The Republic of Yemen is located on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, bordered on the east by Oman and on the north by Saudi Arabia. The territory was occupied by the Ottoman Turks from 1538 until 1918.
Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the northern portion of Yemen was ruled by imams until a pro-Egyptian military coup took place in 1962. The junta that seized control proclaimed a Yemen Arab Republic. A civil war broke out in which Egypt and the USSR supported the republicans, and Saudi Arabia and Jordan backed the royalists. The civil war ended in 1969 with the victory of the republic, but fighting between the republicans and the royalists continued until Saudi Arabia formally recognized the republican regime in 1970 and stopped aid to the royalists. The Yemen Arab Republic became a client state of the Soviet Union, and was supplied with Soviet-bloc arms including MiG-17 fighters.
The southern port of Aden had been controlled by Britain since 1839, when forces of the British East India Company occupied the area. British rule soon spread to the surrounding countryside, and by the 1960s there was a British-controlled federation of emirates which controlled considerable areas around Aden, the region formally being known as the South Arabian Protectorate of Great Britain. However, by this time there was also considerable opposition to the federation by nationalist groups in Aden, and a terrorist campaign against the British broke out. Two rival nationalist groups emerged, the National Liberation Front (NLF) and the Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen (FLOSY). Recognizing that there was little to be gained by staying in Aden, Britain agreed to withdraw from the region by 1968. The NLF emerged as the dominant nationalist movement in Aden, and took over the governments of the component states in the federation, forcing a collapse of the federation. Britain accelerated its withdrawal from Aden, and the country became formally independent on November 30, 1967 and was named the People’s Republic of South Yemen. The country was renamed the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen in 1970. The Soviet Union became an important backer of the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen. With strong Soviet aid, South Yemen rapidly became a Marxist state, and Soviet naval bases were established in the area in 1979.
Between 1967 and 1972, there were frequent border clashes between northern and southern Yemen, and full-scale war broke out in early 1979. However, by the mid-1970s, the Soviet Union had transferred its allegiance from North to South Yemen. The air force of the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) had been operating a fleet of aging MiG-17s, and was now forced to turn to the West for its arms supplies. With US approval, the Saudi government transferred four F-5Bs to North Yemen. These were later joined by more modern F-5Es from Saudi Arabia. North Yemen’s F-5E/F fleet was originally piloted by RoCAF pilots from April 1979 to May 1990.
By the end of 1981, it was recognized that the continued fighting over borders was in nobody’s interest, and a constitution was drafted to implement a merger between the two Yemens. However, attempts to implement it were delayed for several years by instability in the PDRY. On May 22, 1990, the two Yemens formally united as the Republic of Yemen. The decline of the Soviet Union and the loss of Soviet economic support in the South was an important factor in the merger. The new government that was formed was a republic, with a popularly-elected president and a unicameral legislature. One of the effects of the merger was to create a unified Republic of Yemen Air Force. A rare situation was created in which Western and Soviet-block aircraft were operating side-by-side.
However, in May of 1994, a major civil war broke out when southern secessionist forces supported by Saudi Arabia revolted against the Iraqi-backed central government. Most of the Yemeni F-5s were believed to be unserviceable at the time of the outbreak of fighting, but one was claimed to have been shot down by the South. The fighting ended in July 1994 with a government victory. In 1995, the country’s Iraqi advisors were expelled and the US again began to supply aid, including spares for Yemen’s surviving F-5Es and F-5Bs.
In the Gulf War, Yemen backed Iraq, which led to a cutoff of American aid. However, in recent years, relations between the United States and Yemen have gradually improved. The Yemeni port of Aden has become an important refuelling depot for American warships patrolling the Persian Gulf. However, terrorists are quite active in Yemen, as evidenced by the bombing attack on the guided missile destroyer USS Cole on October 12, 2000. The attack has been blamed on the followers of the terrorist Osama bin Laden.
The Yemeni air force has also been active in air raids against al-Qaeda terrorist bases throughout Yemen.
The Yemeni Air Force was used extensively in the Sadah War against the Houthi rebellion. This was a sectarian military rebellion that began in Northern Yemen and has since escalated into a full-scale civil war. It began in June 2004, when dissident cleric Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, a leader of the Zaidi sect, launched an uprising against the Yemeni government.
In 2015, Saudi Arabian forces intervened in Yemen to influence the outcome of the Yemeni civil war. The intervention was in support of the Yemeni government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi. The intervention was due to a Houthi tribal offensive aimed at the capital of Aden. Aircraft from Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Bahrain also took part in the operation. The USA has provided intelligence, advisory, and logistical support. The coalition has accused Iran of providing aid to the Houthis. The intervention was a major humanitarian disaster, 300,000 people being displaced by the fighting. Saudi Arabia announced that they were suspending military operations, hoping to pursue some sort of political settlement.
Sources:
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F-5: Warplane for the World, Robbie Shaw, Motorbooks, 1990
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Northrop F-5/F-20, Jerry Scutts, Ian Allan Ltd, 1986.
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Northrop F-5, Jon Lake and Robert Hewson, World Airpower Journal, Vol
25, 1996.
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www.arab.net on the history of the two Yemens.
- Yemeni Air Force, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemeni_Air_Force#Saudi-led_intervention_in_Yemen_.282015.E2.80.93present.29
