Second Yemenite War

The Marxist government of South Yemen was alleged to be supplying aid to rebels in the north through the National Democratic Front and crossing the border. On 24 February, forces from North and South Yemen began firing at each other across the border. Forces from North Yemen, led by some radical army officers, crossed the border into South Yemen and attacked a number of villages. As part of this aid, the U.S. shipped 18 F-5E planes to the YAR in order to strengthen the government. However, there were no YAR pilots trained in flying the F-5E, and as a result the U.S. and Saudi Arabia arranged to have 80 Taiwanese pilots plus ground crew and Iraqi anti-air defense units sent to North Yemen. A U.S. Navy task force was also sent to the Arabian Sea in response to the escalating violence. The war showed the weakness of the North Yemeni military training and equipment, and soon its allies - led by Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia - started an aggressive re-armament and training programme to enable it to regain strategic balance against PDRY forces. By 1983–84, the North had regained its military strength. ==Aftermath==

Kuwait Agreement of 1979 On 20 March the leaders of North and South Yemen called a bilateral ceasefire met in Kuwait for a reconciliation summit, in part at the strong insistence of Iraq. ==See also==