Summary
In March 2015, a ten-nation coalition of Gulf states launched an attack against Houthi insurgents in Aden. With Iran seeking to dominate the Southern Arabian Peninsula and take control of the Suez Canal, Aden became a key logistical city and suddenly found itself thrust into the limelight. With Washington involved in a Nuclear Deal with Iran for the first time, the Gulf States acted alone in their defense. But why was the Yemeni city of Aden so important to the coalition, and how far were they willing to go to defend it?
In this episode, James welcomes Michael Knights, author of the new book '25 Days to Aden', to the podcast to help unpack this pivotal moment in modern history. Examining the socio-political importance of Aden, addressing Washington's lack of support, and looking at the lasting consequences of this conflict, Michael helps explain what happened in those 25 days of 2015 and why they were so important.
Produced by Elena Guthrie
Edited by Aidan Lonergan
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In March 2015, the outcome of an overlooked but vital war hung in the balance. |
| 0:06.0 | The strategic Yemeni city of Aidan, once the world's busiest port, |
| 0:10.0 | had been invaded by a mixture of Iran-backed hooty fighters and armoured units. |
| 0:15.2 | If they seized Aidan, their coup against the UN-backed government would be complete, |
| 0:20.4 | and Iran would have a new proxy capable of disrupting a vital Red Sea chokepoint. |
| 0:25.6 | I'm your host James Patton Rogers, this is the Warfare Podcast, and to take a step by step |
| 0:30.4 | blow by blow through this pivotal battle, I've invited Dr Michael Knight onto the |
| 0:34.6 | podcast Michael is the author of 25 days to Aidan and a fellow of the Washington Institute |
| 0:40.7 | and it's through his cutting edge first-hand research that he tells us the largely |
| 0:45.3 | unknown story of this crucial operation. Michael, welcome to the warfare podcast. How you doing today? |
| 0:58.9 | I'm very good thanks. Thanks for having me on. |
| 1:01.0 | No, not a problem at all. |
| 1:03.0 | I'm actually really excited to get stuck in to the topic of your new book. |
| 1:08.0 | 25 days to Aiden, the unknown story of Arabian elite forces at war. |
| 1:15.0 | Now, our listeners know that I work a lot on the global spread of weaponized drones, it's safe to say. |
| 1:22.0 | I drone on, excuse the pun. And sadly, one of the places that this |
| 1:26.4 | global proliferation of drones is having a massive impact is in Yemen, with Yemen being a |
| 1:32.4 | launch country for the transnational drone attacks by |
| 1:35.2 | hooty terrorists that occupy the south of the country. |
| 1:39.7 | So I'm super excited to learn from you today, Mike. |
| 1:42.4 | Take us back to Aiden to 2015 to this |
| 1:46.2 | battle between Arabian forces and the Huthis and perhaps start by telling us why this war was taking place in the first place. |
... |
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