Sagheer Hamoud Aziz

Sagheer Hamoud Ahmed Aziz^[a] (Arabic: صغير حمود احمد عزيز; born 1967) is a Yemeni military officer and politician who serves as the current chief of staff of the Yemeni Armed Forces.^[1] A GPC member in the Yemeni Parliament, Aziz was appointed as Chief of the General Staff of the Yemeni Army and promoted to lieutenant general on 28 February 2020.^[2][3][4]

Lieutenant general Sagheer Hamoud Aziz
صغير حمود عزيز بن عزيز
Chief of Staff of the Yemeni Army disputed by Muhammad Abd al-Karim al-Ghamari (Supreme Political Council)
Incumbent
Assumed office 28 February 2020
President	Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, Rashad al-Alimi
Prime Minister	Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed Ahmad Awad bin Mubarak
Preceded by	ِAbdullah Al-Nakha'ai
Commander of the Joint Operations of the Yemeni Army
Incumbent
Assumed office 11 July 2019
Appointed by	Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi
Personal details
Born	1967 (age 57–58) Al-Amashyah, Harf Sufyan District, Amran Governorate, North Yemen
Nationality	Yemen
Political party	General People's Congress
Website	Twitter
Military service
Allegiance	North Yemen (1983–1990) Yemen (1990–present)
Branch/service	Yemeni Armed Forces
Years of service	1983–present
Rank	Lieutenant general
Unit	Republican Guard (1983–2012)
Battles/wars	Yemeni Civil War (1994) Houthi insurgency Yemeni Revolution Yemeni Civil War (2014–present)

Early life and education

Born in Al-Amashyah, Harf Sufyan District, Amran Governorate. He completed his primary schooling there, and continued his high education in Sana'a. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Sanaa University in 2000.

Military education

• Master's degree in military science, Joint Command and Staff College, Sudan, 2017^[2]
• Battalion Commanders' Course, Thulaya Military Institute, Aden^[2]
• Company Commanders and Battery Commanders Course, the Republican Guard combat school^[2]
• Management and Personnel Affairs course, National Institute of Administrative Sciences, Sanaa, 1989^[2]
• Special Forces and Special Forces Instructors Course, the Republican Guard, 1986^[2]
• Thunderbolt Course, the Republican Guard^[2]

Political career

He is a GPC member of the Yemeni House of Representatives and elected to the Yemeni Parliament in 1997 and 2003 parliamentary sessions.^[5] He is also a member of the National Dialogue Conference.

Military career

Sagheer bin Azizi joined the military service in the Yemeni Republican Guard (then under North Yemen) in 1983. He was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant in 1990 then to the rank of Brigadier in the Yemeni Army in 2007.

Main commands

• Platoon commander, the Republican Guard, Sana'a^[2]
• Company commander, the Republican Guard, Sana'a
• Commander of the 1st Armored Division positions in Amshi, Harf Sufyan District, Amran Governorate
• Battalion chief of staff, the Republican Guard camp
• Deputy Chief Teacher, the Republican Guard Combat School
• Head of Tariq's Operations Camp, the Republican Guard
• Deputy chief of staff for training affairs, 2016^[6]
• Head of the Government Team in UN Redeployment Coordination Committee in Hudeidah, 2018
• Commander of the Yemeni military Joint Operations, 2019
• Chief of Staff of the Yemeni Army, 28 February 2020 – present^[7][8]

2020 missile attack

On 27 May 2020, a missile strike targeted the Yemeni army's chief of staff Sagheer bin Aziz during a meeting with military leaders at Sahn al-Jan military base near Marib.^{[9] [10]} He survived the attack, but his son Fahd Aziz and his nephew Abdul Qawi were killed. Six other soldiers who were accompanying Gen Sagheer were also killed. ^{[11] [12]}

Notes

1. His forename is also rendered "Sagher Hamood,or Saghir", and he is commonly known as Sagheer bin Aziz.