The U.S.-Saudi Cooperation in Confronting South Yemen 1969-1974 Documentary Study

Abstract

This study sheds light on the U.S.-Saudi cooperation in confronting South Yemen between 1969 and 1974, and highlights the methods and strategies employed by these two countries in dealing with the communist regime in South Yemen during that period. These strategies included political boycott, media warfare, economic blockade, and indirect military confrontation through North Yemen and the southern opposition. Since South Yemen gained independence and the British occupation ended in 1967, there had been strong coordination and cooperation between the United States and Saudi Arabia. At the outset of independence, both countries were cautious and watchful regarding the National Front, which assumed power in South Yemen. This was due to the nature of the National Front, which adhered to a communist ideology and included hardline leftist elements aligned with the socialist bloc. Furthermore, the National Front engaged in oppressive policies, including marginalization, arrests, and repression against military leaders, political parties, sultans, and princes who had been part of the Federation of South Arabia’s government during the occupation.

     When the leftist wing of the National Front successfully took control of power in South Yemen on June 22, 1969, Saudi Arabia and North Yemen decided, upon U.S. advice, to expedite a strike against South Yemen. From 1967 to 1972, both nations had been organizing and forming a unified front of southern opposition forces, intending to leverage them in any potential action against South Yemen. Indeed, war broke out between the forces of North and South Yemen in September 1972. However, Arab League mediation successfully contained the crisis and established a ceasefire. This mediation effort eventually evolved into an attempt to achieve Yemeni unification, which disappointed both Washington and Riyadh. As a result, these countries exerted significant pressure on Sana’a, forcing it to end its rapprochement with Aden and cancel the unification project. This led to a deterioration in relations between Aden on one side, and Sana’a and Riyadh on the other, with tensions persisting throughout 1973 and 1974.