Buzz
Ever wondered which country was Bob Marley's favorite? It’s Yemen! The real kicker is how funny it sounds if you say it aloud, especially when you're stoned. Believe me.
Yemen, an ancient land located at the southernmost tip of the Arabian Peninsula, shares a border with Saudi Arabia. Over the centuries, its land has been conquered and ruled by numerous empires, each one leaving its mark.
Today, Yemen finds itself embroiled in a brutal conflict between the Sunni factions supported by Riyadh and the Shia factions backed by Tehran. On top of that, various religious sects and tribal allegiances complicate the nation’s already intricate political history.
10. President For Life... Until Death
President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who had been a permanent fixture in Yemen’s leadership, became a permanent resident of a grave in December 2017. After being ousted during the 2011 Arab Spring after 33 years in power, Saleh was desperate to reclaim his throne. Technically, he could have held onto the position for life.
In his bid to regain power, Saleh allied with the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, a group he had previously fought against in six wars. The move initially paid off. His successor fled to Saudi Arabia, and for a brief period, things seemed to go well for Saleh. He once described his position as “dancing upon the heads of snakes.”
However, Saleh soon realized that the Houthis were essentially out-of-control tribesmen, notorious for their ruthless violence and khat-induced craziness. He quickly understood that trying to eliminate every last one of them wasn’t such a bad idea after all—and called on the Saudis for help.
The Houthis, understandably upset by being ditched like an unwanted bride at a shotgun wedding, responded with all the tact you’d expect from high men with AK-47s. They tracked down Saleh as he attempted to flee and shot him dead. Thus ended the reign of the first—and so far, the only—democratically elected president of Yemen.
9. Proxy War Extravaganza
We've already touched on the proxy war, but it's important to understand who is actually fighting whom. On the surface, one might assume the Yemen conflict is simply a sectarian battle of Sunni versus Shia, or Saudi versus Iranian, but the reality is far more intricate.
In fact, many Sunni Yemenis have allied with the Houthi rebels, furious over the aftermath of the Arab Spring. To make matters even more complicated, there are the troublesome Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) forces, eager to prove they can carry out suicide bombings just as effectively as any ISIS recruit.
Oh, and did we mention that ISIS is involved as well? Yep, ISIS is in the mix. Fantastic.
On one side, you have the Houthis, whose flag proudly displays their motto: “God is great, death to America, death to Israel, God curse the Jews, victory for Islam.” On the opposing side, you have AQAP, who might not be as catchy with their slogans but did manage to blow up the USS Cole in 2000.
AQAP enjoys the support of various Sunni factions in the Middle East, but notably not the Sunnis in Saudi Arabia, who they want to kill in large numbers. The Houthis also harbor a strong desire to kill the Saudis. Despite launching missiles at Riyadh, they’ve yet to succeed.
Meanwhile, the Yemeni government forces are backed by Morocco, Jordan, the USA, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and a slew of government-aligned tribes, all of whom—for the moment—are primarily focused on eliminating the Houthis.
In short, don’t trust anyone and definitely avoid visiting Yemen right now.
8. The Last Arab Communist Nation
Communism and Islam may seem like an odd pairing, but they’ve actually formed an unexpected and surprisingly common alliance. After removing the inconvenient demand for atheism from the teachings of Marx and Engels, many groups across the Middle East have tried to combine the two ideologies.
It’s undoubtedly a tough sell, but communists in South Yemen actually managed to establish a government that lasted for about two decades before the country unified.
Unable to maintain control over the newly reunified Yemeni population, the socialists chose to wage a civil war in 1994 instead. This war, fought against the ever-resilient Saleh, turned out to be a disastrous move.
Not only did Saleh have the support of the Americans (who are always eager to arm anyone fighting communism), but the South Yemenis had very few communist allies left, with only Cuba and North Korea offering their verbal solidarity against the imperialists.
A few months and about 6,000 dead communists later, President Saleh had successfully unified the nation—for a brief period, at least.
7. The Queen Of Sheba Might Have Been Yemeni—If She Even Existed
According to the Quran, the Queen of Sheba (known as “Saba” in the text) lived in Yemen around the 10th century BC. King Solomon invited her to visit him and convert to Judaism, which baffled her greatly, as she was a devout Sun and Moon worshiper.
In the exact version of events, the story tells us that Solomon summoned a djinn to transport Bilqis—her name—and her throne all the way from Yemen in the blink of an eye.
There’s also another contender for the title of Sheba’s ruler, namely Queen Makeda of Axum, who visited Solomon. As the legend goes, Solomon, being an especially attractive Jewish king, impregnated her on the spot, and thus began the lineage of Solomonid kings, which culminated with Haile Selassie (yes, the one from Rastafarianism) in 1974.
Still, this story ultimately ends in Ethiopia rather than Yemen, even though both modern-day countries were once part of the same empire and continue to share cultural ties to this day.
6. Yemeni Democracy
In 1993, Yemen became the first nation in the Arabian Peninsula to hold multiparty elections with universal suffrage. Fifty women ran for office, and two of them succeeded in winning seats. Since then, the late President Saleh’s party—the General People’s Congress—has come to dominate Yemen’s political landscape.
The next parliamentary elections, which were supposed to take place in 2009, were delayed twice. In 1999, Saleh was directly elected as president for the first time. He ran against an obscure member of his own party, paid for his opponent’s campaign, and won with a staggering 96.3 percent of the vote.
5. The Worst Place to Be a Woman
Being a woman in Yemen is an incredibly tough reality. Beyond the gender oppression that comes with Islam, there are also significant socioeconomic and cultural obstacles. A staggering 24% of Yemeni women have experienced female genital mutilation (with figures rising to 69% in coastal regions), and only a third of women are literate, though some sources estimate slightly higher rates of literacy.
According to the UN, half of Yemeni girls are married before the age of 18, and 15% are married before they even turn 15. Within their marriages, Yemeni women have no equal rights when it comes to custody, divorce, or inheritance. They also need permission from their husband or father to travel or obtain a passport.
Legislation that was set to address these issues was being considered by the Yemeni parliament. But, unsurprisingly, the ongoing war derailed the bill and put a stop to any progress on changing the deeply ingrained cultural practice of mutilating young girls.
If anyone stands to benefit from a total overhaul of Yemeni society, it is the women—provided the transformation doesn't lead to even more radical and repressive interpretations of Islam and its stance on women's roles.
4. The ‘Manhattan of the Desert’ with Mud Skyscrapers
How tall do you think the tallest building constructed entirely from mud could be?
It likely won't reach 11 stories, but that's how tall some of the buildings in Shibam, Yemen, stand. Shibam has boasted mud skyscrapers like these for 500 years, long before many Western nations even figured out clean water systems. The city was added to the World Heritage Sites at Risk list when the civil war began.
Yet, it’s not only Saudi Arabia, Al-Qaeda, and ISIS that threaten this extraordinary town of 7,000 residents. The town is also at constant risk from erosion and typhoon-like weather, which puts immense pressure on the mud buildings and foundations, requiring frequent maintenance.
The unique architectural style was created to shield residents from Bedouin attacks. Not much has changed since then, except now the Bedouin are flying F-16s instead of riding camels.
3. The Only Way to Get High Is By Chewing Leaves, and It’s Practically a National Pastime
It is estimated that 90% of men and 1 in 4 women in Yemen chew khat leaves, which offers a quite jarring experience for newcomers. Imagine stepping into Yemen and realizing that nearly everyone around you is chewing on leaves.
The saliva breaks down the cells of the plant, releasing what essentially acts like a mild amphetamine into their bloodstream. As the head merchant at the khat market puts it, “Khat is alcohol for Muslims,” where a daily supply bag goes for just US$5.
Khat is an expensive addiction in a country where, even before the war, 45% of people lived below the poverty line, resulting in severe food shortages. With many families spending as much on khat as they do on food, the majority of Yemen's fertile land has been devoted to khat cultivation. While this brought in more revenue than traditional crops, it became a significant issue once violence escalated.
2. Tribalism Is Often Overestimated
The ongoing conflict in Yemen has emphasized the involvement of tribal combatants, but this is a misconception, according to prominent Yemeni political analyst Abdul Ghani al-Iryani. In 2011, he argued that Westerners tend to exaggerate the importance of tribes in Yemeni politics.
“I define tribal as those whose primary allegiance is to their tribe—meaning if the sheikh calls them to war, they respond. This applies to about 20% of the population. The other 80% are either urban dwellers or peasants, and they are not tribal,” he explained.
What does this mean? Beyond the conflict between the Houthis and the Yemeni government, there are many people who simply wish to be left in peace and avoid being bombed. Historically, the tribal people have struggled as fighters when up against skilled opponents. However, they are quite adept at guerrilla warfare.
Perhaps this gap in fighting styles explains why the civil war persists, with the government unable to decisively defeat the tribal forces.
1. Sunni-Shia Conflict: Swings Between Peace and Violence
Yemen's population is predominantly Muslim, but it is divided into different Islamic sects—mainly Sunni and Zaidi Shia. The divide between Sunnis and Shia stems from a centuries-old religious conflict that began with a dispute over the rightful successor to the Prophet Muhammad.
Shia Muslims believe that the prophet’s cousin should have succeeded him, while Sunnis support the selection of Muhammad’s close companion and advisor, Abu Bakr, as the first caliph of the Muslim community.
Unlike many other parts of the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen has historically been a relatively tolerant place for various religions, even though the Sunni-Zaidi Shia divide has been a source of conflict during wars. Notably, while all Houthis follow the Zaidi branch, not all Zaidis are Houthis. Therefore, the tribe doesn’t represent the entire religious sect, and vice versa.
When tribal politics take center stage, religion seems to take a backseat.
