A month-long violent struggle begins in Aden, South Yemen between supporters of Ali Nasir Muhammad and Abdul Fattah Ismail, resulting in thousands of casualties.
Ali Nasir Muhammad Al-Husani (Arabic: ; born 31 December 1939, Mudiyah, Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen) is the former leader of South Yemen serving as General Secretary of the Yemeni Socialist Party between 1980 and 1986. He was twice president of South Yemen and once the Prime Minister. He served as the Prime Minister from 2 August 1971 until 14 February 1985 and as Chairman of the Presidential Council from 26 June 1978 until 27 December 1978.
In April 1980, South Yemeni president Abdul Fattah Ismail resigned and moved to Moscow. His successor was Ali Nasir Muhammad who took a less interventionist stance toward both North Yemen and neighbouring Oman. On January 13, 1986, a violent struggle began in Aden between Ali Nasir's supporters and supporters of the returned Ismail, the South Yemen Civil War. Fighting lasted for more than a month and resulted in thousands of casualties, Ali Nasir's ouster, and Ismail's death. Muhammad's term had lasted from 21 April 1980 to 24 January 1986. Some 60,000 people, including the deposed Ali Nasir, fled to North Yemen. He was succeeded by Haidar Abu Bakr al-Attas.
In 1978, Ali Nasir Muhammad overthrew and executed Rubai Ali, after a short battle which took place in Almodowar Palace, located in At-Tawahi, Aden, which Rubai Ali used as a fortification.
Mohammed was a member of the National Front, ar. (NF) as well as the Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP - ) after the YSP was formed from the UPONF in October 1978. During the 1994 Civil War in Yemen, he pushed his supporters to operate alongside the forces of Sana'a government and against the recently re-established Democratic Republic of Yemen, seeking revenge for his ouster. The southern secession was repressed in July 1994 after the surrender of Aden and Mukalla strongholds.
The former president became an opposition figure in the 2011 Yemeni uprising, being named to a 17-member transitional council intended by some anti-government factions to govern Yemen during a prospective transition from the authoritarian regime led by President Ali Abdullah Saleh to a plural democracy. This council was opposed by the Joint Meeting Parties, the main opposition coalition, which also supported Saleh's removal from power and a transition to democracy.In February 2015, there were media reports that Muhammad was being considered as a prospective interim leader of a "presidential council" after the collapse of the government.
Aden (UK: AY-dən, US: AH-den; Arabic: عدن ʿAdin/ʿAdan Yemeni: [ˈʕæden, ˈʕædæn]) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some 170 km (110 mi) east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 people. Aden's natural harbour lies in the crater of a dormant volcano, which now forms a peninsula joined to the mainland by a low isthmus. This harbour, Front Bay, was first used by the ancient Kingdom of Awsan between the 7th to 5th centuries BC. The modern harbour is on the other side of the peninsula. Aden gives its name to the Gulf of Aden.
Aden consists of a number of distinct sub-centres: Crater, the original port city; Ma'alla, the modern port; Tawahi, known as "Steamer Point" in the colonial period; and the resorts of Gold Mohur. Khormaksar, on the isthmus that connects Aden proper with the mainland, includes the city's diplomatic missions, the main offices of Aden University, and Aden International Airport (the former British Royal Air Force station RAF Khormaksar), Yemen's second biggest airport. On the mainland are the sub-centres of Sheikh Othman, a former oasis area; Al-Mansura, a town planned by the British; and Madinat ash-Sha'b (formerly Madinat al-Itihad), the site designated as the capital of the South Arabian Federation and now home to a large power/desalinization facility and additional faculties of Aden University.
Aden encloses the eastern side of a vast, natural harbour that constitutes the modern port. A long time ago this necessitated the existence of Aden's reservoirs, the Cisterns of Tawila. As described by 14th century scholar Ibn Battuta, "These reservoirs accumulate rainwater for the sole purpose of drinking for the city's citizens. The city is prosperous with rich merchants living here and Indian vessels arriving for trade." The volcanic peninsula of Little Aden forms a near-mirror image, enclosing the harbour and port on the western side. Little Aden became the site of the oil refinery and tanker port. Both were established and operated by British Petroleum until they were turned over to Yemeni government ownership and control in 1978.
Aden was the capital of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen until that country's unification with the Yemen Arab Republic in 1990, and again briefly served as Yemen's temporary capital during the aftermath of the Houthi takeover in Yemen, as declared by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi after he fled the Houthi occupation of Sana'a. From March to July 2015, the Battle of Aden raged between Houthis and government forces of President Hadi. Water, food, and medical supplies ran short in the city. On 14 July, the Saudi Army launched an offensive to retake Aden for the Yemeni government. Within three days the Houthis had been removed from the city. Since February 2018, Aden has been seized by the Southern Transitional Council, that is supported by UAE, the Southern Transitional Council was formed from previous Aden Mayor Aidroos Alzubaidi after he was dismissed from his post by Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi together with sacked former Cabinet minister Salfi-religious leader Hani Bin Buraik.