Yemen is now more divided than ever between the internationally recognized Presidential Council led by President Rashad Al-Alimi (the head of state) and, on the other side, the Southern Transitional Council led by Aidarus Al-Zubaidi.
Finally, there is the Ansar Allah (Houthis) movement, a Zaidi Shia group that controls most of northern Yemen. Of course, one cannot ignore the Sunni Islamists, primarily the Islah Party (the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Yemen) and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), designated a terrorist organization by many countries.
But how did Yemen reach this crisis, which grows more complex by the day?
The roots of the crisis stretch back decades, and Yemenis fear it will persist for decades to come.
1972 - Border clashes between the two Yemens: the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (the South backed by the Soviet Union) and the Yemen Arab Republic in the North, supported by Saudi Arabia. The ceasefire was brokered by the Arab League.
1978: Ali Abdallah Saleh becomes president of North Yemen.
1979: Fresh fighting between the two Yemens.
1986: Power struggle in the South. Drives the first generation of leaders from the office. Haidar Abu Bakr Al-Attas takes over and begins to work towards the unification of the two Yemens.
1990: The two Yemens unite in May as the Republic of Yemen with Ali Abdallah Saleh as president, as the Soviet bloc implodes.
1994: Between May and July, President Saleh declares a state of emergency and dismisses Vice-President Ali Salem Al-Beid (from the South) and other southern officials, who declare the secession of the South before being defeated by the national army loyal to Saleh.
2003-2009: The Houthi group in the north protests marginalization of the local Zaydi Shia Muslim sect and fights six rounds of fighting with Saleh's forces and one with Saudi Arabia.
2011: Arab Spring protests undermined Saleh's rule and allowed Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to seize swathes of territory in the east.
2012: Saleh stepped down in a political transition plan backed by the Gulf states. Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi becomes interim president.
2012: In February, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi was inaugurated as president after uncontested elections but was unable to counter Al-Qaeda attacks in the capital as the year went on.
2014: The Houthis rapidly advanced south from Saadeh and seized Sanaa on September 21 with help from Saleh. They demand a share in power.
2015: Hadi tried to announce a new federal constitution, opposed by the Houthis and Saleh, who arrested him. He escapes, pursued by the Houthis, triggering Saudi intervention in March along with a hastily assembled Arab military coalition. Months later, the coalition drives the Houthis and Saleh loyalists from Aden in south Yemen and Marib, northeast of Sanaa, but the front lines solidify, setting up years of stalemate.
2016: The Houthis and the former President Saleh announced in July the formation of a political council to govern Sana’a and much of northern Yemen.
2017: In December, Saleh broke with the Houthis and called for his followers to take up arms against them. Saleh was killed, and his forces were defeated within two days.
2017: The Southern Transitional Council (STC) was established. It grew out of the Southern Separatist Movement (Southern Movement) that predates the civil war and controls areas in the southwest, around and including Aden.
2019: The Saudi-brokered deal incorporated the STC into the internationally recognized government, but the faction could still present challenges.
2021: Houthi rebels launched in February an offensive to seize Marib, the last stronghold of Yemen’s internationally recognized government in the north. The offensive was the deadliest clash since 2018, killing hundreds of fighters and complicating peace processes.
2022: Both sides signed in April an UN-brokered ceasefire. It officially lapsed in October 2022, but both sides have since refrained from major escalatory actions, and hostility levels remain low.
2023: Peace talks between Saudi and Houthi officials, mediated by Oman, resumed, accompanying ongoing UN mediation efforts.
2023: In April, talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia, mediated by China, have raised hopes of a political settlement to end the conflict in Yemen.
2025: In May, Oman successfully brokered a ceasefire between the U.S. and the Houthis, with the latter agreeing to stop targeting American vessels; however, the Houthis continued to attack international shipping afterwards.
2025: In December, the government and the Houthis agreed to a prisoner swap of 2,900 detainees, the largest swap of the war to that point.
2025: The STC began an offensive in the Hadhramaut and Al-Mahrah Governorates, claiming to take control of Seiyun after clashes in the city's airport and palace.
2025: By 8 December, the STC controlled most of the territories that made up the former South Yemen.
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