1967 North Yemen coup d'état

The 1967 North Yemen coup d'état was a bloodless overthrow of President Abdullah al-Sallal on November 5, 1967 in the Yemen Arab Republic. Yemeni dissidents and tribal forces carried out the coup, acting with the quiet approval of Sallal's main backer Nasserist Egypt.

This was due to a major shift in Egyptian foreign policy. Following the heavy defeat in the Six-Day War, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser lost much of his desire for costly foreign military adventures, including the war in North Yemen. Nasser announced plans to pull back from such commitments. In August 1967, Egypt and Saudi Arabia signed a peace agreement in Khartoum, requiring Egypt to completely withdraw its forces from Yemen. Egypt began pulling its troops out even before the agreement was fully implemented, completing the withdrawal by the end of the year. Reportedly, Nasser himself advised Sallal to step down and leave the country. When Sallal refused and instead flew to Baghdad seeking alternative support for his government, Nasser sent instructions to the remaining Egyptian troops in Yemen: they were not to intervene if the North Yemeni army moved against Sallal.

Seeing their chance, dissident groups and tribal militias moved tanks into the capital, Sana'a. They met no resistance and quickly took control of the Presidential Palace. A radio broadcast soon announced the coup's success, and Sallal asked for political asylum in Iraq.

Power shifted immediately to a three-person civilian leadership group called the Republican Council. Abdul Rahman al-Iryani became its chairman, joined by Ahmed Noman and Mohammad Ali Othman. Speaking for the new council, al-Iryani signaled a readiness to negotiate with the Royalist forces. As a show of goodwill, he pardoned over 3,000 political prisoners and called a conference of major Republican tribes to work towards ending the civil war, promising broader peace talks involving both sides.

However, Sallal’s removal and Egypt's withdrawal encouraged royalist forces. They launched a major offensive and laid siege to Sana'a. Facing collapse, the new government secured decisive support from the Soviet Union. Bolstered by this aid, republican forces broke the siege by February 1968. This defeat shattered royalist hopes of a military victory.

Though sporadic fighting continued on for another two years, the lifting of the siege effectively marked the end of the civil war. By 1970, both sides signed a peace agreement agreeing to form a unified government with republican and royalist representation. The eight-year civil war was finally over.