ABSTRACT
Although North Yemen was one of the early members of the Arab League, it was not until the resolution of the civil war and the reconciliation between the republicans and royalists in 1970 that the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR) ended her traditional isolation and developed multifaceted relations — including cultural, economic, political and military ties — with the other Arab states. The relationship between the Yemen Arab Republic and Saudi Arabia is perhaps the closest in the Arab world linking two countries economically, politically and militarily. An important part of the Saudi design to ensure the safety of the Kingdom’s southern border is its goal of supplanting a long-established arms supply relationship between the YAR and the Soviet Union. In seeking to maintain its independence from Riyadh, the YAR has been careful to develop closer bilateral relationships with its other Arab brethren.
