The Egyptian-Yemen War : Egyptian perspectives on Guerrilla warfare

Infantry Magazine, Jan-Feb, 2004 by Youssef Aboul-Enein

Egyptian military historians refer to their war in Yemen as their Vietnam. President Nasser began by sending a battalion of Special Forces and in the end committed 55,000 troops--all in an effort to sustain a revolution of Yemeni officers who brought an end to a tyrannical and medieval Hamiduddin dynasty. This five-year conflict offers many lessons from the Yemeni officers, who were sent to Egypt and Iraq for military training only to return with Nasserist, nationalist and Baathist ideas, to the underestimation of Egyptian Field Marshal Amer and his general staff, who felt that a battalion of Special Forces combined with airpower could score a quick and decisive victory.

As the United States undertakes the crucial task of rebuilding Iraq and Afghanistan, it is imperative that this new generation of American military planners gain an appreciation for the history, strategy and tactics of wars not usually studied in today's western war colleges. Despite massive manpower, airpower, armor and artillery, the Egyptian expeditionary forces could only hold onto a triangle of land from the capital Sana'a to the port of Hodeida to Taiz.

An analysis of this conflict may help U.S. military planners as they cooperate with Yemeni authorities to hunt down Al-Qaeda. Studying the Yemen War is also a vital step towards a real appreciation of the combat techniques and terrain of the area in which Osama bin Laden's family originated. The Hardamaut region of Yemen provides Al-Qaeda with a strong base of support among a few of its tribes. Egyptian military planners attempted to pacify the region with the help of Yemeni Republican forces; however, their task was made even more complex when royalist forces were backed by Saudi, Jordanian, Iranian, and British support.

A Backwater of World War I

Using tribal levies, the Ottoman Turks created four battalions of gendarme and three cavalry regiments. In 1906, the Italians recruited thousands of Yemeni and gave them military training in their colony of Somalia before sending them to Libya to fight the Sanussi insurgency of 1911. It would be a combination of these forces that held stronger ties to tribe that would rebel against Ottoman rule in Yemen in World War I. Aware of the gains made by the Hashemites to the North and their Arab Revolt, Yemeni tribes began their own attacks on Ottoman forces. Although not as famous as the revolts involving T.E. Lawrence, the Yemeni revolt led to the withdrawal of Turkish units by 1918 and the establishment of an Imamate under the Imam Yahya.

Yahya kept a cadre of 300 Ottoman officers and soldiers to train the Imamate Army. They divided the Yemeni forces into several formations:

* The Al-Muzaffar Army--This was the tribal levy begun by the Ottomans and diverted to Imam Yahya in 1919. A fascinating element is that each tribe included a retainer who reported on the behavior, awards, and misdeeds of members of his tribe. If a member of the tribal levy stole, or left without permission, the retainer and tribal chief compensated the Imam for the loss.

* The Defensive Army--Created in 1936, it was a draft of all able-bodied men capable of bearing arms. The difference was that each person was given six months training and the draft included urban Yemenis. They received periodic training for 10 years. This was a primitive form of reserve army that trained 15,000 per year.

* The Outback Army--This was an exclusive fighting force in which Zeidi tribesmen, of the same religious sect as the Imam, brought their own rifle and provisions. This irregular infantry and cavalry force served for one to two years and then another soldier was provided by the Zeidis. They numbered 50,000 at any given time.

* Special Imamate Guard--Specially selected for their absolute loyalty to the monarch, they were called the "Ukfa" and numbered about 5,000.

Military Training Missions

Yemeni officers who undertook failed coup d' etats in 1947 and 1955, before the successful 1962 coup, all received advanced military training in Iraq, Syria and Egypt. These officers were in awe of the great cities of Cairo, Damascus and Baghdad. They lamented the backwardness of their own nation and received heavy doses of Arab nationalism, ideas on how civil-society functioned, and much more. Some listened to the methods by which Nasser and his free officers overthrew the monarchy of King Farouk, and dreamt of doing the same in Yemen.

Italy provided six tanks, 2,000 rifles, four anti-air guns and communications gear in 1926. Iraq provided rifles and communications equipment. Four officers and noncommissioned officers along with four cannons, six heavy machine guns, 12 light machine guns and 20 rifles came from Egypt in 1954. Throughout 1956 and 1957, Soviet freighters brought the largest infusion of modern weapons into Yemen. It included tanks, artillery, planes, armored cars, submachine guns, and small arms, many of which were left boxed in crates.

Organization of the 1962 Revolution

Upon the death of Imam Ahmed on September 18, 1962, the Imam who had ruled ruthlessly for three decades was succeeded by his son Imam Badr. The army officers argued on whether to strike now or wait until Imam Badr's uncle Prince Hassan returned from abroad to capture them both. Colonel Abdullah Sallal decided to act and ordered that the military academy in Sana'a go on full alert--opening all armories and having weapons issued to all junior officers and troops. On the evening of September 25, Sallal gathered known leaders of the Yemeni nationalist movement and others officers who had sympathized or participated in the military protests of 1955. Each officer and cell would be given orders and would commence as soon as the shelling of Imam Badr's palace began. Key areas that would be secured included: