Direct proof of use
M113-family vehicles are documented in the 2014 Yemen Civil War through both Yemeni stocks and Saudi-led coalition activity. Oryx listed M113 and M113M armored personnel carriers in the pre-war Yemeni Army inventory and described that inventory as equipment available to Yemeni parties on the battlefield after the Houthi takeover and the start of the war.
War in Yemen, made in Europe separately reported that the Saudi Army's M113 armored infantry vehicle had been spotted in Saudi Army operations in Yemen. A later investigation of the 2019 Jabara valley fighting described Houthi-released footage showing Saudi-backed Yemeni fighters equipped with Saudi-marked vehicles, including M113s, during the first phase of the offensive.
Sources: Oryx Yemeni Fighting Vehicles, War in Yemen Land War, Jabara Valley Investigation
Timeline
The first source-backed milestone is the 2014-2015 transition from pre-war Yemeni Army holdings into a fragmented conflict environment, when Oryx identified M113 and M113M vehicles as part of the inventory available to Yemeni parties. The next clearer operational milestone is the Saudi-led coalition ground campaign after March 2015, in which Saudi forces operated heavy equipment on the border and inside Yemen and M113s were reported among Saudi Army vehicles spotted in Yemen.
In late August and early September 2019, the Jabara valley investigation placed M113s in the vehicle set used by Saudi-backed Yemeni fighters during an offensive toward Kitaf. That report treated the M113 footage as less precisely geolocated than the later Saudi National Guard LAV evidence, but it still connected the vehicles to the same Yemen operation and to Saudi military markings.
Sources: Oryx Yemeni Fighting Vehicles, War in Yemen Land War, Washington Institute Ground War, Jabara Valley Investigation
Narrative
The M113's Yemen record is best understood as protected mobility rather than a single well-documented battlefield action. The pre-war Yemeni Army had M113 and M113M carriers, including local modifications, and those stocks entered a war in which state units, Houthi-aligned forces, coalition-backed formations, and local militias competed for vehicles and bases.
Saudi-led coalition ground operations widened the M113 context. Washington Institute reporting describes the coalition's 2015 ground campaign as a mix of UAE, Saudi, Bahraini, Qatari, Egyptian, Sudanese, and Yemeni formations operating from Aden, Marib, Bab al-Mandab, al-Anad, Taizz, and the Saudi-Yemen border. Within that broader ground-war setting, War in Yemen, made in Europe identified Saudi Army M113 armored infantry vehicles as present in Saudi operations in Yemen.
The clearest later visual-context report is the Jabara valley investigation. It reconstructed a late-August 2019 offensive by Saudi-sponsored Yemeni fighters toward Kitaf, then a Saudi National Guard attempt to break the encirclement and a Houthi counteroffensive. The investigation said the first phase footage showed Saudi-marked M113s among the vehicles used by Yemeni fighters; it did not claim precise geolocation for every M113 frame, so the supported claim is presence and operational use in that episode rather than a detailed loss or tactical employment record.
Sources: Oryx Yemeni Fighting Vehicles, War in Yemen Land War, Washington Institute Ground War, Jabara Valley Investigation
