History UsefulNotes / Yemen

** Deputy chairmen of the Presidential Leadership Council (UN recognized): Sultan Ali al-Arada, Tareq Saleh, Abed al-Rahman Abu Zara’a, Abdullah al-Alimi Bawazeer, Othman Hussein Megali, Aidarus al-Zoubaidi and Faraj Salmin Al-Buhsani
** Prime Minister (UN recognized): Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed

* In the ''Series/{{Friends}}'' episode "The One with All the Rugby", Chandler makes up a story about his company transferring him to Yemen to get rid of his annoying ex-girlfriend, Janice. [[GlobalIgnorance Joey doesn't realise it's a real place.]]

Yemen ('''Arabic:''' ''اليَمَن‎ al-Yaman''), also known as the Republic of Yemen or (more literally) the Yemeni Republic ('''Arabic:''' ''الجمهورية اليمنية‎ al-Jumhūriyyah al-Yamaniyyah'') is a Western Asian country located on the southern tip of Arabia, bordered to the south by the Gulf of Aden, the west by the Red Sea, the north by UsefulNotes/SaudiArabia and the east by UsefulNotes/{{Oman}}.

** President (UN recognized): Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi
** Vice President (UN recognized): Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar
** Prime Minister (UN recognized): Ali Mohamed al Ahmar

Yemen ('''Arabic:''' ''اليَمَن‎ al-Yaman''), also known as the Republic of Yemen ('''Arabic:''' ''الجمهورية اليمنية‎ al-Jumhūriyyah al-Yamaniyyah'') is a Western Asian country located on the southern tip of Arabia, bordered to the south by the Gulf of Aden, the west by the Red Sea, the north by UsefulNotes/SaudiArabia and the east by UsefulNotes/{{Oman}}.

* '''Highest point:''' Jabal An-Nabi Shu'ayb (3666 m/12,028 ft) (52nd)

In 1990 and following TheGreatPoliticsMessUp, the two Yemens decided to patch things up and merge, becoming the Republic of Yemen, with Ali Abdullah Saleh, the president of YAR, as its first president. Immediately after that, however, tensions rose between the former republics as the south complained of marginalization. A civil war ensued that was won by the northern government, but despite the purge of ex-South Yemen figures, tensions remained that would culminate in the 2011 revolution. The Zaidis, now having formed the Houthi movement as their political wing, also emerged to claim their rights, leading to an insurgency that started in 2004 and continues today. [[FromBadToWorse And as if those were not enough]], at the turn of the millennium, Wahhabi insurgency further troubled the largely incompetent government. After all, UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden's family is from Hadhramaut (although the man himself was born in Saudi Arabia). A large portion of South Yemen was effectively controlled by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula until U.S. intervention in 2009-2010 stamped them out.

* '''Highest point:''' Jabal An-Nabi Shu'ayb (3666 m/12,028 ft) (71st)

* '''ISO-3166-1 Code:''' YE

* '''Area:''' 555,000 km (214,000 sq mi) (49th)

* '''Currency''': Yemeni riyal (SR/ر.س/﷼) (YER)

* '''Capitals:''' Sanaa (De jure), Aden (Temporary capital in exile)[[note]]Yemen has been mired in civil war since 2015. The UN-backed government was forced to retreat from the capital Sana'a and relocate many times, with the president himself living in exile in Saudi Arabia. The government is technically based in Aden, but the city has been under the control of the Southern Transitional Council, which nominally sides with the government but has agendas of its own since 2019.[[/note]]

->The flag's red, white and black stripes, all taken from the Pan-Arab colors, symbolize the blood of the fallen, hopes for a bright future, and Yemen's troubled past, respectively. The stripes were a common element of the flags of North Yemen and South Yemen, both of which featured a green star at the center and a sky-blue chevron with a red star on the hoist side, respectively.

Yemen ('''Arabic:''' ''اليَمَن‎ al-Yaman''), also known as the Republic of Yemen ('''Arabic:''' ''الجمهورية اليمنية‎ al-Jumhūriyyah al-Yamaniyyah'') is a West Asian country located on the southern tip of Arabia, bordered to the south by the Gulf of Aden, the west by the Red Sea, the north by UsefulNotes/SaudiArabia and the east by UsefulNotes/{{Oman}}.

* In ''Series/SEALTeam'', the entirety of episode 6 is spent training for a mission to capture an al-Qaeda commander in Yemen, [[ShaggyDogStory although the mission gets scrubbed when the target ends up leaving the country and disappearing.]] The team ends up going to Yemen for real in episode 10 when they break into a house in Sana'a to capture a terrorist whose cell phone signal was pinpointed in that area.

* The mission "Achilles' Veil" in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps2'' takes place on Socotra Island.

The only republic in the peninsula, it is known for the verdant Sarawat Mountains, the longest and highest in the region, which crisscross the western coast, earning from Strabo the title ''Eudaimon Arabia'', "Lucky Arabia". The fertility allowed the land to cultivate advanced civilizations that exerted tremendous influence to their then-nomadic neighbors. Ironically, Yemen is currently the poorest among the Arab countries, even before the UsefulNotes/ArabSpring erupted in 2011, having spent the last century in a [[ForeverWar constant state of civil war]] involving intricate [[TheClan clan politics]], secular and fundamentalist factions, and occasional foreign intervention, which has succeeded in defining the country as a stereotypical {{Qurac}} in the minds of westerners.

Yemen is regarded among Arabs as the quintessential Arab country. In traditional Arab historiography, Arab clans were divided into two confederations: the Qahtanites, who are "pure, undiluted" Arabs from Southern Arabia, and Adnanites, who are descended from Adnan, a man of Hebrew-Arab descent. The Hebrew part comes because Ishmael, son of Abraham (yes, [[Literature/BookOfGenesis that one]]) is regarded as the ancestor of Adnan; sometime after his exile from Canaan, Ishmael went to Mecca and married a Yemenite woman with whom he bore the lineage that produced Adnan. For that matter, Ishmael is ''[[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff very]]'' [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff important for Arabs]], just as Isaac is important for Jews, and most importantly, this allowed [[UsefulNotes/TheProphetMuhammad Muhammad]] to claim descent from Ishmael (the Quraysh were an Adnanite tribe).

History began in Yemen when the native Sabaeans adopted the Sinaitic script to write their Semitic language at the turn of the 1st millennium BC. This script was borrowed by the neighboring peoples as well as the D'mt across the Red Sea in the Horn of Africa, where it's known as Ge'ez and is still used to the present day. The Sabaeans were most likely the nation referred to in the Literature/TheBible as "Sheba". Other than the Sabaeans, there were also the Himyarites, Qataban, the Minaeans, and Hadhramaut. These states, especially the [[ArchEnemy Sabaeans and Himyarites]], competed over the right to claim the lucrative Red Sea/Indian Ocean trade while ferociously defending their lands from being annexed by foreign powers. The Romans recorded only a single serious invasion attempt in 25 BCE, which ended in a CurbStompBattle at their expense. Of note, ancient Yemen's domain extended beyond the modern country's borders, with Saudi Arabia's Asir, Jizan, and Najran Provinces as well as Oman's Dhofar Governorate being undisputed parts of Greater Yemen. People of these places have much in common with Yemen than their host countries.

The ancient Yemenites practiced a polytheistic religion with the moon god Almaqah as the TopGod. However, it was also known for its large and prosperous Jewish community, probably the oldest outside the Levant. Patronized by Persia, they succeeded in converting many kings, who were hostile to the nascent Christian kingdoms that sprang up around them, first Aksum in the Horn of Africa and then the Romans/Byzantines and their Arab Ghassanid vassals in the north. Although the Himyarites were allied with Aksum, factionalism brought them down in the 6th century AD. In their wake, a Jewish warlord called Yusuf ibn Shaharbeel, better known by his nickname Dhu Nuwas[[note]] "sidelocks", as in those grown by Orthodox Jews[[/note]] attempted consolidation, but his massacre of the Christians of Najran angered the Byzantines enough to call for a united Christian front against him. Himyar then became a vassal of Aksum until its viceroy died in 553, when the Sassanids invaded and claimed Himyar as one of its provinces.

In 1990 and following TheGreatPoliticsMessUp, the two Yemens decided to patch things up and merge, becoming the Republic of Yemen, with Ali Abdullah Saleh, the president of YAR, as its first president. Immediately after that, however, tensions rose between the former republics as the south complained of marginalization. A civil war ensued that was won by the northern government, but despite the purge of ex-South Yemen figures, tensions remained that would culminate in the 2011 revolution. The Zaidis, now having formed the Houthi movement as their political wing, also emerged to claim their rights, leading to an insurgency that started in 2004 and continues today. [[FromBadToWorse And if that isn't enough]], at the turn of the millennium, Wahhabi insurgency further troubled the largely incompetent government. After all, UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden's family is from Hadhramaut (although the man himself was born in Saudi Arabia). A large portion of South Yemen was effectively controlled by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula until U.S. intervention in 2009-2010 stamped them out.

Following the Arab Spring, Saleh was ousted after 21 years in power, to be replaced by his vice president, Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. Hadi was never able to exercise control over the entire country, however, and, under the Houthis' pressure, he was forced to flee Sana'a and briefly the country in 2015. As of right now, Hadi's rule over Yemen, with the support of the Gulf Cooperation Council (minus Oman) is confined in the former South Yemen with Aden as the ''de facto'' capital, while Sana'a was ruled by a coalition of [[EnemyMine the Houthis and Saleh]], till Houthis killed Saleh following his betrayal of their alliance.

Yemen is regarded among Arabs as the quintessential Arab country. In traditional Arab historiography, Arab clans were divided into two confederations: the Qahtanites, who are "pure, undiluted" Arabs from Southern Arabia, and Adnanites, who are descended from Adnan, a man of Hebrew-Arab descent. The Hebrew part comes because Ishmael, son of Abraham (yes, [[Literature/BookOfGenesis that one]]) is regarded as the ancestor of Adnan; sometime after his exile from Canaan, Ishmael went to Mecca and married a Yemenite woman from whom he bore the lineage that produced Adnan. For that matter, Ishmael is ''[[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff very]]'' [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff important for Arabs]], just as Isaac is important for Jews, and most prominently, this allowed [[UsefulNotes/TheProphetMuhammad Muhammad]] to claim descent from Ishmael (the Quraysh were an Adnanite tribe).

The ancient Yemenites practiced a polytheist religion with the moon god Almaqah as the TopGod. However, it was also known for its large and prosperous Jewish community, probably the oldest outside the Levant. Patronized by Persia, they succeeded in converting many kings, who were hostile to the nascent Christian kingdoms that sprang up around them, first Aksum in the Horn of Africa and then the Romans/Byzantines and their Arab Ghassanid vassals in the north. Although the Himyarites were allied with Aksum, factionalism brought them down in the 6th century AD. In their wake, a Jewish warlord called Yusuf ibn Shaharbeel, better known by his nickname Dhu Nuwas[[note]] "sidelocks", as in those grown by Orthodox Jews[[/note]] attempted consolidation, but his massacre of the Christians of Najran angered the Byzantines enough to call for a united Christian front against him. Himyar then became a vassal of Aksum until its viceroy died in 553, when the Sassanids invaded and claimed Himyar as one of its provinces.

Two years before his death in 632, Muhammad sent some of his generals to Yemen for proselytization. The campaign was successful and uprooted Sassanid control. Yemenite clans played a major part in the expansion of the Caliphate. The Caliphate gradually lost control of Arabia to other rival Arab clans in the following centuries, however. In the 9th century, Yahya bin al-Husayn settled in the Sarawat Mountains and preached Zaidi Shia Islam. This started the over a thousand years long reign of Shia monarchy in the highlands, while the coast remains a bastion of Sunni Islam. Their border cut through Sana'a, which is still a mixed Sunni-Shia community.

The Ismaili Shia Sulayhid dynasty, founded in the 11th century, is famous for producing the only two women in the history of Islam to have khutbah (sermon) proclaimed under their name: Asma bint Shihab, and her daughter-in-law Arwa al-Sulayhi. The Sulayhids had the also Ismaili Fatimid Caliphate in UsefulNotes/{{Egypt}} as patron, but their rule ended when the Ayyubids ousted the Fatimids in 1171. However, even the might of Saladin couldn't beat back the Zaidis, who remained independent when the next major dynasty rose in the 13th century: the Rasulids. The Rasulids reigned for over 2 centuries and, despite being of Turkic origin, is regarded as the greatest Yemenite power since the pre-Islamic era, having managed to re-conquer all lands that originally belonged to Yemen. Coffee was added as a chief cash crop, a tradition that would be followed in the later Zaidi dynasties and remains a staple of Yemen. The Rasulids were also responsible for propagating the Shafi'i school now adopted by Sunni Yemenis (before that, Hanafi reigned supreme over Arabia).

In the aftermath of the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI Great War]] and the Ottomans' breakup, the Zaidis regained control and created the Kingdom of Yemen, which is recognized to be the antecedent of the modern country. It was involved in a brief war in 1934 with Saudi Arabia that saw the loss of Asir, Jizan, and Najran, therefore forming the current border between the two. Like other Arab kingdoms of that time, it was highly isolationist. Arab nationalism spurned by the pro-Soviet Egypt spread to Yemen in the 1950s. The kingdom joined the short-lived United Arab Republic in 1956 alongside Egypt and UsefulNotes/{{Syria}} to mitigate the problem. It managed to fend off the communist influence, but it couldn't control the republican movement, which overthrew the monarchy a year after the UAR disintegrated and established the Yemen Arab Republic in 1962.

In 1990 and following TheGreatPoliticsMessUp, the two Yemens decided to patch things up and merge, becoming the Republic of Yemen, with Ali Abdullah Saleh, the president of YAR, as its first president. Immediately after that, however, tensions rose between the former republics as the south complained of marginalization. A civil war ensued that was won by the northern government, but despite the purge of ex-South Yemen figures, tensions remained that would culminate in the 2011 revolution. The Zaidis, now having formed the Houthi movement as their political wing, also emerged to claim their rights, leading to an insurgency that started in 2004 and continues today. [[FromBadToWorse And if that isn't enough]], at the turn of the millennium, Wahhabi insurgency further troubled the largely incompetent government. UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden, was, after all, a native of Hadhramaut. A large portion of South Yemen was effectively controlled by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula until U.S. intervention in 2009-2010 stamped them out.

Following the Arab Spring, Saleh was ousted after 21 years of power, to be replaced by his vice president, Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. Hadi was never able to exercise control over the entire country, however, and, under the Houthis' pressure, he was forced to flee Sana'a and briefly the country in 2014. As of right now, Hadi's rule over Yemen, with the support of the Gulf Cooperation Council (minus Oman) is confined in the former South Yemen with Aden as the ''de facto'' capital, while Sana'a was ruled by a coalition of [[EnemyMine the Houthis and Saleh]],
till Houthis killed Saleh following his betrayal of their alliance.

* An Al-Qaeda meeting takes place there at the start of the 2004 mini-series ''Series/TheGrid''.

Following the Arab Spring, Saleh was ousted after 21 years of power, to be replaced by his vice president, Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. Hadi was never able to exercise control over the entire country, however, and, under the Houthis' pressure, he was forced to flee Sana'a and briefly the country in 2014. As of right now, Hadi's rule over Yemen, with the support of the Gulf Cooperation Council (minus Oman) is confined in the former South Yemen with Aden as the ''de facto'' capital, while Sana'a is ruled by a coalition of [[EnemyMine the Houthis and Saleh]].