[1] The riots resulted in the deaths of 82 Jews,[1][2] 33 Arabs, 4 Muslim Indians, and one Somali,[1] as well as wide-scale devastation of the local Jewish community of Aden.

[2][3] The Aden Protectorate Levies, a military force of local Arab-Muslim recruits dispatched by the British governor Reginald Champion to quell the riots, were responsible for much of the killing.

[1] In the 1940s, however, radical anti-British and anti-Zionist sentiment increased, fomented by the sectarian conflict in Palestine and supported by the proliferation of radios which could catch Voice of the Arabs broadcast from Cairo and of Egyptian print media, particularly among the learned.

[6] Additionally, tens of thousands of Arab tribesmen migrated to Aden from North Yemen and the Protectorates during World War II in search of work as manual laborers.

[7] This was an attempt to resolve the Arab-Jewish conflict by partitioning Mandatory Palestine into "Independent Arab and Jewish States and the Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem".

Following the vote by the UN on partition of Mandatory Palestine, wide scale protests took place across the Arab countries and communities, with Aden being no exception.

[10] Jewish houses and shops were looted, and military control was declared when the crisis exceeded the capacity of the small police force.

[10] In the Arab town of Sheikh Othman, which had a large Jewish compound, a military contingent arrived to evacuate the 750 Jews to safety.

[10] Trusted put most of the blame on Yemeni "coolies," workers temporarily in the country who "have a low standard of life, are illiterate, fanatical and, when excited, may be savage.