najrān had a jewish community dating back to pre-islamic times, historically affiliated with the bnei chorath who were yemenite jews that had conquered the city and ruled until the christian invasion of yemen. with the saudi conquest of najrān in 1934, persecution increased, and some 200 jews of najrān fled south to aden between september and october 1949. the saudi king ʻabd al-ʻaziz demanded their return, but the yemeni king aḥmad bin yaḥyá refused, because these refugees were yemenite jews. after settling in the ḥashid camp (also called mahane geula) they were airlifted to israel as part of the larger operation magic carpet.