Direct proof of use
The 9K31 Strela-1 appears in the 2014 Yemen Civil War record through Houthi-aligned air-defense inventories. Oryx's Houthi missile and drone handbook lists 9K31 Strela-1 under surface-to-air missile systems and identifies it as inherited from pre-war Yemeni Army stocks.
A separate Oryx pre-war Yemeni equipment inventory lists the 9K31 Strela-1 / SA-9 Gaskin among Yemeni Army self-propelled surface-to-air missile systems before the Houthi takeover of Yemen in 2014 and 2015. Together, the two records support Houthi-aligned possession and fielding from inherited stocks, not a verified Strela-1 firing.
Sources: Houthi Drone And Missile Handbook, Handbook Of Pre-War Yemeni Fighting Vehicles
Timeline
Before the civil-war phase represented here, the Strela-1 was part of Yemen's legacy self-propelled SAM holdings. After the Houthi takeover of Sanaa in September 2014 and the 2015 expansion of the war, open-source inventories describe the system as part of Houthi-aligned inherited air-defense stocks.
The documented role is therefore best treated as short-range air defense held by Houthi-aligned forces during the war, with the available sources stopping short of a dated launch event or aircraft loss attributed to Strela-1.
Sources: Handbook Of Pre-War Yemeni Fighting Vehicles, Houthi Drone And Missile Handbook, ACLED Yemen Conflict Methodology
Narrative
The Strela-1 was a legacy Soviet-origin system in a Yemeni battlefield increasingly shaped by coalition airpower, Houthi missile and UAV activity, and uneven inherited air-defense stocks. Its place in the record is different from later Houthi missile and UAV systems attributed to post-2014 development or external supply: the cited Houthi inventory describes the Strela-1 as inherited from the pre-war Yemeni Army.
As a vehicle-mounted, low-altitude SAM system, Strela-1 would have fit a point-defense or local air-defense role rather than the long-range strike role associated with Houthi ballistic missiles and one-way attack UAVs. Public open-source records used here do not identify a specific Strela-1 battery location, launch date, target, or battle damage result in Yemen.
The page therefore records a conservative conflict-use claim: Houthi-aligned forces fielded or held the 9K31 Strela-1 during the 2014 Yemen Civil War from inherited Yemeni stocks, while operational firing details remain unverified in the cited sources.
Sources: Houthi Drone And Missile Handbook, Handbook Of Pre-War Yemeni Fighting Vehicles, Weaponsystems.net 9K31 Strela-1
