Mohsen al-Daeri

Mohsen Mohammed Hussein al-Daeri (born 1965) is a former Yemeni military officer who served as the Minister of Defense from 2022 to 2026. Daeri joined the military of South Yemen and continued his career in unified Yemen. As commander of the 14th Armored Brigade, he fought for the internationally recognized government in the Marib campaign of the Yemeni civil war, and was wounded while on the frontlines by the Houthis in 2016. He was appointed chief of staff of the military's Joint Operations Command in 2019, and was promoted to Minister of Defense on 28 July 2022.

As defense minister, Daeri inherited the civil war amidst a ceasefire with the Houthis which lasted during his entire tenure. He suffered an assassination attempt in March 2023 allegedly perpetrated by the Houthis. He voiced criticism of the Houthis for instigating the Red Sea crisis. During the March–May 2025 United States attacks in Yemen, Daeri was involved in the planning of a potential Yemeni military offensive to defeat the Houthis on the ground and recapture their territory, through it was aborted after a ceasefire deal ended the attacks. Daeri was dismissed as Minister of Defense and referred to retirement on 8 January 2026, a month after the Southern Transitional Council had captured most of the Yemeni government's territory and days after it was recaptured in a Saudi Arabia-backed counteroffensive.