Country · YE
Yemen
اليمن תימן5 parties on file · 3 currently in government
Timeline · 4 events
Region timeline →-
US and UK begin sustained strike campaign on Houthi targets
The first Biden-era coalition strike against Houthi positions in Yemen came in January 2024; the second Trump administration scaled up the campaign in early 2025, targeting drone production sites, missile launchers, and Houthi leadership figures. The strikes failed to stop Red Sea shipping attacks but degraded Houthi capabilities; the campaign continued through mid-2025 before an unofficial pause.
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Yemen: Houthis begin attacking Red Sea shipping in solidarity with Gaza
Six weeks into the Gaza war, Houthi forces in Yemen began launching missiles and drones at commercial shipping in the Red Sea — and at southern Israel — framing the attacks as a blockade of vessels linked to Israel. The campaign reduced Suez Canal traffic by more than half, rerouted global container flows around Africa, and drew sustained US and UK airstrikes in 2024–25. The Houthis emerged regionally elevated; their critics noted Yemeni civilians were enduring a separate, deepening famine.
Show 2 earlier events (2014–2015)
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Saudi-led coalition military intervention in Yemen
A Saudi-led nine-country coalition began military operations against the Houthis in Yemen on 2015-03-26 (Operation Decisive Storm). The intervention has continued in various forms for over a decade; the resulting humanitarian crisis is the worst in the world by some UN measures.
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Houthis take Sanaa
Houthi forces, allied at the time with ousted ex-President Saleh, took control of the Yemeni capital Sanaa on 2014-09-21, forcing the recognized government south to Aden. Triggered the Saudi-led coalition's March 2015 military intervention and the ongoing Yemen war.
Marquee bills
All bills →Compass · Yemen
Country mean — Economic -1.6, Social -3.2
Ringed dots are parties currently in government. See the full regional compass · hand-coded estimates; methodology.
Current leadership
- Head of state
Ali Abdullah Saleh علي عبد الله صالح
Independent
President of North Yemen (1978-1990), unified Yemen, president of Yemen 1990-2012. Resigned amid the Arab Spring uprising, allied with the Houthis in the 2014-2017 phase of the civil war, killed by Houthis December 2017.
- Head of state In gov
Mahdi al-Mashat مهدي المشاط
Ansar Allah (Houthis)
President of the Supreme Political Council in Sana'a — the de facto head of state in Houthi-controlled northern Yemen, where roughly 70% of the population lives.
- Head of state In gov
Rashad al-Alimi رشاد العليمي
Independent
Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council since April 2022; nominal head of state of the internationally-recognized Yemeni government based in Aden.
- Head of government In gov
Salem Saleh bin Brik سالم صالح بن بريك
Independent
Prime Minister of the internationally-recognized Yemeni government since May 2025 (succeeding Ahmed Bin Mubarak). Former Finance Minister.
- Minister
Mohammed Ali al-Houthi محمد علي الحوثي
Ansar Allah (Houthis)
Member of the Houthi Supreme Political Council; cousin of Abdul-Malik al-Houthi. Public face of the Sanaa-based authority on diplomatic and media matters.
- Party leader In gov
Abdul-Malik al-Houthi عبد الملك الحوثي
Ansar Allah (Houthis)
Leader of Ansar Allah (the Houthis) since 2004. Has commanded the movement through three rounds of war with the Saudi-led coalition, the 2014 capture of Sanaa, the 2022–2025 truce-and-resumption cycle, and the November 2023 Red Sea shipping campaign. Rarely seen in public; speaks via televised addresses from undisclosed locations in Saada. The clerical and political authority of a movement that combines both.
- Party leader In gov
Aidarus al-Zoubaidi عيدروس الزبيدي
Southern Transitional Council
President of the Southern Transitional Council and Vice-President of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council since 2022. Central UAE-aligned figure in southern Yemen politics.
- Activist
Tawakkol Karman توكل كرمان
Yemeni Congregation for Reform (Islah)
Yemeni journalist, politician, and human-rights activist. Co-recipient of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize for her role in the Yemeni uprising. Senior member of the Islah party; has lived in Istanbul in recent years.
Parties
- Ansar Allah (Houthis) أنصار الله (الحوثيون)
Led by · Abdul-Malik al-Houthi
Zaydi Shia revivalist movement that took Sana'a in September 2014 and remains the de facto government of northern Yemen. Iran-aligned within the regional "Axis of Resistance"; from late 2023 launched Red Sea attacks framed as solidarity with Gaza.
- General People's Congress المؤتمر الشعبي العام
Led by · Sadeq Amin Abu Ras (Sana'a wing); various (Aden wing)
Yemen's historic ruling party under Ali Abdullah Saleh (1982–2012). Severely fractured after the 2011 uprising and Saleh's 2017 killing by his former Houthi allies; today exists in a Sana'a (Houthi-aligned) and Aden (anti-Houthi) wing.
- Southern Transitional Council المجلس الانتقالي الجنوبي
Led by · Aidarus al-Zoubaidi
UAE-backed political and military body advocating for South Yemen's independence (restoring the pre-1990 PDRY borders). Controls Aden and much of the south; co-belligerent with the anti-Houthi government but with conflicting end-state goals.
- Yemeni Congregation for Reform (Islah) التجمع اليمني للإصلاح
Led by · Mohammed al-Yadoumi
Yemeni Brotherhood-aligned Islamist party with a tribal Hashid base, founded after Yemeni unification. The dominant Sunni political force in the anti-Houthi government in Aden.
- Yemeni Socialist Party الحزب الاشتراكي اليمني
Led by · Abdulrahman Omar al-Saqqaf
Marxist-Leninist party that ruled South Yemen (PDRY) from 1978 until unification in 1990. Marginal force today but retains a base in former-South Yemen governorates.
Source documents · 13
All docs →- Abdul-Malik al-Houthi — Al-Quds Platform (Quds Day) speech, 28 March 2025 (SABA English translation) 187 words
- Rashad al-Alimi — 79th UN General Assembly speech (26 Sep 2024) 118 words
- Rashad al-Alimi — Yemen Presidential Leadership Council Chairman doctrinal mosaic (Houthi-elimination 2024, Trump-redesignation-key-to-peace 2025, Taiz-liberation 2024) 384 words
- Rashad al-Alimi — Speech of the President of the Presidential Leadership Council before the 78th UN General Assembly, 21 September 2023 (official English translation) 322 words
- الرؤية الوطنية لبناء الدولة اليمنية الحديثة (National Vision for Building the Modern Yemeni State) — Ansar Allah / SPC governance programme 226 words
- مبادئ وأهداف وأسس بناء المجلس الانتقالي الجنوبي (Principles, Goals & Foundations of the Southern Transitional Council) 259 words
How to cite
Each record carries a retrieval date because the dataset is live — individual entries update as verification deepens. Use the per-record citation when referencing this specific profile; use the dataset citation below when referencing the project as a whole.
In-text: (Gara, 2026)
Per-record citation
APA 7Reference list · academic default
Gara, T. (2026). Yemen [Country profile]. Tayyar: A MENA political-position dataset. Retrieved June 21, 2026, from https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/c/YE
Chicago author-dateCommon in political-science journals
Gara, Tarek. 2026. "Yemen." Country profile, Tayyar: A MENA political-position dataset. Accessed June 21, 2026. https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/c/YE.
BibTeXFor LaTeX / Zotero / reference managers
@misc{tayyar-country-ye,
title = {{Yemen}},
author = {Gara, Tarek},
year = {2026},
publisher = {Tayyar: A MENA political-position dataset},
type = {Country profile},
url = {https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/c/YE},
urldate = {2026-06-21},
note = {First-pass entry; second-pass external review planned before publication.}
} Dataset / working-paper citation
If you're citing Tayyar as a project rather than this individual record.
APA 7Preprint
Gara, T. (2026). Tayyar: A MENA political-position dataset [Preprint]. Retrieved June 21, 2026, from https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/paper
BibTeXPreprint
@unpublished{tayyar-preprint,
title = {{Tayyar: A MENA political-position dataset}},
author = {Gara, Tarek},
year = {2026},
type = {Preprint},
url = {https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/paper},
urldate = {2026-06-21},
note = {Living document, regenerated from the live dataset on page load.}
} First-pass entry; second-pass external review planned before publication.