Direct proof of use
The M-46 is documented in the 2014 Yemen Civil War through legacy Yemeni Army stocks and through reported capture by AQAP-linked forces during the collapse of government positions in early 2015. Oryx lists the 130 mm M-46 field gun in the Yemeni Army's pre-war towed-artillery inventory and frames that inventory as materiel available to Yemeni battlefield parties after the 2014-2015 Houthi takeover.
The clearest conflict-specific transfer of control comes from a Washington Institute report on AQAP's expansion. It states that in March-April 2015, AQAP cells and affiliated local forces attacked the 19th Infantry Brigade base in Shabwa, the 39th Armored Brigade base in Abyan, and the 23rd Mechanized Brigade base in Hadramawt, securing T-55 tanks, M-46 howitzers, and Katyusha-type rocket launchers.
Sources: Oryx Pre-War Yemeni Fighting Vehicles, Washington Institute AQAP Yemen
Timeline
Before the Houthi takeover of 2014-2015, the M-46 was part of Yemen's inherited heavy towed-artillery inventory. That matters because the civil war fragmented national command and left army bases, brigade stocks, and heavy weapons exposed to seizure by rival armed actors.
In March-April 2015, as Houthi and Saleh-aligned forces advanced and government forces collapsed in parts of the south and east, AQAP and affiliated tribal or local forces attacked multiple brigade bases. The Washington Institute identifies M-46 howitzers among the weapons secured in those attacks.
Sources: Oryx Pre-War Yemeni Fighting Vehicles, Washington Institute AQAP Yemen, CTC AQAP Resurgent Threat
Narrative
The Yemen record for the M-46 is therefore best treated as captured and fielded heavy artillery rather than a documented single firing incident. The available sources place the gun in the pre-war army inventory and identify its seizure from army bases by AQAP-aligned forces, but they do not name a dated M-46 bombardment, target, crew, or firing location.
That evidence fits the wider pattern of Yemen's early-war fragmentation. The Council on Foreign Relations describes the war as beginning when Houthi forces took Sanaa in 2014, followed by the Saudi-led intervention in March 2015. The Combating Terrorism Center similarly describes AQAP exploiting the breakdown of Yemeni security forces in early 2015 and attacking isolated bases between February and April, with seized weaponry probably distributed to AQAP forces in Abyan and Shabwah.
Sources: Washington Institute AQAP Yemen, CTC AQAP Resurgent Threat, CFR Yemen Conflict Tracker
