[1] The force was some 50,000 strong as of 2008[update], before the Yemeni crisis began, and SSF units are equipped with a range of infantry weapons and armored personnel carriers.

[1] Within hours of the 2012 Sana'a bombing, an attack by Ansar al-Sharia on units of the CSF, Yahya Saleh was dismissed by President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi through presidential decree.

[5] Major General Fadhel Bin Yahiya al-Qusi replaced Saleh as the CSO's Chief of Staff.

[7] Human Rights Watch has criticised the CSO, claiming that the organisation utilizes child soldiers and subjects Yemenis to arbitrary detention.

Human Rights Watch has also alleged that CSF units deployed nearby had failed to prevent a killing spree carried out by pro-Saleh snipers on protesters in Sana'a on 18 March 2011, during the Yemeni revolution.