YEMEN FOR ALLAH & THE IMAM FROM REMOTE YEMEN LAST SEPTEMBER CAME 
WORD OF A REVOLUTION THAT HAD TOPPLED THE CENTURIES-OLD DYNASTY OF 
IMAM MOHAMMED EL BADR . LEADER OF THE COUP WAS COLONEL 
ABDULLAH SALLAL, 45, NEWLY APPOINTED COMMANDER OF THE PALACE GUARD, WHO 
ANNOUNCED IN THE YEMEN CAPITAL OF SAN " A THAT HIS 
TROOPS HAD KILLED THE IMAM AND WERE IN CONTROL OF THE 
PRIMITIVE, NEBRASKA-SIZED COUNTRY . WEEKS LATER IT WAS LEARNED THAT BADR 
HAD IN FACT ESCAPED THE SHELLED RUINS OF HIS PALACE AND 
TAKEN REFUGE IN YEMEN'S RUGGED HILL COUNTRY, WHOSE WARLIKE TRIBES HAVE 
TRADITIONALLY BEEN LOYAL TO THE IMAM . CLOUDED CLAIMS . EVER 
SINCE, HELPED BY MONEY AND SUPPLIES FROM THE UNEASY MONARCHS OF 
SAUDI ARABIA AND JORDAN, THE IMAM AND HIS TRIBAL WARRIORS HAVE 
BEEN INCHING DOGGEDLY BACK TOWARD SAN " A . PRESIDENT SALLAL 
APPEALED FOR HELP TO EGYPT'S GAMAL ABDEL NASSER, AN OLD FRIEND 
OF THE IMAM BUT AN EVEN MORE IMPLACABLE FOE OF THE 
OIL-RICH DESERT DYNASTIES WHO WERE HELPING BADR . NASSER RUSHED IN 
EGYPTIAN TROOPS, WHOSE SOVIET-MADE GUNS, TANKS AND JETS MAKE THEM THE 
ARAB WORLD'S MOST FORMIDABLE FIGHTING FORCE . THOUGH THE REPUBLICANS HAD 
NOT IN FACT WON THE WHOLE COUNTRY, THE U.S . DECIDED 
RELUCTANTLY LAST DECEMBER TO RECOGNIZE SALLAL'S REGIME, HAVING FIRST WON NASSER'S 
PROMISE TO WITHDRAW HIS TROOPS . EGYPT'S PRESIDENT HAS NOT ONLY 
FAILED TO HONOR HIS PLEDGE BUT HAS ACTUALLY RAISED THE EXPEDITIONARY 
FORCE TO 23,000 TROOPS ON THE PRETEXT THAT BRITAIN, SAUDI ARABIA 
AND JORDAN HAVE ALL SENT IN FORCES TO HELP THE IMAM 
. BRITAIN, WHICH HAS NOT RECOGNIZED SALLAL, FEARS THAT EGYPTIAN PENETRATION 
OF THE ARABIAN PENINSULA WILL ISOLATE ITS OILFIELDS AND DEAL A 
CRIPPLING BLOW TO ITS ECONOMY . FEARFUL LEST THE HOT LITTLE 
WAR ENGULF THE ENTIRE MIDDLE EAST, THE U.N . LAST WEEK 
SENT RALPH BUNCHE, A VETERAN MIDDLE EAST TROUBLESHOOTER WHO IS TRUSTED 
BY BOTH SIDES, TO DISCUSS A SOLUTION WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF SALLAL 
AND THE IMAM ; FROM YEMEN HE WILL GO TO EGYPT, 
SAUDI ARABIA AND JORDAN . THE ACTUAL COURSE OF THE FIGHTING 
HAS BEEN CLOUDED BY THE GRANDIOSE CLAIMS OF BOTH SIDES AND 
THE FORMIDABLE OBSTACLES THAT FACE WESTERN NEWSMEN WHO EVEN TRY TO 
GET INTO YEMEN, LET ALONE REACH THE BATTLE LINES . ONE 
WHO SUCCEEDED WAS TIME CORRESPONDENT GEORGE DE CARVALHO . FROM BEIRUT 
LAST WEEK HE CABLED HIS REPORT ON A 23-DAY TREK IN 
WHICH HE CROSSED THE PEAKS, PLATEAUS AND WADIS FROM ADEN TO 
THE SAUDI ARABIAN BORDER, TRAVELING A TOTAL OF 1,000 MILES BY 
CAMEL, DONKEY, CAR AND SHOE LEATHER WITHOUT ONCE LEAVING ROYALISTHELD TERRITORY 
(SEE MAP) . ALONG THE WAY, CORRESPONDENT DE CARVALHO WAS REPEATEDLY 
SHOT AT BY EGYPTIAN FIGHTER PLANES, TANKS, MORTARS, AND ARTILLERY, SAW 
TWO OF HIS SIX YEMENI GUARDS KILLED AND ONE WOUNDED IN 
BATTLE . RIFLES & FAITH . THE FIGHTING IS MOST INTENSE 
IN A 70-MILE ARC CURVING AROUND THE EASTERN APPROACHES TO SAN 
" A . IN MOST AREAS, THE ROYALISTS LIMIT THEMSELVES TO 
HIT-AND-RUN GUERRILLA RAIDS, BUT HERE THEY ARE TAKING AND HOLDING GROUND, 
ATTACKING STEADILY AND ADVANCING ON A WIDE FRONT . REPORTS DE 
CARVALHO : " THE INCREDIBLE FACT IS THAT THE EGYPTIANS ARE 
LOSING IN YEMEN . RAGGED, BAREFOOT YEMENI TRIBESMEN, ARMED ONLY WITH 
ANCIENT RIFLES AND FAITH IN ALLAH, ARE KICKING HELL OUT OF 
NASSER'S ELITE TROOPS DESPITE THEIR OVERPOWERING SOVIET EQUIPMENT, OVERWHELMINGLY SUPERIOR FIREPOWER, 
AND UNCHALLENGED AIRPOWER . " THE WAR IN YEMEN IS BEING 
FOUGHT BETWEEN THE 10TH CENTURY AND THE 20TH . THE MOUNTAIN 
TRIBES HAVE NO OFFICERS' CORPS OR NONCOMS ; THEY SIMPLY CHOOSE 
THEIR SHEIKS AND FOLLOW THEM INTO BATTLE . " WE CAPTURED 
14 FIELD RADIOS, " SIGHED PRINCE ABDULLAH IBN HASSAN, 25, A 
COUSIN OF THE IMAM . " BUT NONE OF MY MEN 
KNOW HOW TO USE THEM . " NOR CAN THEY USE 
CAPTURED TANKS OR TRUCKS, SINCE NONE OF THE TRIBESMEN KNOW HOW 
TO DRIVE . WHEN THEY ATTACK A TANK, THE TRIBESMEN FIRST 
KILL OFF THE ACCOMPANYING INFANTRYMEN, THEN OFTEN SET IT AFIRE WITH 
FLAMING CORN STALKS . THE EGYPTIANS ARE RESTRICTED TO THE FEW 
ROUGH ROADS AND DEPEND ON DAILY DELIVERY OF SUPPLIES, WHILE THE 
ROYALISTS CAN FIGHT ANYWHERE . SAYS PRINCE ABDULLAH : " ALL 
MY MEN NEED IS BREAD AND BULLETS . WE WILL FIGHT 
UNTIL WE ARE ALL DEAD OR THE EGYPTIANS ARE DRIVEN INTO 
THE SEA . WE BOW ONLY TO GOD . " PLASTERED 
SKIRMISHERS . YEMEN'S ROADS AND FIELDS ARE LITTERED WITH THE REMAINS 
OF DEAD EGYPTIANS LEFT TO ROT UNBURIED . " LET THE 
DOGS EAT THE EGYPTIAN DOGS, " SPAT A TRIBESMAN . THE 
FEW EGYPTIANS TAKEN PRISONER SEEM DAZED AND DEJECTED . PRIVATE AMER 
HUSSEIN BAHID, 24, OF CAIRO, WAS DUE FOR FOR DISCHARGE IN 
JANUARY AFTER THREE YEARS' ARMY SERVICE . INSTEAD, HIS COMPANY WAS 
AIRLIFTED TO SAN'A AND RUSHED OFF TO LAUNCH A COUNTERATTACK AT 
BEIT MIRAN . SAID HE : " ABOUT 25 MILES FROM 
SAN'A WE WERE AMBUSHED . MY COMPANY NEVER GOT A CHANCE 
TO FIGHT . IN A FEW HOURS, MORE THAN 100 OF 
US WERE KILLED, AND I SURRENDERED . " NASSER HAS APPARENTLY 
HAD TO CALL UP THE RESERVES . COMPLAINED SERGEANT IBRAHIM MOHSIN 
ALKATI, 32, WHO WAS A CAIRO TRUCK MECHANIC BEFORE HE WAS 
RECALLED TO DUTY : " I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THERE WAS 
A WAR ON IN YEMEN . I THOUGHT WE WERE SUPPOSED 
TO HELP TRAIN THE YEMENI REPUBLICAN ARMY . " ONE BATTLE 
WITNESSED BY CORRESPONDENT DE CARVALHO WAS AT EL ARGOUP, 25 MILES 
SOUTHEAST OF SAN'A, WHERE 500 YEMENIS COMMANDED BY PRINCE ABDULLAH ATTACKED 
AN EGYPTIAN POSITION ON TOP OF A SHEERSIDED HILL THAT WAS 
FORTIFIED WITH SIX SOVIET T-54 TANKS, A DOZEN ARMORED CARS AND 
ENTRENCHED MACHINE GUNS . THE YEMENIS, ADVANCING IN A THIN SKIRMISH 
LINE, WERE PLASTERED BY ARTILLERY, MORTARS AND STRAFING PLANES . THEY 
COULD REPLY ONLY WITH RIFLES, ONE MORTAR WITH 20 ROUNDS, AND 
A BAZOOKA WITH FOUR ROUNDS HANDLED BY A MAN WHO HAD 
NEVER FIRED A BAZOOKA BEFORE IN HIS LIFE . THE FIGHT 
FOR EL ARGOUP LASTED A WEEK AND ENDED IN A ROUT 
THAT COST THE EGYPTIANS THREE TANKS, SEVEN ARMORED CARS AND 160 
DEAD . DE CARVALHO ASKED A HAGGARD SHEIK IF HIS MEN 
SUFFERED FROM BATTLE FATIGUE . THE SHEIK FROWNED : " WE 
SUFFER FROM MANY DISEASES IN YEMEN, BUT BATTLE FATIGUE WHAT IS 
THAT ? " THE TRIBESMEN'S LOYALTY TO THE IMAM IS NOT 
ALWAYS EASY TO UNDERSTAND . MANY OF THE PRESENT ROYALIST LEADERS 
SUFFERED CRUELLY DURING THE 14-YEAR REIGN OF BADR'S FATHER, AHMAD THE 
DEVIL, WHOSE WAY OF PACIFYING THE HILL TRIBES WAS TO TAKE 
MASS HOSTAGES AND BEHEAD RESTIVE SHEIKS . SHRUGGED ONE SHEIK : 
" THE IMAMS HAVE RULED US FOR A THOUSAND YEARS . 
SOME WERE GOOD AND SOME BAD . WE KILLED THE BAD 
ONES SOONER OR LATER, AND WE PROSPERED UNDER THE GOOD ONES 
. " ANOTHER REASON FOR FIGHTING THE REPUBLICANS IS THAT THE 
HILL TRIBES BELONG TO THE MOSLEM SHIA SECT, OF WHICH THE 
IMAM IS THE RELIGIOUS HEAD . THE YEMENIS OF THE COAST 
AND THE SOUTH BELONG TO THE RIVAL SUNNI SECT (AS DO 
MOST EGYPTIANS) . THOUGH PRESIDENT SALLAL IS HIMSELF A MOUNTAIN SHIA, 
IT IS HIS MISFORTUNE TO BE FIGHTING THE FIERCE MOUNTAIN SHIAS 
WITH LOWLAND SUNNIS WHO HAVE NEVER BEEN FAMED FOR MARTIAL PROWESS 
. THE IMAM MOHAMMED EL BADR IS A HUSKY, HARD-LOOKING MAN 
OF 36 WHO ROVES CONSTANTLY ALONG THE NORTHWEST FRONT IN A 
DODGE WAGON AND NEVER SLEEPS MORE THAN TWO NIGHTS IN THE 
SAME PLACE . IN A WADI UNDER THE STARS ONE NIGHT, 
HE TOLD DE CARVALHO :. " NASSER'S BIGGEST SINGLE TARGET IN 
YEMEN IS ME . " WAVING AT THE SKIES FROM WHICH 
EGYPTIAN JETS HAD POUNCED ON HIS FORCES ONLY THAT DAY, HE 
SIGHED : " NOW I'M GETTING MY REWARD FOR BEFRIENDING NASSER 
. WE WERE BROTHERS, BUT WHEN I REFUSED TO BECOME HIS 
STOOGE, HE USED SALLAL AGAINST ME . I WILL NEVER STOP 
FIGHTING . I WILL NEVER GO INTO EXILE . WIN OR 
LOSE, MY GRAVE WILL BE HERE . " BY LAST WEEK 
THE WAR SEEMED DEADLOCKED . HOWEVER, IMAM MOHAMMED IS TRYING TO 
RECRUIT A MERCENARY AIR FORCE, AND IS BUILDING UP A SMALL 
STOCK OF ANTITANK GUNS, RECOILLESS RIFLES AND MORTARS . SAUDI ARABIA, 
WHICH HAS BANKROLLED THE ROYALISTS SO FAR WITH ABOUT $15 MILLION, 
IS ITCHING TO PLUNGE INTO THE FIGHT . IN THE WAKE 
OF REPEATED BOMBINGS OF SAUDI TOWNS, SAUDI ARABIA'S PREMIER PRINCE FEISAL 
WARNED U.S . DIPLOMATS : " I CANNOT SIT MUCH LONGER 
WITH MY ARMS FOLDED WHILE NASSER ATTACKS NOT ONLY MY NEIGHBOR 
YEMEN BUT ALSO MY OWN COUNTRY . " 