Sanaa

The first known text in the Musnad script that mentions Sanaa dates back to the 5th century BCE and it is mentioned as , which is derived from the Sabaic word ''maṣna'a'' "fortress." ==History==

Ancient period The city of Sanaa was founded by the Kingdom of Saba in the 1st century CE as a secondary capital, with the primary capital since the origins of the civilisation being at the oasis of Marib. The name Sanaa is probably derived from the Sabaic root ṣnʿ, meaning "well-fortified". The name is attested in old Sabaean inscriptions, mostly from the 3rd century CE, as ṣnʿw. after the latter's death. The 10th-century Arab historian al-Hamdani wrote that Sanaa's ancient name was Azāl, which is not recorded in any contemporary Sabaean inscriptions. Al-Hamdani wrote that Sanaa was walled by the Sabaeans under their ruler Sha'r Awtar, who also arguably built the Ghumdan Palace in the city. Because of its location, Sanaa has served as an urban hub for the surrounding tribes of the region and as a nucleus of regional trade in southern Arabia. It was positioned at the crossroad of two major ancient trade routes linking Ma'rib in the east to the Red Sea in the west. Like the Sulayhids, the Hamdanids were Isma'ilis. However, Ayyubid control of Sanaa was never very consistent, and they only occasionally exercised direct authority over the city. The Mamelukes arrived in Yemen in 1517. Ottoman era The Ottoman Empire entered Yemen in 1538, when Suleiman the Magnificent was Sultan. The Zaydi imams maintained their rule over Sanaa until the mid-19th century when the Ottomans relaunched their campaign to control the region. In 1835, Ottoman troops arrived on the Yemeni coast under the guise of Muhammad Ali of Egypt's troops. In the 1930s, several organisations opposing or demanding reform of the Zaydi imamate sprung up in the city, particularly Fatat al-Fulayhi, a group of various Yemeni Muslim scholars based in Sanaa's Fulayhi Madrasa, and Hait al-Nidal ("Committee of the Struggle.") By 1936, most of the leaders of these movements were imprisoned. In 1941, another group based in the city, the Shabab al-Amr bil-Maruf wal-Nahian al-Munkar, called for a nahda ("renaissance") in the country as well as the establishment of a parliament with Islam as the instrument of Yemeni revival. Yahya largely repressed the Shabab and most of its leaders were executed following his son Imam Ahmad's inheritance of power in 1948. After the end of the civil war in 1970, Sanaa began to expand outward. A new ring road, built in the 1970s on the recommendation of the United Nations Development Programme, encouraged land speculation and further contributed to the rapid expansion of Sanaa. issued by Radhya Al-Mutawakel and Abdulrasheed Al-Faqih and Open Societies Foundations. Houthi control (2014–present) On 21 September 2014, during the Houthi insurgency, the Houthis seized control of Sanaa. On 12 June 2015, Saudi-led airstrikes targeting Shiite rebels and their allies in Yemen destroyed historic houses in the middle of the capital. A UNESCO World Heritage Site was severely damaged. On 8 October 2016, Saudi-led airstrikes targeted a hall in Sanaa where a funeral was taking place. At least 140 people were killed and about 600 were wounded. After initially denying it was behind the attack, the Coalition's Joint Incidents Assessment Team admitted that it had bombed the hall but claimed that this attack had been a mistake caused by bad information. In May 2017, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross, an outbreak of cholera killed 115 people and left 8,500 ill. In late 2017, another Battle of Sanaa broke out between the Houthis and forces loyal to former President Saleh, who was killed. On 17 May 2022, the first commercial flight in six years took off from Sanaa International Airport as part of a UN-brokered 60-day truce agreement struck between the Houthis and the internationally recognised government the prior month. UNESCO is currently carrying out a cash for work project to restore the historic city. Efforts are being led by engineer Harbia Al Himiary. ==Geography and climate==

'' in the area of Sanaa. Local legend has it that after the death of Noah, his son Shem built the city at the base of this mountain. Sanaa itself is located at the narrowest part of the plain, nestled between Jabal Nuqum to the east and the foothills of Jabal An-Nabi Shu'ayb, Yemen's tallest mountain, to the west. The mountain's peak is west of Sanaa. is recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The old fortified city has been inhabited for more than 2,500 years and contains many intact architectural sites. The oldest, partially standing architectural structure in the Old City of Sanaa is Ghumdan Palace. The city was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations in 1986. Efforts are underway to preserve some of the oldest buildings some of which, such as the Samsarh and the Great Mosque of Sanaa, is more than 1,400 years old. Surrounded by ancient clay walls that stand high, the Old City contains more than 100 mosques, 12 hammams (baths), and 6,500 houses. Many of the houses resemble ancient skyscrapers, reaching several stories high and topped with flat roofs. They are decorated with elaborate friezes and intricately carved frames and stained-glass windows. One of the most popular attractions is Suq al-Milh (Salt Market), where it is possible to buy salt along with bread, spices, raisins, cotton, copper, pottery, silverware, and antiques. The 7th-century Jāmiʿ al-Kabīr (the Great Mosque) is one of the oldest mosques in the world. The Bāb al-Yaman It was originally known as the Turkish Quarter and renowned for its many gardens. Later, it came to incorporate both the old Ottoman and Jewish quarter of Sanaa. Located to the west of the old city, Bi'r al-Azab was first mentioned in historical sources in 1627 (1036 AH), in the Ghayat al-amanni of Yahya ibn al-Husayn. As part of central Sanaa, Bi'r al-Azab was one of the areas where new development was first concentrated during the 1970s. Today, it is mostly a residential and administrative district, with embassies, the office of the Prime Minister, and the chamber of deputies being located here. Others The area roughly between the two main circular roads around the city (Ring Road and Sittin) is extremely active, with a high population density and very busy souks. These areas are crossed by major commercial thoroughfares such as al-Zubayri and Abd al-Mughni Street, and are extensively served by public transport. Particularly significant districts in this area include al-Hasabah in the north, Shumayla in the south, and Hayil in the west. Al-Hasabah was formerly a separate village as described by medieval writers al-Hamdani and al-Razi, but by the 1980s it had become a suburb of Sanaa. The southwestern area on both sides of Haddah Road is a generally affluent area with relatively more reliable access to utilities like water and sanitation. Many residents originally moved here from Aden after Yemeni reunification in 1990. Since the 1990s, there has been development of high-rise buildings in this area. Administration In 1983, as Sanaa experienced an explosion in population, the city was made into a governorate of its own, called Amanat al-Asimah (''"the Capital's Secretariat"''), by Presidential Decree No. 13. This governorate was then subdivided into nine districts in 2001, by Presidential Decree No. 2; a tenth district, Bani Al Harith District, was added within the same year. However, the exact legal status of the new Amanat al-Asimah Governorate, and the hierarchy of administrative authority, was never made clear. Since then, the city of Sanaa has encompassed the following districts: • Old City District • Al Wahdah District • As Sabain District • Assafi'yah District • At Tahrir District • Ath'thaorah District • Az'zal District • Bani Al Harith District • Ma'ain District • Shu'aub District Climate Sanaa features a cold desert climate (Köppen: BWk). Sanaa sees on average of precipitation per year. Due to its high elevation, however, temperatures are much more moderate than many other cities on the Arabian Peninsula; average temperatures remain relatively constant throughout the year in Sanaa, with its coolest month being January and its warmest month July. Even considering this, as a result of its lower latitude and higher elevation, UV radiation from the sun is much stronger than in the hotter climates further north on the Arab peninsula. The city seldom experiences extreme heat or cold. Some areas around the city, however, can see temperatures fall to around or during winter. Frost usually occurs in the early winter mornings, and there is a slight wind chill in the city at elevated areas that causes the cold mornings to be bitter, including low humidity. The sun warms the city to the high during the noontime but it drops drastically after nightfall to a low around . The city experiences many microclimates from district to district because of its location in the Sanaa basin and uneven elevations throughout the city. Summers are warm and it can cool swiftly at night, especially after rainfall. Sanaa receives almost all of its annual rainfall from April to August. Rainfall amounts vary from year to year; some years could see of rainfall, while others barely get . High temperatures have increased slightly during the summer over the past few years, while low temperatures and winter temperatures have also risen over the same period. ==Culture==

(sitting room) in Sanaa, 2013 Music Sanaa has a rich musical tradition and is particularly renowned for the musical style called ''al-Ghina al-San'ani ( ), or "the song of Sanaa", which dates back to the 14th century and was designated as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2003. This style of music is not exclusive to Sanaa, and is found in other areas of Yemen as well, but it is most closely associated with the city. It is often part of social events, including the samra, or evening wedding party, and the magyal, or daily afternoon gathering of friends. (Markaz al-Thaqafi''), which was originally designed as an auditorium instead of a theatre. It "possesses only the most basic of lighting and sound equipment, and the smallest of wings" Sports Football is the most popular sport in Sanaa. The city is home to the Ali Muhesen Stadium, home of the Yemen national football team, and is mostly used for football matches. The stadium holds 25,000 people. Zoo Like Taiz Zoo, this zoo held fauna caught in the wild, such as the Arabian leopard, as well as imported animals such as African lions and gazelles. The lions were thought to be of Ethiopian origin, but a phylogeographic test demonstrated them to be different from captive Ethiopian lions kept at Addis Ababa Zoo, and more similar to lions from Eastern and Southern Africa. Qat There is a daily practice of Qat chewing which exists within the city of Sanaa. Qat is a type of plant with stimulant-like qualities. This daily practice occurs in a mafraj, which is a room designated for Qat chewing. Qat comes in three different varieties, Ahmar, Abiad, and Azraq, (translated to red, white, and blue) with Ahmar being considered of the highest quality, and Abiad being considered the weakest. According to a foreign resident, the Qat from the North of Sanaa is the most prized of the Qat grown locally. This daily chewing tradition starts in the Qat market, with the leaves used for a particular day being bought day of use. ==Demographics==

{{historical populations The city's population growth soared from the 1960s onward as a result of mass rural migration to the city in search of employment and improved standard of living. Sanaa is the fastest-growing capital city in the world with a growth rate of 7%, while the growth rate of the nation as a whole is 3.2%. About 10% of the population resides in the Old City, while the remainder lives in the outside districts. Sunnis tend to be most concentrated in the newer parts of the city, reflecting an influx of new residents from the countryside since the late 20th century. There were five major groups: ranked from highest to lowest, they were the sayyids, the qadis, the mansibs (plural: manasib), the Bani Khumis (also called the muzayyin), and the akhdam. In Sanaa, Jews had initially settled within the enclosed citadel, known as al-Qaṣr, near the ruins of the old tower known as Ghumdan Palace, but were evicted from there in the late 6th century by the ruling monarch, and moved to a different section of the city, known as al-Marbaki (also called the Falayhi Quarter). From there, they again uprooted and were made to settle in the section of the city known as al-Quzali, and eventually moved and settled in the neighbourhood of al-Sa'ilah. In 1679, during the Mawza Exile, they were once again evicted from their place of residence. Upon returning to the city in 1680, they were given a plot of land outside of the city walls, where they built the new Jewish Quarter, al-Qāʻ (now Qāʻ al-ʻUlufi), and where they remained until the community's demise in the mid-20th century. In 1839 the Reverend Joseph Wolff, who later went to Bukhara to attempt to save Lieutenant Colonel Charles Stoddart and Captain Arthur Conolly, found in Yemen, near Sanaa, a tribe claiming to be descendants of Jehonadab. After the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, about 49,000 (of an estimated 51,000) of Yemenite Jews were airlifted to Israel, almost 10,000 of whom were from Sanaa (see the English-language book Jews and Muslims in lower Yemen: a study in protection and restraint, 1918–1949). There was then essentially no Jewish population in Sanaa until the Houthi insurgency broke out in northern Yemen in 2004. The Houthis directly threatened the Jewish community in 2007, prompting the government of President Saleh to offer them refuge in Sanaa. , around 700 Jews were living in the capital under government protection. In April 2017, it was reported that 40 of the last 50 Jews were in an enclave next to the American Embassy in Sanaa, and they were subject to threats of ethnic cleansing by the Houthis. On 28 April 2020 Yemenite Minister Moammer al-Iryani remarked the fate of the last 50 Jews in Yemen is unknown. On 16 July 2020 5 Jews were allowed to leave Yemen by the Houthi leaving 33 Jews in the country. In July 2020 the Mona Relief reported on their Website that as of July 19, 2020 of the Jewish population in Yemen, there were only a "handful" of Jews in Sanaa. ==Economy==

Historically, Sanaa had a mining industry. The hills around Sanaa were mined for onyx, chalcedony, and cornelian. The city also traded in agricultural products and due to being on the route from Aden towards the greater Arab world, was also a main market for imported western goods. As of 1920, Sanaa was described by the British as being "well supplied with fruit and grapes, and has good water." As the capital city of Yemen, nearly 40% of jobs in Sanaa are in the public sector. The city is also an important centre for commerce and industry in Yemen. Additionally, like many other cities in the developing world, Sanaa has a large informal sector that is estimated to constitute 32% of nongovernmental employment as of 2002. By far the largest area of the economy, both in terms of the number of businesses and jobs, is in commerce and small services. As of 2004, 58.9% of all establishments and 31.3% of all jobs in Sanaa belong to this category. Another major category is general administration, which only makes up 0.8% of employers but has 18.0% of workers, making it the second largest in that regard. Manufacturing is the third-largest category by both measures, with about 12% for both. Sanaa also has a higher concentration of hotels and restaurants than elsewhere in the country. About 62% of jobs in Sanaa are working for private, locally owned enterprises, followed by state-owned enterprises which employ 31%. Waqfs, private foreign-owned companies, and private joint ventures make up the rest in that order, with none employing more than 2%. Sanaa's economy is large compared to its population: as of 2004, it was home to only 9% of Yemen's population but 16% of the country's businesses and 22% of its formal-sector jobs. The average size of a business establishment in Sanaa is small, at 3.88 employees on average; however, this is higher than the national average of 2.87 and only Aden has a higher average of 6.88 employees. Between 1992 and 2006, 39% of all new formal-sector jobs in Yemen were created in Sanaa, along with 33% of new business establishments. In terms of jobs created, Sanaa is ahead of all other governorates in Yemen by a factor of three. Poverty and income inequality While Sanaa has a vibrant, diverse economy with more jobs being created than anywhere else in Yemen, it also has the highest concentration of poverty in the country. It is home to 6.5% of the country's total poor population and 23% of the poor urban population. About 15% of the city's population lives below the national poverty line as of 2007. There are also many people living just above the poverty line who are still in a relatively precarious financial position. High unemployment is another problem; by some estimates, as much as 25% of Sanaa's potential workforce is unemployed. Income inequality is also increasing: from 1998 to 2005, the Gini coefficient for Sanaa increased from 37% to 44%: a 21% increase, the highest in the country. High inflation, low per capita income growth, and disproportionate gains by the rich have contributed to a middle class squeeze in Sanaa's middle class since the 1980s. Challenges facing local businesses A 2005 survey of 488 Yemeni firms by the Mitsubishi Research Institute included a subset of 175 firms in Sanaa. They reported similar challenges in doing business with firms throughout the country. In particular, corruption is a problem in their dealings with the government, and hefty bribes are often a necessity. Certain businesses can use their connections to dodge taxes and regulations, which puts other businesses at a disadvantage because they have to abide by the rules. Long delays for customs clearances, especially for imports, are ubiquitous, and over 70% of the surveyed firms reported that they had made extra-legal payments to customs officials. Financial constraints also confront many entrepreneurs in Sanaa: the cost of bank credit is also prohibitively high, and loan guarantees often comes with heavy demands that are difficult to meet. Shortcomings in municipal infrastructure are another problem: for example, because access to electricity is unreliable, many firms have to install their own backup generators. Energy Before the civil war, Yemen's electricity was primarily supplied by the Ma'rib gas-fired power plant, which came online in 2009 and supplied 27-40% of the country's electricity while active. (Before that, the power came from six diesel power plants in Sanaa itself.) The Ma'rib plant is connected to the Bani Hushaysh substation by a power line with a capacity of 400 kV, and the Bani Hushaysh substation is then connected to substations in Dhahban and Hizyaz by two 132-kV lines. However, the Ma'rib-Sanaa power line was frequently targeted by attacks; there were 54 attacks on the power line between 2010 and 2013. The Ma'rib plant ceased operations in 2015. The Dhahban and Hizyaz substations also have generating capacity in addition to being supplied by the Ma'rib plant. The Dhahban station is the main one in Sanaa; located 10 km northwest of the city, it had an original generating capacity of 20 MW, with another 30 MW installed during the 2000s, bringing the total to 50 MW. The Hizyaz station consists of three power plants: the first, with a capacity of 30 MW, was completed in 2002. Another 60 MW plant was added in 2004, and then in 2007 the third plant, with a capacity of 30 MW, was also completed. While most of prewar Sanaa was connected to the electrical grid, including at least partial coverage in most of the city's 35 informal settlements, access to electricity was unreliable. Power outages were common, and one 2011 report suggested that electricity was only available for one hour per day. The civil war has severely impacted the energy sector in Yemen, due to several factors including damage from attacks, lack of funding for maintenance, and fuel shortages. As of 2018, 43% of Sanaa's energy assets were destroyed, while another 38% had suffered partial damage; in addition, 81% of the facilities were not functioning. As a result, the public power supply in Sanaa has become almost nonexistent: of the daily 500 MW electricity demand in the city, the city receives 40 MW. The public electricity supply is now mostly or entirely supplied by the Hizyaz station, whose capacity has been reduced to 7 MW. Public grid access covers around 2% of the population, mostly in nearby neighbourhoods, and it is expensive for consumers. Private services using their generators also sell electricity to customers; they cover another 2.8% and cost about as much as the public supply. The largest share of electrical supply in Sanaa came from privately owned solar panels and diesel generators, which together covered 30% of the population. Solar power rapidly gained popularity in Yemen in 2015, and in 2016, it became the leading source of electricity in the country. Prices of fuel and diesel in Yemen have risen dramatically since the start of the war; current prices are 150% of what they were in 2017. The most recent crisis in Sanaa came in September 2019, leading to days-long lines at gas stations. Black market prices can be three times higher than the official ones, leaving many unable to afford fuel. ==Education==

Sanaa is relatively well-educated among Yemeni cities, and much more than the country as a whole. The war in Yemen has severely affected education in Sanaa. As of 1984 it remained the only higher education institute in Yemen. In that time its enrolment had grown from 68 students in 1970–71 to around 9,700 in 1983–84. During its early years, Sanaa University was largely financed by Kuwait, and most professors, administrators, and teaching materials came from Kuwait as well. As of the 1980s, most professors came from Ain Shams University in Cairo. At that time, 10% of students at the university were female. The university's academic year consists of two 18-week semesters as well as an 8-week summer session. As of 1984, instruction was in Arabic in all faculties except for the Faculty of Science, where it was done in English. The then-planned Faculties of Engineering and Medical Sciences were also planned to have instruction done in English. As of 1984, one in five freshmen at Sanaa University went on to graduate in four years (the statistic for students who graduated after more than four years was not given). ==Health==

As of October 2016, there are 88 health facilities in the Sanaa metro area. At the same time, however, they have been suppressing all information about the scale of the outbreak, refusing to release positive test results and intimidating medical staff, journalists, and families to prevent them from speaking out about cases. Speaking about the coronavirus testing results, one official quipped, "When it's negative, they give the results to us." As of May 2020, the only hospital in Sanaa that has the full capacity to treat coronavirus is the Kuwait University Hospital. An influx of patients entered this hospital in the first week of May, and health workers believe many of them had coronavirus; Houthi authorities never revealed the test results, but an internal document from 4 May 2020, showing three positive test results, was circulated widely on social media. ==Transport and communications==

Transport in Sanaa is divided by gender, with a slight majority (51%) of male commuters using public transport and a similar majority (56%) of women travelling on foot. Yemenia, the national airline of Yemen, has its head office in Sanaa. Communications Most of Yemen's telecommunications infrastructure is located in Sanaa, as are most of the country's telecommunications companies. The Internet was first launched in Yemen in 1996, but it was used by under 5% of the population until 2007. The percentage of Yemenis using the internet nationwide has increased from 1.25% in 2006 to 26.72% in 2017. In Sanaa, the main internet service provider is YemenNet, which was launched in 2002 and is the only network offering 3G services. Internet cafes are popular among Sanaa residents, many of whom cannot afford the high cost of subscription fees and purchasing necessary equipment. They are especially popular with university students, who use publicly available information on the internet to supplement their studies. The first all-female internet cafe in Sanaa opened in 2013. As of 2017, the city of Sanaa had 407 internet cafes, which was almost a third of the total in Yemen. A survey of 45 internet cafes in 2018 reported that 38 were fully or partially operating, while 7 were permanently closed. One of them was operating on solar power, which provided 18 hours of electricity per day. ==Water and sanitation==

project to provide water in Sanaa, 2015 Yemen is one of the world's most water-scarce countries, and Sanaa could be the first national capital in the world to completely exhaust its water supply. The city is located on the Tawilah aquifer, which was first identified in 1972. The aquifer has a natural recharge rate of 42 Mm3/a, much of which comes from the periodic outflow of water from the surrounding wadis onto the Sanaa plain. There is not much refill from rainfall. In 1995, water extraction from the aquifer exceeded the natural recharge rate by around 300%. More recent estimates are higher, suggesting 400–500%. Wastewater management The sewer system in Sanaa is over 500 kilometres long. There are two activated sludge water treatment plants in the city: the main one, in Bani al-Harith District, was commissioned in 2000 and has a daily capacity of 50,500m3; the second, in al-Hashishiyah, is much smaller with a capacity of 500m3 and is dedicated to collecting wastewater from tankers. No damage was reported to the Bani al-Harith water treatment plant as of 2018, and it remains in operation, although overloaded and with some equipment in poor condition. The al-Hashishiyah facility has been out of operation since the start of the conflict. Only 40% of Sanaa's population is connected to wastewater services as of 2018 (down from 45% in 2014), and over half of the population relies on private cesspits for wastewater disposal. The wastewater is then either absorbed into the ground or pumped out by either the city's Wastewater and Sanitation Local Corporation or by private services. Of Sanaa's 35 informal settlements, only two (Madhbah and Bayt Maiyad) are connected to the city's sewer system, while most of the others rely on cesspits. In one, Suq Shamlan, sewage is dumped in an open hole. Solid waste management It is estimated that 1500 tonnes of solid waste are generated each day in the Sanaa metro area. The city is mainly serviced by the al-Azraqayn landfill, which also serves the surrounding Sanaa Governorate as well as 'Amran Governorate. The landfill has been in operation since the 1970s and has almost reached full capacity. There is no base or surface sealing at the site, so the leachate is not captured. A facility for the treatment of healthcare waste exists at the al-Azraqayn landfill; the first of its type in Yemen, it was expected to open in March 2015, but due to the ongoing conflict and lack of electricity, the opening was delayed indefinitely. Since the escalation of the Yemeni civil war in 2015, the Azraqayn landfill has no longer been operating at full capacity. Waste collection was reduced to 30 trips per month, and only some of the collected waste made it from the transfer station to the landfill. The waste processing building at the al-Azraqayn site was destroyed in 2015, and the landfill's weighbridge is damaged and not operational. As of 2018, almost a third of the city's garbage trucks had been damaged during the fighting and another 18% were not operational. Most Sanaa neighbourhoods in 2018 reported insufficient coverage by waste management services. As of 2018, the city's waste collection services cover 70% of the city's population, which is higher than al-Hudaydah (50%) but lower than Aden (80%). As of August 2015, the city of Sanaa employed 19 people as waste pickers for use in recycling: 4 at al-Azraqayn and 15 (12 men and 3 boys) at Sanaa Transit Station. == International relations ==

Twin towns and sister cities • Ankara, Turkey • Cairo, Egypt • Dushanbe, Tajikistan • Tehran, Iran ==Gallery==

File:Sanaa, Yemen (39).jpg|Houses in old Sana'a. Ibex and Bull were sacred animals in ancient Yemen. Yemenis put Ibex or Bull horns at top of houses to protect from evil eyes. File:Sanaa, Yemen (32).jpg|A house in Sanaa File:Sanaa, Yemen (13).jpg|House with traditional Qamariah File:Sanaa, Yemen (29).jpg|A dome in old Sanaa File:Sana, Yemen (4325153574).jpg|Night streetscene in Sanaa File:Sana'a, Yemen (11009474166).jpg|Narrow street in Sanaa Sana'a.jpg|Tower houses in Sanaa Sana'a_House.JPG|Tower houses in Sanaa Sanaa,_Yemen_(10716776275).jpg|Ground-level view of a tower house ==See also==