[wolf550e]

I have a simpler question about the meaning of "country A occupies country B". Does it simply mean "presence of people who work for country A on the territory of country B"? Maybe excluding the official staff of embassies?

Is the UK occupied by Russia due to the botched assassination of Sergei Skripal using Novichok nerve agent in Salisbury in 2018?

Is Pakistan occupied by the USA because of the US Navy Seals who killed Osama Bin-Laden in 2011?

I assume US special forces are present in many places from time to time if not continuously, although they are also continuously based in many countries.

I assume all serious countries have spies in every single other serious country. If you exclude small and poor countries, everyone occupies everyone? How is this definition useful in any way?

[tptacek]

There is no portion of the territory of Yemen† that is currently controlled by a hostile foreign power. So far as I know, all of Yemen is currently controlled by the Houthis, the ROYG-in-exile, and AQAP (bearing in mind that the highlands of Yemen are sort of like the Appalachia of Arabia, and are comprised largely of semi-autonomous hollers [wadi] managed by clans [qabila], and so may not be effectively controlled by anything).

† Except maybe Socotra? See above.

[kasey_junk]

I personally would not describe any portion of Yemen as occupied by the US or Israel.

But Socotra being de facto occupied by the UAE is pretty easy to surmise given the airbase they are building there and the lack of air power capability by the STC.

Given that Israeli or US troops at that base, even as advisors, could be considered occupying. It’s not like it’s a rigorously defined term.

Lots of people might have described Berlin as occupied during the Cold War (on either side) and it wouldn’t be out of bounds.

But it’s mostly not salient to the point you were making, which is the point I was trying to make. Whether there is some cadre US or Israeli soldiers in Yemen or if the UAE has built a base there doesn’t change the fact that it’s a civil war.

I clearly failed at redirecting the conversation…

[tptacek]

I think pretty much all of us are on the same page; I was overexplaining that to 'wolf550e.