Republic of Yemen Armed Forces

The origins of the modern-day Yemeni military can be traced back to the late 19th century when Turks began recruiting tribal levies to create four battalions of gendarmerie and three cavalry regiments. In 1906, the Italians recruited thousands of Yemenis and gave them military training in their colony of Somalia before sending them to Libya to fight the Senussi insurgency of 1911. Aware of the gains made by the Hashemites in the course of the Arab revolt, a combination of these forces - all of which held strong ties to various local tribes - rebelled against the Ottoman rule in Yemen during the First World War. Although nowhere near as famous as the uprising involving Thomas E. Lawrence - "Lawrence of Arabia" - the Yemen revolt led to the withdrawal of the Turkish military. After officially declaring independence from the ottomans in 1918, Yemen was only internationally recognized in 1926. By that time, Imam Yahya kept a cadre of 300 Ottoman officers and soldiers to train his army, which - while remaining an outgrowth of the tribal levies that functioned as little more than a palace guard - was officially organized as follows:

.Special Imamate Guard: nominally a 5,000-strong unit of specially selected combatants named "Ukfa" considered absolutely loyal to the monarch; .The Outback Army: this up to 50,000-strong force consisted of Zaidi tribesmen - infantry and cavalry - that served for one or two years, but brought their own rifles and provisions; .The al-Army: established in 1919, this consisted of several groups of tribal levies. 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: established in 1936, this was a draft of all able-bodied men - including urban Yemenis - capable of bearing arms and given six months of military training. With all members of the Defensive Army receiving periodic training for 10 years after their draft, this became a form of a reserve army. During the early 1920s, an ammunition factory was constructed in Sana'a by a Yugoslavian(or German) and an Australian. After his army performed dismally in fierce clashes with the British and a war against the rapidly expanding Saudis, the Imam saw the need to modernize and expand the armed forces eventually purchasing from Italy six tanks, 2,000 rifles, four anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) pieces and some communications gear, while Iraq provided additional rifles and communications equipment. Italy also opened a flight school in Sana'a. :[7]

Beginning in October 2015, the Saudi-led coalition transitioned from direct fighting to providing support and training for Yemeni forces loyal to President Hadi's government. They helped form a new Yemeni National Army (YNA), which they trained at the Al Anad Air Base in the Lahij Governorate. These consisted of Hadi loyalist units, popular mobilization militias and Eritrean and Somali recruits. They also include large parts of the former Yemeni military that are based in the southern, eastern and central parts of Yemen. Eight brigades were trained in total. The Gulf coalition-trained YNA order of battle is as follows:[7]

• "Salman Decisiveness"
• 1st Infantry Brigade
• 2nd Infantry Brigade
• 3rd Infantry Brigade
• 4th Infantry Brigade
• 19th Infantry Brigade
• 22nd Infantry Brigade
• 14th Armored Brigade

Parts of the former Yemeni army also joined Hadi including:

• 35th Armoured Brigade
• 115th Armoured brigade
• 312th Armoured brigade
• 123th infantry brigade
• 3rd mountain infantry brigade
• 2nd border guards brigade
• 11th border guards brigade
• 310th Armoured brigade
• 3rd Presidential guard brigade

The Hadi government forces are organized into military districts, as established by the Presidential Decree No. 103 dating back from 2013, dividing each of the country's provinces into military regions. As of 2016, four are in active service under President Hadi, but the other three are areas under Houthi control. They include the following:[8]

• First Military Region (Hadhramaut Governorate—Seiyun)
• Second Military Region (Hadhramaut Governorate–Mukalla)
• Third Military Region (Marib Governorate)
• Fourth Military Region (Aden Governorate)

In addition to ground forces, the UAE air force trained pilots to form a new Yemeni Air Force using Air Tractor AT-802 light craft. By late October these were reported to be in operation and assisting Hadi loyalist army units near Taiz.[7] Yemeni Army troops fought in Taiz against the Houthi forces, seizing control of several districts in the city in late April 2017. A renewed offensive was launched by the Yemeni national army which received plentiful air support from the Yemeni air corps\Saudi-led coalition, secured the whole of the city and installed the Hadi government in overall control of Taizz.[9]

The Yemeni army has been reinforced by thousands of volunteers under Tareq Saleh's national resistance forces. Elements of the republican guard and the Giants brigade have joined the Yemeni army against the Houthis.

(Number of equipment needs to be verified)

Corvette

• 2 Tarantul I class

Missile boats

• 18 Osa class missile boat
• 8 Gunboat

Patrol crafts

• 3 Type 037 class submarine chaser class coastal patrol craft
• 10 fast attack patrol boats
• 2 Sana'a patrol vessels

Utility crafts

• 11 Barbe class utility landing craft
• 7 Amphibious warfare ship

Landing ships

• 1 Polnocny class landing ship

Minesweepers

• 1 Natya class minesweeper
• 2 Yevgenya class minesweeper