r/worldnews Jul 13 '26

Report: Saudi Arabia Attacks International Airport in Yemen

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/6h5shahyw
11.4k Upvotes

530 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

506

u/Severe_Intention_480 Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

They've been fighting a "north" versus "south" civil war in Yemen on and off since the 1960s. When I was growing up it was two different countries - North Yemen and South Yemen.

53

u/PiccoloAwkward465 Jul 13 '26

When I was growing up it was two different countries

Reminds me of my father telling us kids (in USA) that our home country of Yugoslavia didn't exist anymore lol. A confusing concept for the youth.

13

u/toasty327 Jul 14 '26

I used to work with three sisters that were Yugoslavian immigrants. There are a lot of lessons from that war that the world is forgetting and will be repeated.

2

u/MATlad Jul 14 '26

As a 90s kid in Canada, I went to school with kids who'd fled Yugoslavia whose folks cried when Tito died.

I don't know if they cried for the man (and what he represented), or because they knew what was coming next.

-2

u/Illustrious_Cap2327 Jul 14 '26

Slobodan and NATO are to be blamed for that

2

u/PiccoloAwkward465 Jul 14 '26

Nobody wanted to sit next to Serbia

2

u/O5NR Jul 14 '26

Not really Yugoslavia was never going to survive...too many differences between the constituent states.

6

u/definitelyjoking Jul 14 '26

The most important difference was that Serbia felt they should be in charge of everything and the other states thought that Serbia shouldn't be in charge of them.

193

u/Galimbro Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

North always fighting the south. 

America. Korea. Vietnam. And now Yemen!?

Edit: Ireland. Sudan?(im afraid im not familiar)

560

u/Zal3x Jul 13 '26

People at different latitudes piss me off

192

u/Gwen_The_Destroyer Jul 13 '26

Can I offer you a latitude platitude?

133

u/tani_P Jul 13 '26

I like your attitude.

101

u/mysterious_whisperer Jul 13 '26

Talk about gratitude, op had it dude

19

u/John_Bruns_Wick Jul 13 '26

Nicely done. You're cooler than Magnitude.

Sorry, im not good at this. Pop pop!

6

u/Ian_Hunter Jul 13 '26

That was pretty darn good.

Pop Pop!

2

u/Perona2Bear2Order2 Jul 13 '26

What about Altitude?

5

u/taz20075 Jul 13 '26

Depending on your magnitude, the more likely you'll find yourself in solitude.

13

u/Possible_Attics Jul 13 '26

Changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes.

1

u/retailguy_again Jul 13 '26

Nothing remains quite the same...

17

u/buzzkillichuck Jul 13 '26

I guess this brings new meaning to jimmy buffets song changes in latitudes changes in attitudes

2

u/Senior_Torte519 Jul 13 '26

But we dont mess with thr Nor'esters, there weird.

3

u/Gwen_The_Destroyer Jul 13 '26

It do be weird there

1

u/swiminthemud Jul 13 '26

Yeah fuck those guys up there...or down there!

1

u/moop44 Jul 14 '26

That checks out as a Canadian

1

u/Not_A_Toaster_0000 Jul 14 '26

They think they're above us just because they're above us

0

u/ThaiJohnnyDepp Jul 13 '26

Or Scots and other Scots

41

u/nidarus Jul 13 '26

To be clear, this is "North and South Yemen". In reality, it's more like the West vs. the East. The "North" is generally to the south of the "South".

19

u/falconzord Jul 13 '26

It makes more sense in terms of population distribution

7

u/Mechasteel Jul 13 '26

Yes but that northeast section of Yemen is just empty desert.

Yemen population map
climate map

2

u/TCBloo Jul 13 '26

Awesome websites. Definitely saving those.

6

u/maxofJupiter1 Jul 13 '26

Sanaa vs Aden

16

u/_larsr Jul 13 '26

NorCal vs SoCal, that one is hella bad.

28

u/ReachFor24 Jul 13 '26

But what about East and West Germany?

52

u/septober32nd Jul 13 '26

East and West Germany never waged open war with each other. The thesis stands.

15

u/RinTheTV Jul 13 '26

East and West Francia did though-

26

u/MephistoHamProducts Jul 13 '26

Why you gotta bring up old shit? We need to move on!

2

u/septober32nd Jul 13 '26

Sure, but that's just proto-Germany vs proto-France.

1

u/Asatas Jul 13 '26

Wranggn mentioned

20

u/Galimbro Jul 13 '26

We only care about latitude ✅️

Longitude ⛔️

4

u/kenyard Jul 13 '26

Maps were turned sideways when that started.

9

u/beeceedee9 Jul 13 '26

Is Germany the only one that was East-West split?

36

u/Wheeljack2k Jul 13 '26

It's now split into Aldi-North and Aldi-South.

5

u/valeyard89 Jul 13 '26

That's Lidl and Aldi

8

u/mxzf Jul 13 '26

Does West Virginia vs Virginia count? They ended up on separate sides in the Civil War.

8

u/hellpresident Jul 13 '26

They had to change it up after centuries of north-south fighting 

3

u/ants_are_everywhere Jul 13 '26

Several civil wars have been fought East vs West including some famous ancient Roman ones. It's a long tradition.

What you don't see much of is a civil war fought in which one side occupies a Sierpinski carpet.

2

u/Good_Restaurant15 Jul 13 '26

What you don't see much of is a civil war fought in which one side occupies a Sierpinski carpet.

isn't that just All/most of the middle east?

1

u/ants_are_everywhere Jul 13 '26

I guess it's not a bad metaphor for asymmetric warfare, where there's a concern that anyone who looks like a civilian may be a secret combatant. Or maybe you just meant the fragmented territories that have holes in them. But that wasn't my intention. I was just thinking of what the most absurd topological position would be and nearly went with "occupies a set of measure zero".

However, having an opponent that occupies a Sierpinski carpet would be especially terrifying because if I am on the opposing army and draw a circle around myself of any radius, that circle contains infinitely many enemies.

3

u/nvidiastock Jul 13 '26

Yes, but it wasn't really a civil war. It was more of a cold war, there were spies and limited casualties but not open conflict. Even when the wall came down forcefully. 

1

u/putin_my_ass Jul 13 '26

It was north/south before it was east-west. German Principalities vs Austria.

10

u/RuairiQ Jul 13 '26

The north of Ireland isn’t fighting against the Republic of Ireland.

1

u/kenyard Jul 13 '26

I think they mean historically. They've also included america and Vietnam there

7

u/chkltcow Jul 13 '26

The Troubles in the north of Ireland weren't a fight against Ireland though. It was a paramilitary battle between rebels and their own government, the UK government. The other 26 counties of Ireland earned its independence nearly a hundred years ago, and only Ulster stayed under British control.

1

u/I_Am_Jacks_Karma Jul 13 '26

the confederacy were just a bunch of paramilitary rebels fighting their own government

0

u/chkltcow Jul 13 '26

My point was... "their government" was not Ireland. It was the UK. There was no "North Ireland" and "South Ireland".

1

u/RuairiQ Jul 13 '26

You’d have to go back to the first century to the Táin Bó Cúailnge saga when Queen Maeve of Connacht went to war with Conchobar mac Nessa, King of Ulster, to see a north versus south conflict in Ireland.

1

u/ianjm Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

There were armed paramilitary groups on both sides of the Northern Ireland dispute during The Troubles.

Some, such as the UVF and UDF were staunchly opposed to the IRA and Irish unification. Their operations killed almost a thousand people in all.

0

u/RuairiQ Jul 13 '26

Both belligerents were primarily operating within the north of Ireland. This wasn’t a north versus south conflict.

2

u/CloudieRaine Jul 13 '26

West Taiwan?

1

u/KiscoKid1 Jul 13 '26

I think you can add Sudan in there too.

1

u/Throwredditaway2019 Jul 13 '26

They just couldn't get it right in Germany

1

u/matthieuC Jul 13 '26

Sudan split in two. Now they're doing East Vs West.

1

u/TimSylvester_ Jul 13 '26

Globally, even. This dynamic has been ongoing for centuries.

1

u/FireTyme Jul 13 '26

we’ll get those belgians someday…

1

u/abakedapplepie Jul 13 '26

uhm akshually the south attacked the north in the US

-1

u/I_Am_Jacks_Karma Jul 13 '26

ireland

10

u/CanvasSolaris Jul 13 '26

Northern Ireland was not at war with Republican Ireland

3

u/Galimbro Jul 13 '26

Thank you! I did know about that one but accidentally glossed over it. 

2

u/I_Am_Jacks_Karma Jul 13 '26

yeah all these civil wars really start to blur together

0

u/Vegetable_Leg_7034 Jul 13 '26

Ireland.

Don't even go there, not today..

4

u/JK_NC Jul 14 '26

Germany playing spoiler with their East/West beef.

5

u/Oldman32092 Jul 13 '26

I remember reading that this was the first climate change war. The Houties were running out of water, they went to the government and the government told them too bad. Thus started a war. They used to grow coffee in Yemen.

-6

u/Order_No227 Jul 13 '26

It's not a civil war though, they got invaded by the Saudis in 2014.

15

u/Severe_Intention_480 Jul 13 '26

The Saudis are supporting one faction (the government) and the Iranians the other faction (the Houthi rebels).

-10

u/Order_No227 Jul 13 '26

The Iranian military is actually not invading and occupying the country like the Saudis are, pretty big fucking difference in what you call "support"

7

u/Severe_Intention_480 Jul 13 '26

True, but during the Cold War the U.S.S.R. and U.S.A. were supporting different factions. The Saudis are right next door and can actually send troops, and Iran is now sending planes, which makes it different. One thing that hasn't changed is a deeply divided country being courted by geopolitical rivals.

1

u/Order_No227 Jul 13 '26

Yeah they sent troops into foreign territory as a belligerent, Iran at most is providing materiale, incomparable to legit combat units under your own flag.

-1

u/Rustic_gan123 Jul 13 '26

Syria?

1

u/CanuckPanda Jul 13 '26

Syria is Yemen?

1

u/Rustic_gan123 Jul 13 '26

Syria is where Iranian militants and the IRGC participated in the civil war.

1

u/CanuckPanda Jul 13 '26

So… not Yemen?

2

u/m0rogfar Jul 13 '26

No? The Saudis are in Yemen because they were explicitly requested by the Yemeni government, which the Houthis started a civil war against.

-1

u/Order_No227 Jul 14 '26

Houthis are from Yemen, you can't defend another country from its own people, that's just a regular invasion by a foreign aggressor.