Saudi–Yemeni War

Saudi-Yemeni War
Date 1934 Location Saudi Arabia, Yemen. Result Withdrew and Treaty of Taif (1934)
Belligerents
Saudi Arabia	Yemen
Commanders and leaders
Ibn Sa'ud	Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din
Casualties and losses
2,100 soldiers and civilians killed.

The Saudi–Yemeni War was a war between Saudi Arabia and Yemen fought in 1934.

The conflict

Ibn Saud, the founder of Saudi Arabia, had been named King of the Nejd when the British partitioned the Arabian peninsula following the breakup of the Ottoman Empire. Ibn Saud, by war and alliance, won control of much more, and in 1932 proclaimed the merger of the Nejd and Hejaz Kingdoms as the Saudi Arabian Kingdom. Most of the boundaries remained unmapped, unmarked, and undemarcated by treaty.

The war started when the new Saudi kingdom started growing at the cost of Yemeni-controlled areas, also known as Greater Yemen (Yemen proper and its three self-ruled Yemeni provinces: Asir, Jazan and Najran). The war was sparked when the Idrissi of Jizan and Abu Arish recanted his previous temporary allegiance to Ibn Saud and fled to Yemen to join Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din.

A peace delegation sent by ibn Saud was jailed by King Yahya including the son of the Saudi king. This was the day when King Yahya said his famous saying: "Who is this bedouin coming to challenge my family's 900 year rule?" The king of Yemen then sent the Idrissi back to his lands with an army. The Yemenis also invaded Najran.

Upon hearing the news, Ibn Saud backed by the British sent his army, equipped with modern British rifles and vehicles and quickly won control on the coast and advanced as far as Hodeida in the Tehama, Britain sent in its Navy threatening to occupy the port of Hodeida and bombard Sana'a. They were countered by the Yemenis in Najran and were besieged in the tehama the Yemenis also cut off supply lines of the Saudis and their campaign stalled as the Yemeni army led by Ahmed Yahya Hamid ed-din was at the gates of the Saudi Capital Riyadh But his father ordered him to withdraw as there was willingness by the Saudis to acknowledge Yemeni rights in the Taif Treaty. Later, the Saudis withdrew from the Yemeni Tehama and the Yemenis agreed to the restoration of the status quo.

Aftermath

The war officially ended on 20 May 1934, with the signing of the Treaty of Taif, between ibn Saud and King Yahya, which asserted Yemens' sovereignty over territories (formerly) "in the possession of the Idrisis or the Al-Aidh, or in Najran, or in the Yam country" and these lands were rented for Saudi Arabia in return the Yemenis would enter Saudi Arabia freely and Najran, Asir and Jizan were to be returned to Yemen after 60 years. The Treaty of Taif, 1934 The total number of losses reached 2,100 by the end of the war.

The episode spurred Western powers to send warships to Hodeida to evacuate their nationals.

See also

• Saudi–Yemen barrier
• North Yemen Civil War
• Saudi–Rashidi War
• List of modern conflicts in the Middle East