Second Yemenite War | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Cold War and the Arab Cold War | |||||||
North & South Yemen | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
North Yemen Supported by: |
South Yemen Supported by: | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Ali Abdullah Saleh | Abdul Fattah Ismail | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
1 North Yemeni Army Division 1 Air Defence Brigade 2 Air Force squadrons – 18 aircraft 1 Mechanised Brigade (late entry) |
3 South Yemeni Army divisions 1 Air Force Tactical Regiment (4 MiG-21 and Su-22 Squadrons – 32 aircraft) | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
300,000 total 1900 tanks in total 350 tanks in theater |
120,000 total 45,000 in theater 600 tanks total 300 tanks in theater | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
672 ground troops KIA, 1,624 POW 6 MiG-17 aircraft and 3 MiG-21 destroyed on ground, 4 MiG-17 and 2 MiG-21 shot down in combat, 4 pilots POW; 5 Mi-17s destroyed on ground 46 T-34 and T-55 Tanks destroyed 16 SA-3 launchers destroyed; 34 P-15 radars and 6 P-12 radars destroyed |
412 ground troops KIA, 125 POW 12 T-55 tanks destroyed 2 Su-22s downed in combat. |
The Second 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] The war developed out of a breakdown in relations between the two countries after the president of North Yemen, Ahmad al-Ghashmi, was killed on 24 June 1978, and Salim Rubai Ali, a moderate Marxist who had been working on a proposed merger between the two Yemens, was murdered two days later.[2] The hostility of the rhetoric from the new leadership of both countries escalated, leading to small-scale border fighting, which then in turn escalated into a full-blown war in February 1979.
North Yemen appeared on the edge of a decisive defeat after a three-front invasion by a South Yemeni combined arms formation,[3] however this was prevented by a successful mediation in the form of the Kuwait Agreement of 1979, which resulted in Arab League forces being deployed to patrol the North–South border. An agreement to unite both countries was also signed, although it was not implemented.[4]
War Dict 615
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).