Yemen — Military File

MCD · 24/100 — The Magna grade is our 0–100 composite of structural national power — five dimensions, 100+ indicators. It is the Bureau's own assessment, not a mirror of World Bank or CIA figures.

Momentum 0 — Quarterly momentum: the Bureau's read on the country's trajectory over the last quarter, from −10 (deteriorating fast) to +10 (accelerating).

Steadiness was the quarter's defining trait: no rupture, no windfall, no surprise strong enough to move the score.

The trajectory remains set by fundamentals that change over years, not quarters — and this quarter changed little.

Yemeni Armed Forces: Yemeni National Army, Air Force and Air Defense, Navy and Coastal Defense Forces, Border Guard, Strategic Reserve Forces (includes Special Forces and Presidential Protection Brigades, which are under the Ministry of Defense but responsible to the president), Popular Committee Forces (aka Popular Resistance Forces; government-backed tribal militia) Ministry of Interior: Security Forces, Emergency Forces, Counterterrorism Units (2025)

the Yemeni Government forces have an inventory consisting primarily of older foreign-supplied weapons systems, mostly of Russian or Soviet origin (2025)

limited available information; 18 is the legal minimum age for military service under the Yemeni Government (2025)

government forces under the Yemeni Ministry of Defense are responsible for both external and internal defense; their priorities are the Houthi separatists (aka Ansarallah), the terrorist groups al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham in Yemen (ISIS-Yemen), and maritime security, particularly against arms smuggling; in 2022, the Yemeni Government and the Houthis signed a truce, halting most fighting and establishing humanitarian measures; the former front lines of conflict, in some areas mirroring Yemen’s pre-unification borders, remain static; AQAP and ISIS-Yemen continue to be active in remote areas (2025)