Yemen
Country Spotlight
Yemen is a member in good standing of major nonproliferation agreements. With the outbreak of civil war in 2014, ballistic missiles and other weapons flowed into Yemen, and the Yemeni Houthis used the country’s territory to launch missile attacks against foreign belligerents in the conflict, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE. As a result of the ongoing conflict, Yemen is in an intense humanitarian crisis, leaving millions without access to basic social and health services, as well as necessary food, safe drinking water, and medicine.
Since the Israel-Hamas war broke out in late 2023, the Yemeni Houthis have launched missiles and drones at Israel and against commercial and naval ships in the Red Sea, prompting retaliation efforts by Israel. Additionally in response to these strikes, from March 2025 to May 2025 American and later also British forces targeted numerous locations tied to the Houthi Militia’s weapons manufacturing and military efforts.
See Yemen's performance in
Region Middle East and North Africa
~300 Scud missiles stockpiled in 2015
2014 Current Yemen Civil War begins
~40 Number of chemical weapons attacks carried out by Egypt on Yemeni territory during the North Yemen Civil War in the 1960s
Nuclear
- Not known to have ever pursued a nuclear weapons program
- Has expressed interest in developing nuclear power, but ongoing conflict has prevented this
- Party to International Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material
Biological
- Not known to have ever pursued a biological weapons program
- Signed the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) as North and South Yemen before unification in 1990
Missile
- Possesses Soviet Scud ballistic missiles and North Korean Hwasong ballistic missiles
- Most Yemeni missiles were seized by Houthi rebels after the start of the civil war
- Ongoing civil war has been marked by extensive ballistic missile use by all parties
Chemical
- Subjected to chemical weapons use by Egypt during the North Yemen Civil War in the 1960s
- Not known to have ever pursued a chemical weapons program
- Passed legislation in 2014 to strengthen domestic chemical regulations