Crater (Yemen)

Craiter District
District
View of Crater district (Shamsan Mountains) from Al-Alam area
Country	Yemen
Governorate	Aden Governorate
Population (2003)
• Total	76,723
Time zone	Yemen Standard Time (UTC+3)

Crater (/ˈkreɪtər/; Arabic: كريتر‎‎, [ˈkɾeːtəɾ]), also Kraytar, is a district of the Aden Governorate, Yemen. Its official name is Seera (Arabic: صيرة Ṣīrah). It is situated in a crater of an ancient volcano which forms the Shamsan Mountains. In 1991, the population was 70,319. As of 2003, the district had a population of 76,723 people.

In the closing days of British rule in 1967, Crater District became the focus of the Aden Emergency, sometimes called the last imperial war. After a mutiny of hundreds of soldiers in the South Arabian Federation Army on 20 June, all British forces withdrew from the Crater. The Crater was occupied by Arab fighters while British forces blocked off its two main entrances. In July, a British infantry battalion, led by Lt. Col. Colin Mitchell of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, entered the Crater and managed to occupy the entire district overnight with no casualties. Nevertheless, deadly guerrilla attacks soon resumed, with the British leaving Aden by the end of November 1967, earlier than had been planned by British Prime Minister Harold Wilson and without an agreement on the succeeding governance.

Crater's climate is dominated all year by the subtropical anticyclone, or subtropical high, with its descending air, elevated inversions and clear skies. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Bwh". (Tropical and Subtropical Desert Climate).