The Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen (FLOSY; ) was an Arab nationalist military organization operating in the

Federation of South Arabia The Federation of South Arabia ( ar, اتحاد الجنوب العربي ') was a federal state under British protection in what would become South Yemen. Its capital was Aden. It was formed on 4 April 1962 from the 15 protected states of ...

(a British protectorate; now Southern

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

) in the 1960s. As the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

tried to exit, Abdullah al Asnag created FLOSY. FLOSY attempted to seize power when the British left from another military group operating in South Arabia, the Marxist National Liberation Front (NLF).

Background

Abdullah al Asnag was a labour leader in the

Aden Trade Union Congress The Aden Trade Union Congress (ATUC or TUC) was a trade union in the Aden Colony, a British protectorate in Yemen. History The ATUC was founded in 1956 during serious labour unrest in the area. Its organ was Al-'Amal (1957). The Secretary Gen ...

(ATUC), a union operating in and around the British protectorate: the

port of Aden The Port of Aden is a key Yemeni port, situated in Aden on the Gulf of Aden. It is the largest and one of the most important ports in Yemen. Location The Port of Aden is situated approximately 170 km east of the strait of Bab Al Mandeb, whic ...

. In the late 1950s,

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Gamal Abdel Nasser's Pan-Arabism had spread to the region and threatened Britain's and the traditional Emirs of the region's control. In response the British were able to convince the feuding Emirs to merge into the

. The Aden Trade Union Congress had a large influence in the new Federation's assembly and to prevent it seizing control of the Federation in 1962 the

Colony of Aden Aden Colony ( ar, مستعمرة عدن, ), also the Colony of Aden, was a British Crown colony from 1937 to 1963 located in the south of contemporary Yemen. It consisted of the port of Aden and its immediate surroundings (an area of ). Prio ...

joined the Federation so that Aden's pro-British assembly members could counter the ATUC's influence. The day after Aden joined the Federation, Muhammad al-Badr of the Yemenese monarchy was overthrown and civil war ensued between forces backed by Egypt like the National Liberation Front (NLF) and monarchist forces backed by the British. This conflict spread throughout the region becoming the

Aden Emergency The Aden Emergency, also known as the Radfan Uprising (), was an armed rebellion by NLF and FLOSY during the Cold War against the Federation of South Arabia, a protectorate of the United Kingdom, which now forms part of Yemen. Partly inspire ...

and officially began on 10 December 1963, when a state of emergency was declared in the State of Aden. The NLF campaign for power spread to the ''Federation of South Arabia'' in 1964. In 1964 a new government headed by the Labour Party won the

United Kingdom general election This is a list of United Kingdom general elections (elections for the UK House of Commons) since the first in 1802. The members of the 1801–1802 Parliament had been elected to the former Parliament of Great Britain and Parliament of Ireland ...

. They attempted to grant independence to the ''Federation of South Arabia'' by giving Abdullah al Asnag control of the country. This proposal was vetoed by the American President Johnson who didn't want Britain to withdraw while the Americans were escalating the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

Creation

In 1965 the British suspended the ''Federation of South Arabian'' government and imposed direct colonial rule. Realizing that the British weren't going to give him control Asnag fled the country and joined the NLF. However elements of the NLF become more radical Marxist and they split from the Egyptians. Asnag formed his own military organization, FLOSY, in order to counter the NLF. The NLF quickly denounced Asnag and FLOSY as Imperialist forces under control of Nasser and in addition to attacking the British also engaged FLOSY in combat. By February 1967 the British could no longer control or protect its bases in Aden and announced it was leaving the country, against American wishes. Nasser threw its weight behind FLOSY and arrested the head of the NLF who was living at the time in Egypt. Officially FLOSY and the NLF refused to talk to the leaving British forces as they didn't want to be seen as agents of British Imperialism. The last governor of Aden, Sir Humphrey Trevelyan, left the country with no immediately apparent successor. As a point of respect, he had the government house repainted for whoever emerged victorious. However unofficial secret talks were held between the British and the NLF who conspired to defeat FLOSY so that the Nasser-supported FLOSY would be defeated.

Destruction

On November 30, 1967 ''Federation of South Arabia'' ceased to exist with the creation of the

People's Republic of South Yemen South Yemen ( ar, اليمن الجنوبي, al-Yaman al-Janubiyy), officially the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (, ), also referred to as Democratic Yemen (, ) or Yemen (Aden) (, ), was a communist state that existed from 1967 to 19 ...

. In 1967, Nasser was defeated in the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) from 5 to 10 Ju ...

and was forced to pull troops out of Yemen. This left FLOSY without any military support from its Egyptian allies. With the loss of Egyptian support, the NLF allied with Yemen's Federal army, allowing them to defeat FLOSY. On November 7, 1967 FLOSY took heavy losses attacking a

federal army The Mexican Federal Army ( es, Ejército Federal), also known as the Federales in popular culture, was the military of Mexico from 1876 to 1914 during the Porfiriato, the long rule of President Porfirio Díaz, and during the presidencies of Franci ...

base in conjunction with the NLF. With that defeat, the military forces of FLOSY ceased to exist although some cadres and leaders remained outside the country.

Bibliography

;Notes ;References * * * *{{cite book, last=Mawby, first=Spencer, title=British policy in Aden and the protectorates 1955-67: last outpost of a Middle East empire, edition=2005, year=2005, publisher=

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law ...

, isbn=978-0-7146-5459-1 Aden Emergency Arab nationalism in Yemen Arab nationalist militant groups Independence movements National liberation movements Rebel groups in Yemen Secessionist organizations in Asia 1964 establishments in the Federation of South Arabia 1967 disestablishments in the Federation of South Arabia