Al-Waziri coup

al-Waziri coup
Date	17 February – March, 1948; (1 week and 6 days)
Location	Kingdom of Yemen
Result	Coup failed: King Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din assassinated;; Abdullah bin Ahmad al-Wazir briefly becomes King, but is deposed and beheaded;; Ahmad bin Yahya ascends to the throne.;
Belligerents
al-Waziris; Supported by:; Free Yemeni Movement	Hamidaddins
Commanders and leaders
Abdullah Al-Wazir ; İbrahim bin Yahya Hamideddin [tr]; Ali Nasser Al-Qardai	Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din X; Ahmad bin Yahya
Casualties and losses
	5,000 dead

The al-Waziri coup, also known as the al-Dostour Revolution (Arabic: الثورة الدستورية اليمنية, romanized: al-thawra ad-dustūr al-Yamaniyya, lit. 'Yemeni Constitutional Revolution' ) also the Yahya clan coup,^[1] was a violent dynasty overthrow attempt in the Kingdom of Yemen in 1948, which caused around 5,000 fatalities.^[1] During the coup attempt, Imam Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din, the ruler of the kingdom, was killed and the rival Sayyid family, the al-Wazirs, seized power for several weeks. Backed by the al-Saud family of Saudi Arabia, the Hamidaddins restored their rule. After the al-Wazirs were deposed, Imam Yahya's monarchy was restored with his son, Ahmad bin Yahya, ascending the throne.

Background

On 30 October 1918, amidst the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, Imam Yahya Muhammad Hamid ad-Din of the al-Qasimi dynasty declared northern Yemen an independent state. In 1926, Imam Yahya declared himself king of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen, becoming a temporal as well as a (Zaydi) spiritual leader, and won international recognition for the state.

In the 1920s, Yahya had expanded Yemeni power to the north into southern Tihamah and southern 'Asir, but collided with the rising influence of the Saudi king of Hejaz and Nejd, Abdul Aziz ibn Sa'ud. In the early 1930s, Saudi forces retook much of these gains in the Saudi–Yemeni War of 1934, before withdrawing from some of the area, including the southern Tihamah city of Al Hudaydah. The present-day boundary with Saudi Arabia was established by the 20 May 1934 Treaty of Taif, following the 1934 war. Yahya's non-recognition of his kingdom's southern boundary with the British Aden Protectorate (later South Yemen), which had been negotiated by his Ottoman predecessors, resulted in occasional clashes with the British.

Assassination and coup attempt

The al-Waziri clan sought to seize power from the ruling dynasty.^[2] On 17 February 1948, tribesmen opposed to Imam Yahya ambushed his car south of Sanaa, at Sawad Hizyaz. The imam, his grandson, and two soldiers were killed; 50 bullets were said to have been found the imam's body. The leader of the ambush, Ali Nasir al-Qardaei, was from the Murad tribe, and had previously been imprisoned by the imam.^[3]^[4] The al-Waziris then installed their own imam, Abdullah bin Ahmad al-Wazir, to run the kingdom. His rule lasted only for a few weeks.

Upon the assassination of Imam Yahya, his son Ahmad bin Yahya traveled through North Yemen, in an attempt to rally the tribes behind him,^[2] winning support as the new Imam of Yemen. These tribesmen then surrounded Sana'a. As a result, Ahmad was able to regain control of the city, but the price he paid was giving the tribes leave to sack the capital.^[2] The Sack of Sana'a lasted for seven days, and as many as 250,000 tribesmen were thought to have participated.^[3] When Ahmad took power, the al-Waziri ruler Abdullah was deposed and beheaded.

Aftermath

Imam Yahya was succeeded by his son Ahmad bin Yahya, while the al-Waziris were deposed. Ahmad's reign was marked by growing development and openness, and renewed friction with the United Kingdom over the British presence in the south. This stood in the way of his aspirations for the creation of Greater Yemen. In March 1955, a coup by a group of officers and two of Ahmad's brothers briefly deposed the king, but this was quickly suppressed.

After Ahmad's death in 1962, Crown Prince Muhammad al-Badr was declared king. However, the Hamidaddin dynasty was overthrown the same year in a coup d'état by revolutionary republican army officers led by Abdullah al-Sallal. This escalated into a long civil war between the deposed royalists, supported by Saudi Arabia, and the free officers who had declared the establishment of the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR), and who were actively supported by Nasserist Egypt.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "CSP - Major Episodes of Political Violence, 1946-2012". Archived from the original on 21 January 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c Petersen J.E. Tribes and Politics in Yemen. Arabian Peninsula Background Note, No. APBN-007. Published on www.JEPeterson.net, December 2008. [1]
^ ^a ^b Mackintosh-Smith, Tim (2000). Yemen: The Unknown Arabia. New York: The Overlook Press. pp. 93–99.
^ Ali Al-Sakani, Casey Coombs (22 October 2020). "Marib: A Yemeni Government Stronghold Increasingly Vulnerable to Houthi Advances". Sana'a Center For Strategic Studies. Retrieved 13 February 2023.

[sp-1] "CSP - Major Episodes of Political Violence, 1946-2012". Archived from the original on 21 January 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2011.

[pje-2] Petersen J.E. Tribes and Politics in Yemen. Arabian Peninsula Background Note, No. APBN-007. Published on www.JEPeterson.net, December 2008. [1]

[tms-3] Mackintosh-Smith, Tim (2000). Yemen: The Unknown Arabia. New York: The Overlook Press. pp. 93–99.

[4] Ali Al-Sakani, Casey Coombs (22 October 2020). "Marib: A Yemeni Government Stronghold Increasingly Vulnerable to Houthi Advances". Sana'a Center For Strategic Studies. Retrieved 13 February 2023.

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[2]

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v t e List of modern conflicts in the Middle East
1910s	Italo-Turkish War World War I Middle Eastern theatre Battle of Robat Karim Arab Revolt Armenian genocide Assyrian genocide Mount Lebanon starvation Unification of Saudi Arabia Simko Shikak revolt 1919 Egyptian revolution Turkish War of Independence Anglo-Turkish War Al-Jazeera Front Greco-Turkish War Turkish–Armenian War Franco-Turkish War Revolts United States Mahmud Barzanji revolts
1920s	Franco-Syrian War Iraqi Revolt (1920) Intercommunal conflict in Mandatory Palestine Adwan Rebellion Arab separatism in Khuzestan Great Syrian Revolt Sheikh Said rebellion
1930s	Ararat rebellion Ahmed Barzani revolt Simele massacre Saudi–Yemeni War (1934) Goharshad Mosque rebellion 1935–1936 Iraqi Shia revolts 1935 Yazidi revolt 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine Dersim rebellion
1940s	World War II Italian bombing of Palestine Allied invasion of Iraq Syria–Lebanon campaign Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran 1943 Barzani revolt Al-Waziri coup Al-Wathbah uprising Kurdish separatism in Iran Iran crisis of 1946 Arab–Israeli conflict 1948 Arab–Israeli War Suez Crisis 1967 Six-Day War 1973 Yom Kippur War 1982 Lebanon War
1950s	1952 Egyptian revolution 1953 Iranian coup d'état Jebel Akhdar War Cyprus Emergency Suez Crisis Yemeni–Adenese clan violence 1958 Lebanon crisis 1958 Iraqi revolution 1959 Mosul uprising
1960s	Cyprus crisis of 1963–1964 Iraqi–Kurdish conflict First Iraqi–Kurdish War Second Iraqi–Kurdish War Dhofar Rebellion North Yemen Civil War Feb. 1963 Iraqi coup Mar. 1963 Syrian coup Nov. 1963 Iraqi coup Aden Emergency 1964 Hama riot Israeli–Palestinian conflict 1948 Palestine war First Intifada Second Intifada 1966 Syrian coup d'état
1970s	Black September in Jordan Yemenite War of 1972 Turkish invasion of Cyprus Shatt al-Arab clashes Lebanese Civil War Political violence in Turkey Islamist uprising in Syria 1977 Shia uprising in Iraq NDF Rebellion Yemenite War of 1979 Iranian Revolution Consolidation of the Iranian Revolution 1979 Qatif Uprising Grand Mosque seizure 1979–1980 Shia uprising in Iraq
1980s	Iran–Iraq War 1980 Turkish coup d'état Kurdish–Turkish conflict Turkey–PKK conflict South Yemen civil war 1986 Egyptian conscripts riot 1986 Damascus bombings 1987 Sharjawi coup d'état attempt Mecca massacre Abu Nidal's executions
1990s	Gulf War (1990–1991) 1991 Iraqi uprisings Terror campaign in Egypt (1990s) Yemeni Civil War (1994) Iraqi Kurdish Civil War Islamic insurgency in Saudi Arabia (2000–present) Operation Desert Fox al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen 1999 Shia uprising in Iraq
2000s	Iraq War Balochi insurgency in Iran 2004 Qamishli riots Houthi insurgency in Yemen Iran–Israel proxy conflict 2006 Lebanon War Fatah–Hamas conflict South Yemen insurgency
2010s	2011 Bahraini uprising Egyptian Crisis Sinai insurgency Insurgency in Egypt (2013–present) Syrian civil war Turkish involvement in Syria Syrian War spillover in Lebanon Iraqi insurgency (2011–2013) War in Iraq (2013–2017) Islamic State insurgency in Iraq (2017–present) Yemeni crisis Yemeni civil war (2014–present)
2020s	2021 Beirut clashes Israel–Hamas war Israel–Hezbollah conflict (2023–present) Red Sea crisis
This list includes World War I and later conflicts (after 1914) of at least 100 fatalities each Prolonged conflicts are listed in the decade when initiated; ongoing conflicts are marked italic, and conflicts with +100,000 killed with bold.

Background

Assassination and coup attempt

Aftermath

See also

References