Direct proof of use
The ZPU-2 is directly documented in the 2014 Yemen Civil War through a July 2018 Fox News field report from Nihm Mountain, about 13 miles east of Houthi-held Sanaa. The report describes soldiers loyal to Yemen's internationally recognized government spotting a Houthi target, climbing onto a truck-mounted ZPU-2, and firing the twin 14.5 mm anti-aircraft gun.
That incident places the weapon with Yemeni government-aligned forces on the Sanaa front. The available source does not establish a wider inventory count, unit designation, or repeated use pattern for the specific gun beyond the reported truck-mounted firing.
Sources: Fox News Nihm Front Report
Timeline
Oryx listed the 14.5 mm ZPU-2 among towed anti-aircraft guns in the Yemeni Army's pre-war fighting-vehicle inventory, a useful baseline because the post-2014 war fragmented state arsenals among rival Yemeni parties.
On July 24, 2018, Fox News published its Nihm front report from the government side of the Sanaa fighting, documenting a truck-mounted ZPU-2 being fired after a nearby Houthi target was spotted.
Sources: Oryx Yemeni Fighting Vehicles, Fox News Nihm Front Report
Narrative
In Yemen, the ZPU-2 appeared less as a static air-defense piece than as a heavy gun mounted on a truck for mobile battlefield fire. The Fox News account describes its use in mountainous terrain east of Sanaa during fighting between Hadi-government loyalists and Houthi forces.
The weapon's original low-altitude air-defense purpose still shaped its battlefield value: two KPV 14.5 mm heavy machine guns gave the truck mount a higher volume of fire and heavier projectile than ordinary rifle-caliber weapons. In the documented Nihm incident, however, the reported target was a Houthi ground position, so the source supports direct fire and local force-protection use rather than a confirmed aircraft or UAV engagement.
Oryx's pre-war inventory listing helps explain how ZPU-2 guns could be present in the conflict without proving which faction held each individual mount after the Yemeni Army fractured. For this page, the directly supported operator is the Yemeni government-aligned force observed firing the truck-mounted gun near Nihm in July 2018.
Sources: Fox News Nihm Front Report, Oryx Yemeni Fighting Vehicles
