SUMMARY

The YSP - Abdul Fattah Ismail faction was a dissident group of members within the ruling Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP) of the Government of South Yemen. It engaged in a brief but violent period of clashes with the government after President Ali Nasir Muhammad Husani suspected a plot against him and consequently ordered a pre-emptive attack against the faction on 13 January 1986. This period of violence ended with the YSP - Abdul Fattah Ismail faction establishing a “collective leadership” to take over the South Yemeni government on 19 January 1986, after President Muhammad Husani fled into exile.

Internal divisions surrounding ideological, as well as personal, preferences within its left-wing ideology had characterized the YSP, which had been the ruling and only political party in South Yemen after 1978. Initially, those who fought for the YSP - Abdul Fattah Ismail faction were personal supporters of Abdul Fattah Ismail or members of the YSP militia. Most of the South Yemeni armed forces chose to not engage with the violence, whilst of those that did, most fought for the government. However, allegiances shifted as news reports started pouring in of mass killings by the Government of South Yemen against its opposition, including army officers. Consequently, the YSP - Abdul Fattah Ismail faction gained greater support from the armed forces and had access to weaponry that included tanks and artillery.

Within the YSP, Abdul Fattah Ismail was the prominent leader of the left-wing hardliners and was in favor of a more formal, pro-Soviet model of socialism in contrast to the more moderate and pragmatic version championed by others in the party including President Muhammad Husani. Ismail had founded the YSP in 1978 and been its Secretary General as well as the President of the South Yemeni government between 1978 and 1980. He had also been involved in the overthrowing and execution of the previous South Yemeni president, Salim Rubai Ali, in 1978. However, Ismail went into exile in the Soviet Union officially for health reasons in 1980; other reporting stated that he was ousted by Muhammad Husani, who subsequently filled the positions of party leader and president. When Ismail returned to South Yemen in 1985, he was reinstated as part of the YSP leadership and the internal polarization of the YSP deepened. Abdul Fattah Ismail managed to escape the initial attack on the Politburo on 13 January but he was never seen again. Rumors circulated that he had been killed shortly afterwards, yet later it was claimed that he was being held by pro-Muhammad Husani forces close to the North Yemeni border. No reliable evidence ever became known and it remains unclear what happened to Ismail.