the Houthis attacked Red Sea shipping and Israel, drawing US, British and Israeli strikes; no settlement has been reached.

When it was fought: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Yemeni Civil War. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

1200130014001500160017001800190020002100Yemeni Civil War (2014 to present)Open: Ottoman EmpireOttoman Empire (1299 to 1922)Open: British EmpireBritish Empire (1583 to 1997)Open: Second French colonial empireSecond French colonial empire (1830 to 1980)Open: Arab-Israeli conflictArab-Israeli conflict (1948 to present)Open: North Yemen Civil WarNorth Yemen Civil War (1962 to 1970)Open: Iran-Iraq WarIran-Iraq War (1980 to 1988)Open: Somali Civil WarSomali Civil War (1991 to present)Open: War in DarfurWar in Darfur (2003 to present)Open: Syrian Civil WarSyrian Civil War (2011 to 2024)

Estimated deaths by cause to end-2021

075150225300Direct violence: 150150Direct violenceHunger and lack of healthcare: 227227Hunger and lack of healthcareChildren under five (all causes): 259259Children under five (all causes)Coalition air strike civilian deaths (Yemen Data Project): 99Coalition air strike civilian deaths (Yemen Data Project)thousands (UNDP)

Timeline of the Yemeni Civil War

  1. 2011
    Uprising; Saleh steps down
  2. 2014
    Houthis take SanaaSeptember.
  3. 2015
    Hadi flees; Saudi-led interventionMarch.
  4. 2016
    Sanaa funeral hall strike; cholera epidemic begins
  5. 2017
    Saleh killed by the Houthis
  6. 2018
    Hodeidah offensive; Stockholm agreement
  7. 2019
    Abqaiq attack; STC takes Aden
  8. 2022
    UN truce
  9. 2023
    Houthi Red Sea attacks begin
  10. 2024
    US-UK strikes on the Houthis

Arab Spring to the Houthi takeover

Yemen's 2011 uprising forced Ali Abdullah Saleh to hand power to his deputy Hadi in 2012; a national dialogue proposed a federal Yemen the Houthis rejected. The Houthis, who had fought Saleh six times, allied with him against Hadi, marched from Saada into Sanaa in September 2014, took the government in January 2015 and advanced on Aden as Hadi fled to Riyadh.

Decisive Storm and stalemate

Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman launched Operation Decisive Storm on 26 March 2015 with UAE, Gulf, Egyptian and Sudanese support and US targeting help. Coalition and Emirati-trained forces retook Aden and the south by August but stalled at Taiz and Marib; the Houthis fired Iranian-designed missiles at Riyadh and drones at Saudi oil facilities (Abqaiq, 2019). Saleh switched sides and was killed by the Houthis in December 2017. The Hodeidah offensive of 2018 threatened the aid lifeline until the Stockholm agreement froze it. The STC seized Aden from Hadi's forces in 2019; the UAE drew down; Marib held out against Houthi assaults in 2020-2021.

Truce and the Red Sea

A UN truce in April 2022 halted air strikes and reopened Sanaa airport, and Hadi handed power to a council; Saudi-Houthi talks, brokered by Oman and helped by the Saudi-Iranian thaw of 2023, produced a roadmap but no deal. After Israel's Gaza war began, the Houthis attacked ships in the Red Sea from November 2023 and fired missiles at Israel; the US and UK bombed Houthi sites from January 2024, Israel struck Hodeidah and Sanaa, and shipping through Suez fell by half. Yemen remains divided, half its people in need of aid, with the Houthis stronger than ever.

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8 surprising things about the Yemeni Civil War

  1. Yemen's cholera outbreak from 2016 was the largest ever recorded, with over 2.5 million suspected cases.
  2. The Houthi slogan reads 'God is great, death to America, death to Israel, curse the Jews, victory to Islam'.
  3. The UAE trained and armed the southern separatists who then fought the government it was supposedly restoring.
  4. The 2019 drone and missile attack on Abqaiq knocked out half of Saudi oil production for days.
  5. The Houthis' Red Sea campaign forced shipping round the Cape and cut Suez Canal traffic by roughly half in 2024.
  6. Saudi Arabia is estimated to have spent over 100 billion dollars on the war.
  7. The Houthis have held two US-designated terrorist listings, removed by Biden in 2021 and restored in 2024-2025.
  8. The Houthi movement takes its name from Hussein al-Houthi, killed by Saleh's army in 2004.

Sources

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