From the Sabaha region, which overlooks Sanaa from the west and constitutes a vital outlet to the port of Al-Hudaydah on the Red Sea, the Ottoman (Turkish) armies invaded Sanaa twice to tighten their grip on it — in 1538 and again in 1849. Perhaps it was there that the commanders of both armies paused to take a first look at a national capital that they were about to turn into merely another capital for a new Ottoman vilayet (administrative division).
Today, in that same region, a new tall building stands alone on the eastern side of Mount Asser, with a huge sign on which is written “International Turkish School of Sanaa.”
