Yemen: The Siege of San’a

Prince Mohamed ben Hussein, commander of the Royalist army, sat on a carpet spread in front of the mountain cave that has been his headquarters for most of Yemen’s five-year civil war. Before him were the turbaned chiefs of the country’s most powerful tribes, summoned for a council of war. At long last, announced Ben Hussein, his army was ready to launch a march on San’a —the final offensive, he hoped, that would retake the capital and finish off the Republican regime.

“We have money,” he told his guests, “and you will have your share if you join us. If not, we will go on without you.” The chiefs were eager to help, especially since the Republicans’ Egyptian defenders had been ordered home. They quickly agreed to mobilize their tribes, and to seal the agreement they devoured a great mound of lamb and rice proffered by the prince. Last week the Royalist siege of San’a began.

Out of their mountain redoubts swept Ben Hussein’s 6,000 Royalist regulars and 50,000 armed tribesmen known as “the Fighting Rifles.” Well trained (by French mercenaries) and well armed (with recoilless rifles, heavy mortars and bazookas), they quickly surrounded San’a, captured its main airport and severed the Chinese-built highway to the port of Hodeida, which was not only the pride of the Republican regime but a main route for Russian supplies.

In one bloody battle twelve miles east of the capital, 3,200 soldiers of both sides were killed. The ferocity of the attack threw the 10,000-man Republican army into such confusion that an entire regiment reportedly deserted to the Royalists. With his artillery zeroing in on the outskirts of San’a, the prince sent an ultimatum: “Surrender the city or be annihilated.”

Bodies on Poles. Republican President Abdul Rahman Iryani’s only answer was to go off to Cairo for what Nasser’s official press agency described as “a medical checkup.” Foreign Minister Hassan Macky also left Yemen, showing up nearly a week early for an Arab foreign ministers’ meeting in Cairo called to decide on an Arab summit. That left the government in charge of Field Marshal Hassan al-Amri, the army commander. Al-Amri declared a 6 p.m. curfew, ordered civilians to form militia units “to defend the republic.” In Liberation Square, a howling mob watched a firing squad execute six suspected Royalist infiltrators, then dragged their bodies to the gates of the city and strung them up on poles.

By the week’s end the Republicans claimed to be holding their own, but their position was perilous. Even though it boasts Russian equipment—including a few MIG-19s—the Republican army is no match for the Royalists’ mountain tribesmen, who are the fiercest warriors in Yemen. Nor can the Republicans expect help from Nasser, whose last troops left in the middle of last week’s fighting. Although the Cairo newspaper Al Ahram charged that the CIA was behind the Royalists, the government made it plain that it considers the fighting essentially a “domestic Yemeni affair.” Thus, after years of stalemate, the Yemeni civil war appeared finally to be reaching the climax that Nasser’s intervention had so long managed to delay—but not to deny.