Query: Yemen has an area of 203,850 square miles.

Relevant passages:
Yemen <=SEP=> Yemen ( -LSB- ˈjɛmən -RSB- اليَمَن ) , officially known as the Republic of Yemen , is an Arab country in Western Asia , occupying South Arabia , the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula . Yemen is the second-largest country in the peninsula , occupying 527,970 km2 ( 203,850 sq mi ) . The coastline stretches for about 2,000 km ( 1,200 mi ) . It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north , the Red Sea to the west , the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea to the south , and Oman to the east-northeast . Although Yemen 's constitutionally stated capital is the city of Sana'a , the city has been under rebel control since February 2015 . Because of this , Yemen 's capital has been temporarily relocated to the port city of Aden , on the southern coast . Yemen 's territory includes more than 200 islands ; the largest of these is Socotra .   Yemen was the home of the Sabaeans ( biblical Sheba ) , a trading state that flourished for over a thousand years and also included parts of modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea . In 275 AD , the region came under the rule of the later Jewish-influenced Himyarite Kingdom . Christianity arrived in the fourth century , whereas Judaism and local paganism were already established . Islam spread quickly in the seventh century and Yemenite troops were crucial in the expansion of the early Islamic conquests . Administration of Yemen has long been notoriously difficult . Several dynasties emerged from the ninth to 16th centuries , the Rasulid dynasty being the strongest and most prosperous . The country was divided between the Ottoman and British empires in the early twentieth century . The Zaydi Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen was established after World War I in North Yemen before the creation of the Yemen Arab Republic in 1962 . South Yemen remained a British protectorate known as the Aden Protectorate until 1967 when it became an independent state and later , a Marxist state . The two Yemeni states united to form the modern republic of Yemen in 1990 .   Yemen is a developing country , and the poorest country in the Middle East . Under the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh , Yemen was described as a kleptocracy . According to the 2009 international corruption Perception Index by Transparency International , Yemen ranked 164 out of 182 countries surveyed . In the absence of strong state institutions , elite politics in Yemen constituted a de facto form of collaborative governance , where competing tribal , regional , religious , and political interests agreed to hold themselves in check through tacit acceptance of the balance it produced . The informal political settlement was held together by a power-sharing deal between three men : president Ali Abdullah Saleh , who controlled the state ; Major General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar , who controlled the largest share of the Republic of Yemen Armed Forces ; and Abdullah ibn Husayn al-Ahmar , figurehead of the Islamist Islah party and Saudi Arabia 's chosen broker of transnational patronage payments to various political players , including tribal sheikhs . The Saudi payments have been intended to facilitate the tribes ' autonomy from the Yemeni government and to give the Saudi government a mechanism with which to weigh in on Yemen 's political decision-making .   Yemen has been in a state of political crisis since 2011 , starting with street protests against poverty , unemployment , corruption , and president Saleh 's plan to amend Yemen 's constitution and eliminate the presidential term limit , in effect making him president for life . President Saleh stepped down and the powers of the presidency were transferred to Vice President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi , who was formally elected president on 21 February 2012 in a one-man election . The transitional process was disrupted by conflicts between the Houthis and al-Islah , as well as the al-Qaeda insurgency . In September 2014 , the Houthis took over Sana'a , later declaring themselves in control of the government in a coup d'état . Since then , a Saudi-led intervention has taken place , however , it could not stop the civil war . The Saudi-led intervention has caused massive damage to Yemeni infrastructure and has resulted in the bombing of hospitals and funeral processions among other civilian targets .