Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh al-Ahmar (; born July 25, 1972) is the eldest son of former

Yemeni Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to the north, Oman to the northeast, the south-eastern part of the Arabian Sea to the east, the Gulf of Aden to the south ...

President

Ali Abdullah Saleh Ali Abdullah Saleh Affash (21 March 1947There is a dispute as to Saleh's date of birth, some saying that it was on 21 March 1942. See: However, by Saleh's own confession (an interview recorded in a YouTube video), he was born in 1947.4 Decembe ...

, and was a commander of approximately 80,000 troops of the

Republican Guard A republican guard, sometimes called a national guard, is a state organization of a country (often a republic, hence the name ''Republican'') which typically serves to protect the head of state and the government, and thus is often synonymous wit ...

unit of the

Yemeni Army The Yemeni Armed Forces () are the military forces of the Republic of Yemen. They include the Yemeni Army (including the Republican Guard), Yemeni Navy (including the Marines) and the Yemeni Air Force (including the Air Defense Force). Sinc ...

. On April 14, 2015, the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments. ...

Office of Foreign Assets Control The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the United States Department of the Treasury, United States Treasury Department. It administers and enforces economic and trade economic sanctions, ...

added Saleh to the list of

Specially Designated Nationals The Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, also known as the SDN List, is a United States government sanctions/embargo measure targeting U.S.-designated terrorists, officials and beneficiaries of certain authoritarian regimes, a ...

, barring US citizens and businesses from interacting with Saleh or his assets.

Early life

Ahmed's mother died when he was a young boy. Before his father's resignation, Ahmed was widely seen as being groomed to eventually replace him.

Corruption

In 2008, businesspeople with close ties to Ahmed Saleh, reportedly used

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

resources to found Shibam Holding Company, a government-backed property developer. This new firm took control of a great deal of government land and, later, of the General Investment Authority (GIA).

Military career

On December 15, 2012, amid tensions between Republican Guard units and President

Hadi Hadi or Hady () is an Arabic masculine given name and surname. Al-Hadi is one of the 99 names of God in Islam meaning ''guide'' (from the Arabic triconsonantal root ; also present in hidayah). Given name Hadi * Hadi Saei (born 1976), Iranian taek ...

, Brig. Gen. Ahmed Saleh refused to relinquish control of long-range missiles to the Defense Ministry, stoking fears of further clashing. On December 19, President Hadi responded by issuing decrees announcing a restructuring of the military into four main branches including the land forces, the navy, the air force, and the border forces, effectively dissolving the Republican Guard and rendering Ahmed Saleh's position unnecessary. This was widely seen as an effort on President Hadi's part to weaken the influence of Yemen's political and military elite. Though no longer in command of the Republican Guard, Ahmed Saleh apparently remains a part of the military, but in what capacity it is unclear. As recently as February 3, 2013, National Yemen newspaper reported him as having met with both President Hadi and the remaining leadership of the Republican Guard.

Post-military career

Saleh was sworn in as Yemen's Ambassador to the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

by President

Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi (born 1 September 1945) is a Yemeni politician and former military officer who served as the second president of Yemen from 2012 until his resignation in 2022. He previously served as the second vice president of Yemen fro ...

on 19 May 2013. The ceremony was also attended by UAE President

Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (; 7 September 1948 – 13 May 2022) was the second president of the United Arab Emirates and the ruler of Abu Dhabi, serving from November 2004 until his death in May 2022. Khalifa was the eldes ...

, Yemeni Foreign Minister

Abu Bakr al-Qirbi Abu Bakr Abdullah al-Qirbi () is a Yemeni diplomat who was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Yemen from 2001 to 2014. He later also held the same role in the Houthis' contested cabinet formed in 2016, in spite of his former opposition to the Houthis ...

, and the Secretary-General of the Presidency of the Republic, Dr. Ali Mansour bin Svaa. al-Nahyan emphasized the importance of Saleh's appointment as part of efforts to maintain close relations between the two countries. President Hadi had announced Ahmed's dismissal on 29 March 2015, following the outbreak of the Yemeni Civil War. Ahmed Saleh and his father were initially allied with the

Houthis The Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, is a Zaydism, Zaydi Shia Islamism, Shia Islamist political and military organization that emerged from Yemen in the 1990s. It is predominantly made up of Zaydi Shias, with their namesake leadersh ...

, which are fighting against forces loyal to Hadi. The UAE terminated Saleh's ambassadorship on 7 April 2015 and revoked his diplomatic immunity. He was reported to have been placed under house arrest in his residence in Abu Dhabi. After his father was killed by the Houthis in 2017, Ahmed Saleh declared his animosity against the Houthis. As of May 2018, Saleh was living in his residence in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

and was reported to have intensified efforts to garner support from former senior members of the General People's Congress against the Houthis.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saleh, Ahmed Living people General People's Congress (Yemen) politicians Yemeni Zaydis People of the Yemeni revolution 1972 births Children of presidents Ambassadors of Yemen to the United Arab Emirates Yemeni military personnel of the Yemeni civil war (2014–present)

Ahmed Ali Abdullah Ahmad () is an Arabic male given name common in most parts of the Muslim world. Other English spellings of the name include Ahmed. It is also used as a surname. Etymology The word derives from the root ( ḥ-m-d), from the Arabic (), from ...

People from Sanaa 21st-century Yemeni diplomats Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List