Saudi-led intervention in the Yemeni civil war

Overview

On 26 March 2015, Saudi Arabia, leading a coalition of nine countries from West Asia and North Africa, staged a military 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 (UN) 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.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

On 26 March 2015, Saudi Arabia led a coalition of nine countries from West Asia and North Africa in a military intervention in Yemen, acting at the request of President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi after Houthi insurgents seized the capital, Sanaa, in September 2014. UN-mediated efforts to establish a power-sharing transitional government had collapsed, and Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia shortly before the intervention began. The operation marked a significant escalation of the Yemeni civil war, internationalizing a conflict that had until then been primarily internal. With force sizes on both sides estimated in the range of 150,000 to 200,000 personnel and coalition casualties ultimately reaching between 1,000 and 3,000, the intervention drew in regional powers including states from the Gulf, North Africa, and the broader Arab world, transforming the conflict into one of the largest multilateral military engagements in the region in decades.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (30)