# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/ali-abdullah-saleh
# Generated: 2026-08-14T22:27:25.705Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/ali-abdullah-saleh"
name: "Ali Abdullah Saleh"
slug: "ali-abdullah-saleh"
description: "He held power in Yemen for more than three decades — first the North, then the unified state — surviving civil wars, coup attempts, and an insurgency, only to die in 2017 at the hands of former allies who shot him during a firefight in Sanaa."
tagline: "President of North Yemen (1978–1990) and Yemen (1990–2012)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Ali_Abdullah_Saleh_-_Putin_meeting_2010-06-30_(cropped).jpg"
gender: "male"
category:
  name: "Politicians"
  slug: "politicians"
profileType:
  name: "Politician"
  slug: "politician"
birthDate: "1947-03-21"
deathDate: "2017-12-04"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           64.7
  momentum:             3.307956293637332
  historical:           25.214532
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     70
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "FALLING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: 133
tags:
  - name: "Politicians"
    slug: "politicians"
  - name: "Politician"
    slug: "politician"
  - name: "Politics"
    slug: "politics"
  - name: "20th Century"
    slug: "20th-century"
platforms:
  - platform:  "X"
    url:       "https://x.com/AliAbdulahSaleh"
    handle:    "AliAbdulahSaleh"
  - platform:  "IMDB"
    url:       "https://www.imdb.com/name/nm13280935/"
    handle:    "nm13280935"
sources:
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q483672"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Abdullah_Saleh"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Ali%20Abdullah%20Saleh"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al%C3%AD_Abdal%C3%A1_Sal%C3%A9"
    title: "Alí Abdalá Salé"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://azb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B9%D9%84%DB%8C_%D8%B9%D8%A8%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D9%87_%D8%B5%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD"
    title: "علی عبدالله صالح"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C6%8Fli_Abdullah_Saleh"
    title: "Əli Abdullah Saleh"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bcl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Abdullah_Saleh"
    title: "Ali Abdullah Saleh"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be_x_old.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BB%D1%96_%D0%90%D0%B1%D0%B4%D1%83%D0%BB%D0%B0_%D0%A1%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B3"
    title: "Алі Абдула Салег"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BB%D1%96_%D0%90%D0%B1%D0%B4%D1%83%D0%BB%D0%B0_%D0%A1%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B5%D1%85"
    title: "Алі Абдула Салех"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B8_%D0%90%D0%B1%D0%B4%D1%83%D0%BB%D0%B0_%D0%A1%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B5%D1%85"
    title: "Али Абдула Салех"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%86%E0%A6%B2%E0%A7%80_%E0%A6%86%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%A6%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%B2%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%B2%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B9_%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B2%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B9"
    title: "আলী আবদুল্লাহ সালেহ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://br.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Abdullah_Salih"
    title: "Ali Abdullah Salih"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Abdullah_Saleh"
    title: "Ali Abdullah Saleh"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Abdallah_al-Salih"
    title: "Ali Abdallah al-Salih"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ckb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B9%DB%95%D9%84%DB%8C_%D8%B9%DB%95%D8%A8%D8%AF%D9%88%DA%B5%DA%B5%D8%A7_%D8%B3%D8%A7%DA%B5%D8%AD"
    title: "عەلی عەبدوڵڵا ساڵح"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al%C3%AD_Abdall%C3%A1h_S%C3%A1lih"
    title: "Alí Abdalláh Sálih"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Abdullah_Saleh"
    title: "Ali Abdullah Saleh"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Abdullah_Saleh"
    title: "Ali Abdullah Saleh"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Abdullah_Salih"
    title: "Ali Abdullah Salih"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%91%CE%BB%CE%AF_%CE%91%CE%BC%CF%80%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%85%CE%BB%CE%AC%CF%87_%CE%A3%CE%B1%CE%BB%CE%AD%CF%87"
    title: "Αλί Αμπντουλάχ Σαλέχ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Abdula_Saleh"
    title: "Ali Abdula Saleh"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al%C3%AD_Abdal%C3%A1_Sal%C3%A9"
    title: "Alí Abdalá Salé"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E2%80%98Al%C4%AB_%E2%80%98Abdull%C4%81h_S%C4%81li%E1%B8%A9"
    title: "‘Alī ‘Abdullāh Sāliḩ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Abdullah_Saleh"
    title: "Ali Abdullah Saleh"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B9%D9%84%DB%8C_%D8%B9%D8%A8%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D9%87_%D8%B5%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD"
    title: "علی عبدالله صالح"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikiquote.org/wiki/%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%8A_%D8%B9%D8%A8%D8%AF_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D9%87_%D8%B5%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://be.wikiquote.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BB%D1%96_%D0%90%D0%B1%D0%B4%D1%83%D0%BB%D0%B0_%D0%A1%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B5%D1%85"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ali_Abdullah_Saleh"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://fa.wikiquote.org/wiki/%D8%B9%D9%84%DB%8C_%D8%B9%D8%A8%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D9%87_%D8%B5%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://pl.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ali_Abdullah_Salih"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  A veteran of North Yemen's civil war, Saleh became president in July 1978 after his predecessor's assassination, consolidating control through a turbulent decade of rebellions and a military defeat against the South. By the mid-1980s he had stabilized the North and drawn support from both Washington and Moscow. When South Yemen collapsed in 1986, he engineered reunification in 1990, sharing power until a brief 1994 civil war — won with the help of jihadist fighters — allowed him to revert to autocratic rule. His opposition to the Gulf War cost him Saudi favor and triggered a mass Yemeni exodus, but after 2001 he courted Western governments during the war on terror, even as evidence surfaced that he tolerated or encouraged Islamic terrorism to justify the alliance. The 2011 Arab Spring forced his resignation the following year. In 2015 he allied with the Houthi rebels he had once fought; two years later, after declaring he would switch sides again, a Houthi sniper killed him as battle raged around his compound.