Saada () or Sa'dah is one of the

governorates of Yemen The Republic of Yemen is divided into twenty-one governorates ('' muhafazah'') and one municipality ( amanah): The governorates are subdivided into 333 districts (''muderiah''), which are subdivided into 1,996 sub-districts, and then into 4 ...

. The governorate's seat and the largest city is

Saada Saada (), located in the northwest of Yemen, is the capital and largest city of the governorate bearing the same name, as well as the administrative seat of the eponymous district. The city lies in the Serat (Sarawat) mountains at an altitude o ...

. It is the epicentre of

Zaydism Zaydism () is a branch of Shia Islam that emerged in the eighth century following Zayd ibn Ali's unsuccessful rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate. Zaydism is one of the three main branches of Shi'ism, with the other two being Twelverism ...

"Sa‘da in the North Yemeni Context"
Salmoni, Barak A., Bryce Loidolt, and Madeleine Wells. ''Regime and Periphery in Northern Yemen: The Huthi Phenomenon'', pp. 19–44.

JSTOR JSTOR ( ; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources founded in 1994. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary source ...

. Accessed 10 August 2021. and where the

Houthi The Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, is a Zaydi Shia Islamist political and military organization that emerged from Yemen in the 1990s. It is predominantly made up of Zaydi Shias, with their namesake leadership being drawn largely ...

group originates from.

Geography

Saada is 240 kilometers north of the capital

Sanaa Sanaa, officially the Sanaa Municipality, is the ''de jure'' capital and largest city of Yemen. The city is the capital of the Sanaa Governorate, but is not part of the governorate, as it forms a separate administrative unit. At an elevation ...

. Northwest of its capital, Saada city, the terrain of the governorate becomes increasingly mountainous and reaches elevations of 2,050 meters in the far west. Between these mountains and Saada city, the terrain is peppered with basins and

wadi Wadi ( ; ) is a river valley or a wet (ephemerality, ephemeral) Stream bed, riverbed that contains water only when heavy rain occurs. Wadis are located on gently sloping, nearly flat parts of deserts; commonly they begin on the distal portion ...

s, ultimately dropping to form arid plains in the east. Rainfall varies greatly according to location. The western mountains of Razih receive as much as 1,000 mm per year, while arid regions east of the governorate's capital can get as little as 50 mm. Given the scarce amounts of arable land in these arid areas, most of the governorate's population lives in the wetter west.

Adjacent governorates

Al Jawf Governorate Al Jawf ( ') is a governorate of Yemen. Its capital is Al Hazm. As of April 2020, after the Houthi forces' 2020 offensive, nearly all the governorate is under Houthi control, except for Khabb wa ash Sha'af which is under the control of Al-Q ...

(east) * 'Amran Governorate (south) * Hajjah Governorate (south)

Districts

Saada Governorate is divided into the following 16 districts. These districts are further divided into sub-districts, and then further subdivided into villages: * Al Dhaher district * Al Hashwah district * As Safra district * Baqim district * Dammaj district * Ghamr district * Haydan district * Kitaf wa Al Boqe'e district * Majz district * Monabbih district * Qatabir district * Razih district * Sa'adah district * Sahar district * Saqayn district * Shada'a district

Cities and towns

* Aba Sa`ud * Al Buga * Dhahyan * Bagim * Dammaj * Razeh *

Climate

Warm summers typically reach a high of while winters can reach morning lows of .

Economy

Farming, and trading are the main economic activities in the governorate. Additionally arid land is used for raising livestock. The governorate is also home to Suq al-Talh, the largest weapons market in Yemen.

References

External links

* IRIN 2007
'Humanitarian situation in Saada remains poor despite peace agreement'
''IRIN'', 31 July. Retrieved on 27 April 2008. {{DEFAULTSORT:Saada Governorate Governorates of Yemen