The civil war in Yemen began in March 2015, after the overthrow of the government of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi by the Houthis, a Zaidi Shia-led movement and the commencement of an air campaign against the former by a Saudi-led coalition. The conflict has a distinctly international undertone, as it involves all important regional actors and hasn’t escaped the attention of international ones. In addition, it is fought for both pecuniary interests (securing unimpeded access to the Red Sea through the Bab al-Mandab strait, where much of the world’s oil shipments pass through)[1] and ideological ones (checking what is seen by the Gulf States as Iran’s burgeoning hegemonic ambitions following the July 2015 nuclear deal). Not too dissimilar to Syria, regional power projection has left an already poor country in tatters and led to one more humanitarian disaster. The Guardian’s Simon Tisdall put it best when he wrote that Yemen today has become “another Syria, on a smaller scale”.[2]

Since its auto-proclamation of independence, Somaliland has committed itself to democratic principles and has maintained relative peace and stability within its territory. Southern Somalia, on the contrary, has thus far been unable to form any kind of government and to bring peace to its population. Yet what forms a complete paradox is that, today, while the Republic of Somalia (which de facto disintegrated in 1991 and whose southern part constitutes a perfect example of a “failed state”) is still recognized as a State by the international community, whereas Somaliland, which has a functioning and democratically elected government, remains unrecognized.

The coup of the 15th of July was a real coup and marked the most violent moment in the Erdogan-Gulen conflict. The event as such and its aftermath are complicated and multilevel analysis is needed. The character of the armed forces, the balance of power in the political and the military field, the political and social reality and the possible implications for the future are aspects to be studied.