SUMMARY

Free Yemeni Army was a gathering of army units that defected during the Arab Spring protests in Yemen in 2011. The defections took place in response to the mass killing of protesters by the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The Free Yemeni Army was under the command of General Ali Muhsin al-Ahmar, previously a close ally of Saleh. His defection took place alongside that of his Hashid tribe, which also fought the government as part of the Alliance of Yemeni Tribes. Some of the forces that defected to join the Free Yemeni Army was stationed near AQAP occupied Zinjibar, resulting in a non-state clashes between them.

Muhsin al-Ahmar, a Salafist himself, was a key supporter and ally of the Islamist Islah party. After Saleh's resignation and replacement by the government of Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, which was largely filled with Islah loyalists, the Free Yemeni Army rejoined the government. These army units would take a leading role in resisting the Ansarallah take-over of the government in 2014-2015, and would continue to fight Ansarallah as part of the Forces of Hadi (later renamed Forces of the Presidential Leadership Council) thereafter. Muhsin al-Ahmar was in 2016 appointed vice-President by Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, a role he would continue to serve in until 2022.

Free Yemeni Army has been involved in the state-based and non-state categories of UCDP organised violence.