Ali Abdullah Saleh

Ali Abdullah Saleh, born on March 21, 1947, was a prominent Yemeni military officer and politician who played a pivotal role in the country's political landscape. He served as the first president of the Republic of Yemen from the unification in 1990 until his resignation in 2012, following the Yemeni revolution. Prior to this, he was the fifth and last President of the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) from July 1978 until the unification.

Saleh's political career began after the assassination of President Ahmad al-Ghashmi, who had appointed him as military governor in Taiz. A veteran of the North Yemen civil war, Saleh consolidated power and restored civilian rule, despite facing military defeat in the Second Yemenite War and numerous coup attempts. By the mid-1980s, he had managed to stabilize North Yemen, garnering support from both the United States and the Soviet Union.

Following the instability in South Yemen after the 1986 crisis, Saleh achieved reunification as President of the new Republic of Yemen. He shared power with South Yemen's last leader, Ali Salem al-Beidh, and other prominent figures through a Presidential Council. However, internal divisions led to al-Beidh's departure from the Council in 1993, resulting in a brief civil war that saw Saleh's forces defeat Southern forces in July 1994.

From 1994 onward, Saleh ruled autocratically, confirmed by elections in 1999 and 2006, and a controversial constitutional referendum in 2001. His presidency was marked by stable economic growth, but also by an insurgency from the Ansar Allah movement, known as the Houthis. Despite initial opposition to the Gulf War, Saleh later developed closer ties with Western powers during the war on terror, although allegations emerged that he may have encouraged Islamic terrorism for political gain.

In the wake of the Arab Spring in 2011, Saleh's presidency became increasingly unstable, leading to his ousting in 2012. He was succeeded by Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. In May 2015, during the Yemeni civil war, Saleh allied with the Houthis but later declared his withdrawal from the coalition, siding with former adversaries. Tragically, on December 4, 2017, he was killed by a Houthi sniper during a battle in Sanaa, marking a dramatic end to his tumultuous political career.