Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen The Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen ( or FLOSY ) was a military organization operating in the Federation of South Arabia ( now Southern Yemen ) in the 1960s . As the British tried to exit its " Federation of South Arabia " colony Abdullah al Asnag created FLOSY . FLOSY attempted to seize power when the British left from another military group operating in South Arabia , the marxist National Liberation Front ( NLF ) . Background . Abdullah al Asnag was a labour leader in the Aden Trades Union Congress ( ATUC ) , a union operating in and around the British protectorate : the port of Aden . In the late 1950s , Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser ' s Pan - Arabism had spread to the region and threatened Britain ' s and the traditional Emirs of the region ' s control . In response the British were able to convince the feuding Emirs to merge into the Federation of South Arabia . The Aden Trades Union Congress had a large influence in the new Federation ' s assembly and to prevent it seizing control of the Federation in 1962 the Colony of Aden joined the Federation so that Aden ' s pro - British assembly members could counter the ATUC ' s influence . The day after Aden joined the Federation the Muhammad al - Badr of the Yemenese monarchy was overthrown and civil war ensued between forces backed by Nassar like the National Liberation Front ( NLF ) and monarchist forces backed by the British . This conflict spread throughout the region becoming the Aden Emergency and officially began on 10 December 1963 , when a state of emergency was declared in the British Crown Colony of Aden . The NLF campaign for power spread to the " Federation of South Arabia " in 1964 . In 1964 a new government headed by the Labour Party won the United Kingdom general election . They attempted to grant independence to the " Federation of South Arabia " by giving Abdullah al Asnag control of the country . This proposal was nixed by the American President Johnson who didn ' t want Britain to withdraw while the Americans were escalating the Vietnam War . Creation . In 1965 the British suspended the " Federation of South Arabian " government and imposed direct colonial rule . Realizing that the British weren ' t going to give him control Asnag fled the country and joined the NLF . However elements of the NLF become more radical marxist and they split from the Egyptians . Asnag formed his own military organization , FLOSY , in order to counter the NLF . The NLF quickly denounced Asnag and FLOSY as Imperialist forces under control of Nassar and in addition to attacking the British also engaged FLOSY in combat . By February 1967 the British could no longer control or protect its bases in Aden and announced it was leaving the country , against American wishes . Nasser threw its weight behind FLOSY and arrested the head of the NLF who was living at the time in Egypt . Officially FLOSY and the NLF refused to talk to the leaving British forces as they didn ' t want to be seen as agents of British Imperialism . When the last governor of Aden , Sir Humphrey Trevelyan , left the country he had no one to give the keys to but as a point of respect had the government house repainted for whoever emerged victorious . However unofficial secret talks were held between the British and the NLF who conspired to defeat FLOSY so that the much hated Nassar supported FLOSY would be defeated . Destruction . On November 30 , 1967 " Federation of South Arabia " ceased to exist when the People ' s Republic of South Yemen was declared . In 1967 Nasser was defeated in the Six - Day War and had to pull its troops out of Yemen . FLOSY now without any military support from its Egyptian allies still battled it out with the NLF . However , FLOSY ' s fate was sealed when the NLF was able to convince the Yemen ' s Federal army to join its battle and wipe out FLOSY . On November 7 , 1967 FLOSY tried to attack a federal army base but with help from the NLF took heavy losses and were defeated . With the defeat the military forces of FLOSY ceased to exist although some cadres and leaders remained outside the country .