Second Yemenite War

Short military conflict between North and South Yemen

This article is about the Second Yemenite War. For other civil wars in Yemen, see Yemeni War.

Second Yemenite War

Part of the Cold War and the Arab Cold War

North & South Yemen
| Date| 24 February – 19 March 1979
(3 weeks and 2 days)

|

Location|

North Yemen-South Yemen border

Result|

Decisive Southern Yemeni victory

* Kuwait Agreement of 1979
* No territorial changes
* Two Yemens re-pledge ambition to unify

Belligerents
South Yemen
Supported by:

* Soviet Union
* Cuba
* East Germany

|  North Yemen
Supported by:

* United States
* United Kingdom
* Egypt
* Taiwan
* Saudi Arabia

Commanders and leaders
Abdul Fattah Ismail|  Ali Abdullah Saleh
Units involved
3 South Yemeni Army divisions
1 Air Force Tactical Regiment (4 MiG-21 and Su-22 Squadrons – 32 aircraft)|  1 North Yemeni Army Division
1 Air Defence Brigade
2 Air Force squadrons – 18 aircraft
1 Mechanised Brigade (late entry)
Strength
120,000 total
45,000 in theater
600 tanks total
300 tanks in theater|  300,000 total
1900 tanks in total
350 tanks in theater
Casualties and losses
412 ground troops KIA, 125 POW
12 T-55 tanks destroyed
2 Su-22s downed in combat|  672 ground troops KIA, 1,624 POW
6 MiG-17 aircraft and 3 MiG-21 destroyed on ground, 4 MiG-17 and 2 MiG-21 shot down in combat, 4 pilots POW; 5 Mi-17s destroyed on ground
46 T-34 and T-55 Tanks destroyed
16 SA-3 launchers destroyed; 34 P-15 radars and 6 P-12 radars destroyed

* v
* t
* e

Internal conflicts
in modern Yemen

* Al-Waziri coup
* Yemeni–Adenese clan violence
* North Yemen Civil War
* Aden Emergency
* First Yemenite War
* NDF Rebellion
* Second Yemenite War
* South Yemen civil war
* Yemeni civil war (1994)
* Al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen
* Houthi insurgency
* South Yemen insurgency
* Yemeni crisis
* Yemeni revolution
* Yemeni civil war (2014–present)

The Second Yemenite War was a short military conflict between the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR; North Yemen) and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY; South Yemen).[1] The war developed out of a breakdown in relations between the two countries after the president of North Yemen, Ahmad al-Ghashmi, was killed on 24 June 1978, and Salim Rubai Ali, a Maoist who had been working on a proposed merger between the two Yemens, was murdered two days later.[2] The hostility of the rhetoric from the new leadership of both countries escalated, leading to small-scale border fighting, which then in turn escalated into a full-blown war in February 1979.

North Yemen appeared on the edge of a decisive defeat after a three-front invasion by a South Yemeni combined arms formation,[3] however this was prevented by a successful mediation in the form of the Kuwait Agreement of 1979, which resulted in Arab League peacekeeping forces being deployed to patrol the North–South border. An agreement to unite both countries was also signed, although it was not implemented.[4]

## Conflict

[edit]

The Marxist government of South Yemen was alleged to be supplying aid to rebels in the north through the National Democratic Front and crossing the border.[5]

On 24 February, forces from North and South Yemen began firing at each other across the border.[4] Forces from North Yemen, led by some radical army officers, crossed the border into South Yemen and attacked a number of villages.[4] The PDRY, with support from the Soviet Union, Cuba, and East Germany, responded by invading the north using 3 regular divisions and a Tactical Air Force regiment.[4] The PDRY was also supported by the NDF,[6] who were in the midst of fighting their own rebellion against the government of North Yemen. Within 3 days of the invasion, the numerically smaller South Yemeni forces had established complete air superiority over the theater, thus forcing the North Yemeni ground forces on the back foot for the rest of the War.

The South Yemeni attack carried the advantage of surprise and was spearheaded by an artillery barrage and groups of sappers, who were effectively able to blow up the early warning air defences and radars and thus help the Air Force establish air superiority within days over much of Taiz and Dhale Governorates and parts of Al Bayda Governorate, after a dogfight that downed most of the North Yemeni planes. After the initial Air Force attack, a South Yemeni armoured division composed of T-55 and T-62 Tanks spearheaded the ground assault on a North Yemeni Armoured Division stationed near Taiz city, followed by an Infantry Division covered by an artillery brigade providing fire support with BM-21 Grad rockets and M-46 field howitzers.

This was soon followed by the Soviet-trained South Yemeni Air Force further destroying several North Yemeni MiG-17 and MiG-21 fighter jets and helicopters on the ground in airfields and airbases in Dhamar, thus preventing any chance of a Northern aerial counter-attack. The attack was coordinated by the Deputy Chief of the Air Force, Brigadier Sa'ad Hesham al Din, formerly of the Aden Protectorate Levies since 1959 who had trained as a pilot in the United Kingdom and Soviet Union from 1969–1972. Brigadier Sa'ad himself led the aerial sorties, flying in an Su-22. The Fighter Group was led by Colonel Khaled Omar, of the ALP since 1964, who had trained in India in 1971–73. He led the combat air patrols in a MiG-21. On the ground and in the air in a couple of Il-38, Soviet combat controllers directed the fire control and battlespace and operated the Early Warning systems. The war dragged on for nearly a month, with North Yemen being unable to send reinforcement units from Sanaa down to Taiz due to the constant Southern airstrikes and aggressive air patrolling hitting reinforcement convoys on difficult and winding mountain roads as far north as Dhamar. Although Northern forces vastly outnumbered Southern forces overall, they were outnumbered and overwhelmed within the theater of operations in and around Taiz and Dhale, since a single Division had to face an attack from three enemy divisions without any reinforcement or close air support due to the Southern air patrolling and airstrikes on Northern roads throughout the month.

On 8 March, the South Yemeni Air Force managed to carry out an attack on Sanaa, with 3 Su-22 and 3 Su-7 bombers with 5 MiG-21 fighters flying top cover, dropping 500-pound bombs on an artillery base and strafing the Judges' Court and Central Prison, causing mass panic among civilians. North Yemeni Air Defences operating the SA-3 engaged and managed to shoot down one of the Su-7 bombers and one MiG-21, capturing the pilots. Another deep raid on 10 March saw 4 South Yemeni MiG-21s and 3 Su-22s strafe an airbase and the seaport near Hodeidah, sinking a civilian Egyptian cargo ship. With losses escalating, Northern forces appearing on the verge of exhaustion, Southern forces capturing a wide range of Northern territory and besieging Taiz and Al Bayda, Saudi Arabia and the United States rushed arms to bolster the government of North Yemen by 9-10 March. On 11 March, North Yemeni forces fired 8 Frog-7 missiles on a South Yemeni combined infantry brigade and tank battalion north of Ibb, killing at least 100 South Yemeni soldiers. The introduction of Frog-7 missiles by North Yemen forced South Yemen to cease further advances.

On 13 March, South Yemen fired two Scud-B missiles at Sanaa, destroying a Republican Guard barracks and killing 19 soldiers and 15 civilians. Citing the alleged Soviet-backed PDRY aggression against the YAR, and the threat this could pose to U.S. ally Saudi Arabia, the United States greatly stepped up military assistance to the YAR government.[6] As part of this aid, the U.S. shipped 18 F-5E planes to the YAR in order to strengthen the government. However, there were no YAR pilots trained in flying the F-5E, and as a result the U.S. and Saudi Arabia arranged to have 80 Taiwanese pilots plus ground crew and Iraqi anti-air defense units sent to North Yemen.[7][citation needed] A U.S. Navy task force was also sent to the Arabian Sea in response to the escalating violence.[4]

The war showed the weakness of the North Yemeni military training and equipment, and soon its allies - led by Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia \- started an aggressive re-armament and training programme to enable it to regain strategic balance against PDRY forces. By 1983–84, the North had regained its military strength.[8][9]

## Aftermath

[edit]

### Kuwait Agreement of 1979

[edit]

On 20 March the leaders of North and South Yemen called a bilateral ceasefire met in Kuwait for a reconciliation summit, in part at the strong insistence of Iraq.[3] The talks were mediated by the Arab League. Under the Kuwait Agreement, both parties reaffirmed their commitment to the goal and process of Yemeni unification, as had been spelled out in the Cairo Agreement of 1972. This agreement to unify was particularly the result of pressure from Iraq, Syria, and Kuwait, all of whom advocated for a unified Arab world in order to best respond to the issues arising from the Camp David Accords and the Iranian Revolution. POWs were exchanged within the next two months, and work for a draft constitution for a united Yemen proceeded over the next two years, however, most attempts to implement the spirit and letter of the agreement were put on hold until 1982, and the end of the rebellion by the South Yemen supported National Democratic Front.[10]

## See also

[edit]

* Yemenite War of 1972
* Modern history of Yemen
* List of wars involving Yemen

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Burrowes, Robert, Middle East dilemma: the politics and economics of Arab integration, Columbia University Press, 1999, pages 187 to 210
2. ^ Kohn, George (2013). Dictionary of Wars. Routledge. ISBN 978-1135955014.
3. ^ a b Burrowes, Robert D. (2010). Historical Dictionary of Yemen. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 190.
4. ^ a b c d e Kohn, George C. (2006). "Dictionary of Wars". Infobase Publishing. p. 615.
5. ^ Hermann, Richard, Perceptions and behavior in Soviet foreign policy, University of Pittsburgh Pre, 1985, page 152
6. ^ a b Burrowes, Robert D. (2010). Historical Dictionary of Yemen. Rowman & Littlefield. p. XXXII Chronology.
7. ^ "'Never' a wake-up call". Taipei Times. 15 May 2010.
8. ^ Hoagland, Edward, Balancing Acts,Globe Pequot, 1999, page 218
9. ^ Al-Hamdani (1985). ""We Must be Realistic about Our Goals"". MERIP Reports (130): 14–18. doi:10.2307/3011111. ISSN 0047-7265. JSTOR 3011111.
10. ^ Burrowes, Robert D. (2010). Historical Dictionary of Yemen. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 219.

* v
* t
* e

List of wars involving South Yemen

* Aden Emergency (1963–1967)
* Al-Wadiah War (1969)
* Yemenite War of 1972 (1972)
* Lebanese Civil War (1976–1977)
* Ogaden War (1977–1978)
* Eritrean War of Independence (1977–1990)
* Yemenite War of 1979 (1979)
* South Yemen civil war (1986)
* Yemeni Civil War (1994)

* v
* t
* e

List of wars involving North Yemen

* Saudi–Yemeni border skirmish (1931)
* Najran conflict (1931/32–1932)
* Saudi–Yemeni war (1934)
* First Arab–Israeli War (1948–1949)
* North Yemen Civil War (1962–1970)
* Yemenite War of 1972 (1972)
* NDF Rebellion (1978–1982)
* Yemenite War of 1979 (1979)

* v
* t
* e

People's Democratic Republic of Yemen

History|

* Timeline
* 1963: Aden Emergency
* 1967: British withdrawal from Aden
* 1969: Corrective Move
* Al-Wadiah War
* 1972: First Yemenite War
* 1979: Second Yemenite War
* 1986: South Yemen civil war
* 1990: Yemeni unification

Politics|

* The Party
* Presidential Council
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* Constitution
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* General-Secritary of the YSP
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* Foreign relations of South Yemen
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* General Union of Yemeni Women

* Category
* WikiProject

* v
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* e

Yemen articles

History|

* Timeline
* Ancient history
* Minaean
* Himyar
* Kingdom of Aksum
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Modern|

* Saudi–Yemeni War (1934)
* Alwaziri coup
* North Yemen Civil War
* Yemenite Wars
* 1972
* 1979
* South Yemen civil war
* Unification
* 1994 Civil War
* Houthi insurgency
* Takeover
* Aftermath of the takeover
* Crisis (2011–present)
* Revolution
* Civil war (2014–present)
* Saudi–led intervention
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* Famine in Yemen (2016–present)
* 2016–2022 Yemen cholera outbreak
* COVID-19 pandemic in Yemen

Geography|

* Borders
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Politics|

* House of Representatives
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Cold War

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1940s|

* Morgenthau Plan
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* 1947 Polish parliamentary election
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1950s|

* Bamboo curtain
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* 1952 Egyptian revolution
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* Mau Mau rebellion
* East German uprising of 1953
* 1953 Iranian coup d'état
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* 1954 Syrian coup d'état
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* Domino theory
* 1954 Geneva Conference
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* Capture of the Tuapse
* First Taiwan Strait Crisis
* Jebel Akhdar War
* Algerian War
* Kashmir Princess
* Bandung Conference
* Geneva Summit (1955)
* Vietnam War
* Cyprus Emergency
* "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences"
* 1956 Poznań protests
* Hungarian Revolution of 1956
* Polish October
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* "We will bury you"
* Operation Gladio
* Syrian Crisis of 1957
* Sputnik crisis
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* Iraqi 14 July Revolution
* 1958 Lebanon crisis
* Second Taiwan Strait Crisis
* 1959 Mosul uprising
* 1959 Tibetan uprising
* Laotian Civil War
* Kitchen Debate
* Cuban Revolution
* Consolidation of the Cuban Revolution
* Sino-Soviet split

1960s|

* Congo Crisis
* Simba rebellion
* 1960 U-2 incident
* Bay of Pigs Invasion
* 1960 Turkish coup d'état
* Albanian–Soviet split
* Expulsion of Soviets from Albania
* Iraqi–Kurdish conflict
* First Iraqi–Kurdish War
* Berlin Crisis of 1961
* Berlin Wall
* Annexation of Goa
* Papua conflict
* Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation
* Sand War
* Portuguese Colonial War
* Angolan War of Independence
* Guinea-Bissau War of Independence
* Mozambican War of Independence
* Cuban Missile Crisis
* El Porteñazo
* Sino-Indian War
* Communist insurgency in Sarawak
* Ramadan Revolution
* Eritrean War of Independence
* North Yemen Civil War
* 1963 Syrian coup d'état
* Assassination of John F. Kennedy
* Aden Emergency
* Cyprus crisis of 1963–1964
* Shifta War
* Mexican Dirty War
* Tlatelolco massacre
* Guatemalan Civil War
* Colombian conflict
* 1964 Brazilian coup d'état
* Dominican Civil War
* Rhodesian Bush War
* Indonesian mass killings of 1965–1966
* Transition to the New Order (Indonesia)
* ASEAN Declaration
* 1966 Syrian coup d'état
* Cultural Revolution
* Argentine Revolution
* South African Border War
* Korean DMZ Conflict
* 12-3 incident
* Greek junta
* 1967 Hong Kong riots
* Years of Lead (Italy)
* Six-Day War
* War of Attrition
* Dhofar War
* Al-Wadiah War
* Nigerian Civil War
* Protests of 1968
* May 68
* Prague Spring
* USS Pueblo incident
* 1968 Polish political crisis
* 1968–1971 East Pakistan communist insurgency
* Communist insurgency in Malaysia
* Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia
* 17 July Revolution
* 1968 Peruvian coup d'état
* Revolutionary Government
* 1969 Sudanese coup d'état
* 1969 Libyan revolution
* Goulash Communism
* Sino-Soviet border conflict
* New People's Army rebellion

1970s|

* Détente
* Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
* Black September
* Alcora Exercise
* Corrective Movement (Syria)
* Western Sahara conflict
* Cambodian Civil War
* Communist insurgency in Thailand
* 1970 Polish protests
* Koza riot
* Realpolitik
* Ping-pong diplomacy
* 1971 JVP insurrection
* Corrective revolution (Egypt)
* 1971 Turkish military memorandum
* 1971 Sudanese coup d'état
* 1971 Bolivian coup d'état
* Four Power Agreement on Berlin
* Bangladesh Liberation War
* 1972 visit by Richard Nixon to China
* North Yemen-South Yemen Border conflict of 1972
* First Yemenite War
* Munich massacre
* 1972–1975 Bangladesh insurgency
* Eritrean Civil Wars
* 1973 Uruguayan coup d'état
* 1973 Afghan coup d'état
* 1973 Chilean coup d'état
* Yom Kippur War
* 1973 oil crisis
* Carnation Revolution
* Spanish transition to democracy
* Metapolitefsi
* Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
* Second Iraqi–Kurdish War
* Turkish invasion of Cyprus
* 15 August 1975 Bangladeshi coup d'état
* Siege of Dhaka (1975)
* Sipahi-Janata revolution
* Angolan Civil War
* Cambodian genocide
* June 1976 protests
* Mozambican Civil War
* Oromo conflict
* Ogaden War
* 1978 Somali coup attempt
* Western Sahara War
* Ethiopian Civil War
* Lebanese Civil War
* Sino-Albanian split
* Third Indochina War
* Cambodian–Vietnamese War
* Cambodian conflict
* Operation Condor
* Dirty War (Argentina)
* 1976 Argentine coup d'état
* Egyptian–Libyan War
* German Autumn
* Korean Air Lines Flight 902
* Nicaraguan Revolution
* Uganda–Tanzania War
* NDF Rebellion
* Chadian–Libyan War
* Second Yemenite War
* Grand Mosque seizure
* Iranian revolution
* Saur Revolution
* Sino-Vietnamese War
* New Jewel Movement
* 1979 Herat uprising
* Seven Days to the River Rhine
* Struggle against political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union

1980s|

* Salvadoran Civil War
* Soviet–Afghan War
* 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics boycotts
* Gera Demands
* Peruvian Revolution
* Gdańsk Agreement
* Solidarity
* Eritrean Civil Wars
* 1980 Turkish coup d'état
* Ugandan Bush War
* Gulf of Sidra incident
* Martial law in Poland
* Casamance conflict
* Falklands War
* 1982 Ethiopian–Somali Border War
* Ndogboyosoi War
* United States invasion of Grenada
* Able Archer 83
* Star Wars
* 1985 Geneva Summit
* Iran–Iraq War
* Somali Rebellion
* Reykjavík Summit
* 1986 Black Sea incident
* South Yemen civil war
* Toyota War
* 1987 Lieyu massacre
* Operation Denver
* 1987–1989 JVP insurrection
* Lord's Resistance Army insurgency
* 1988 Black Sea bumping incident
* 8888 Uprising
* Solidarity (Soviet reaction)
* Contras
* Central American crisis
* Operation RYAN
* Korean Air Lines Flight 007
* People Power Revolution
* Glasnost
* Perestroika
* Bougainville conflict
* First Nagorno-Karabakh War
* Afghan Civil War
* United States invasion of Panama
* 1988 Polish strikes
* Polish Round Table Agreement
* 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre
* Revolutions of 1989
* Fall of the Berlin Wall
* Fall of the inner German border
* Velvet Revolution
* Romanian Revolution
* Peaceful Revolution

1990s|

* Mongolian Revolution of 1990
* Min Ping Yu No. 5540 incident
* Gulf War
* Min Ping Yu No. 5202
* German reunification
* Yemeni unification
* Fall of communism in Albania
* Breakup of Yugoslavia
* Dissolution of the Soviet Union
* 1991 August Coup
* Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

Frozen conflicts|

* Abkhazia
* China-Taiwan
* Korea
* Kosovo
* South Ossetia
* Transnistria
* Sino-Indian border dispute
* North Borneo dispute

Foreign policy|

* Truman Doctrine
* Containment
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* Domino theory
* Hallstein Doctrine
* Kennedy Doctrine
* Peaceful coexistence
* Ostpolitik
* Johnson Doctrine
* Brezhnev Doctrine
* Nixon Doctrine
* Ulbricht Doctrine
* Carter Doctrine
* Reagan Doctrine
* Rollback
* Kinmen Agreement

Ideologies|

| Capitalism|

* Liberalism
* Chicago school
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* American conservatism
* Keynesianism
* Libertarianism
* Monetarism
* Neoclassical economics
* Reaganomics
* Supply-side economics
* Democratic capitalism

|

Socialism|

* Communism
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* Hoxhaism
* Juche
* Ho Chi Minh Thought
* Maoism
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Other|

* Imperialism
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* Authoritarianism
* Autocracy
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* Social democracy
* Third-worldism
* White supremacy
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* Apartheid

Organizations|

* NATO
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* METO
* EEC
* Warsaw Pact
* Comecon
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* NN States
* ASEAN
* SAARC
* Safari Club

Propaganda|

| Pro-communist|

* Active measures
* Izvestia
* Neues Deutschland
* Pravda
* Radio Moscow
* Rudé právo
* Trybuna Ludu
* TASS
* Soviet Life

|

Pro-Western|

* Amerika
* Crusade for Freedom
* Paix et Liberté
* Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

* Red Scare
* Voice of America

Technological
competition|

* Arms race
* Nuclear arms race
* Space Race

Historians|

* Gar Alperovitz
* Thomas A. Bailey
* Michael Beschloss
* Archie Brown
* Warren H. Carroll
* Adrian Cioroianu
* John Costello
* Michael Cox
* Nicholas J. Cull
* Norman Davies
* Willem Drees
* Robert D. English
* Herbert Feis
* Robert Hugh Ferrell
* André Fontaine
* Anneli Ute Gabanyi
* John Lewis Gaddis
* Lloyd Gardner
* Timothy Garton Ash
* Gabriel Gorodetsky
* Fred Halliday
* Jussi Hanhimäki
* John Earl Haynes
* Patrick J. Hearden
* Tvrtko Jakovina
* Tony Judt
* Harvey Klehr
* Gabriel Kolko
* Walter LaFeber
* Walter Laqueur
* Melvyn P. Leffler
* Geir Lundestad
* Vojtech Mastny
* Jack F. Matlock Jr.
* Thomas J. McCormick
* Timothy Naftali
* Marius Oprea
* David S. Painter
* William B. Pickett
* Ronald E. Powaski
* Yakov M. Rabkin
* M. E. Sarotte
* Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.
* Ellen Schrecker
* Giles Scott-Smith
* Shen Zhihua
* Timothy Snyder
* Athan Theoharis
* Andrew Thorpe
* Vladimir Tismăneanu
* Patrick Vaughan
* Alex von Tunzelmann
* Odd Arne Westad
* William Appleman Williams
* Jonathan Reed Winkler
* Rudolph Winnacker
* Ken Young

Espionage and
intelligence|

* List of Eastern Bloc agents in the United States
* Soviet espionage in the United States
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* CIA and the Cultural Cold War
* CIA
* MI5
* MI6
* United States involvement in regime change
* Soviet involvement in regime change
* MVD
* KGB
* Stasi

See also|

* Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War
* Soviet Union–United States relations
* Soviet Union–United States summits
* Russia–NATO relations
* War on terror
* Brinkmanship
* Second Cold War
* Russian Revolution

* Category
* List of conflicts
* Timeline

* 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
* 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.
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