Saudi-led intervention in the Yemeni civil war

On 26 March 2015, Saudi Arabia, leading a coalition of nine countries from West Asia and North Africa, launched an intervention in Yemen following a new joint request from Yemeni president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi for military support after his forces were ousted from Sanaʽa by Houthi insurgents during the Yemeni Civil War. Government forces, Houthi rebels, and other armed groups fought after the draft constitution and power-sharing arrangements collapsed, despite progress made by the UN during the political transition at that time. Violence escalated in mid-2014. Houthis and allied insurgents seized control of Sana'a in September 2014 and thereafter. In response, President Hadi asked Saudi Arabia to intervene against the Iranian-backed Houthis.

The intervention, code-named Operation Decisive Storm (Arabic: عملية عاصفة الحزم, romanized: Amaliyyat 'Āṣifat al-Ḥazm), initially consisted of a bombing campaign on Houthi rebels and later a naval blockade and the deployment of ground forces into Yemen. The coalition attacked the positions of the Houthi militia and loyalists of the former President of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, who are supported by Iran (see Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict). Fighter jets & ground forces from Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, Oman helped provide medical service. Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Constellis (formerly called Blackwater) headed the operation. Djibouti, Eritrea, and Somalia made their airspace, territorial waters, and military bases available to the coalition.

The United States provided intelligence and logistical support, such as aerial refueling and search-and-rescue for downed coalition pilots. It accelerated the sale of weapons to coalition states and continued strikes against AQAP. The Saudi foreign minister said that US & British military officials were in the command and control centre responsible for Saudi-led air strikes in Yemen, having access to lists of targets but were not involved in choosing targets.

The intervention received widespread criticism and had a dramatic worsening effect on Yemen's humanitarian situation, that reached the level of a "humanitarian disaster" or "humanitarian catastrophe". The question of whether or not the intervention is in compliance with Article 2(4) of the UN Charter has been the matter of academic dispute. The conflict's status was described a "military stalemate" in 2019. The global COVID-19 pandemic is said to have given Saudi Arabia an opportunity to review its interests in Yemen. In early 2020, it was said that Saudi Arabia was searching for an exit strategy, amid the COVID-19 pandemic and military defeats. On 29 March 2022, the Saudi-led coalition announced that it would cease all hostilities within Yemen starting at 6 A.M. the following day, in order to facilitate political talks & peacekeeping efforts.