The Nazi occult organization, the Karotechia, made many forays into the Middle East in search of occult artifacts. It was while on one of these forays, in late 1940, before Delta Green became involved in its shadow-war with the Karotechia, that the Germans came in contact with a secretive organization of assassins known as the Sons of Yezm.

The Yezmites were an ancient society that had existed in the prehistoric Hyborian Age, operating out of their fortress, Yanaidar, in the ancient land of Drujistan. In those days, they had been a feared band of assassins who killed important figures in the politics of the day. Kings, princes, merchants - all fell to the Yezmites' peculiar Flame Knives.

By the twentieth century, however, the Sons were not a feared group of assassins, but a nomadic band ignorant of their past, for the most part, and leading a nomadic lifestyle similar to Arabia's Bedouins. The fortress-city of Yanaidar had been abandoned and left to the elements.

When first encountered, they were wandering the inhospitable wastes on the border of Saudi Arabia and Jordan. The Karotechia, already familiar with the Sons from their study of the Nemedian Chronicles, and recruited them to aid in the recovery of occult artifacts.

Since the end of WWII, the Sons of Yezm have regained many of their old traditions - too many of the old traditions, say some. The worship of Nyarlathotep has resumed, and the current leader of the Yezmites, Anouar al-Obed, is in fact an avatar of that Outer God.

Fearing another Karotechia-like threat, Delta Green considers the Yezmites a 'threat of the first degree'. However, it is known that such infamous Islamic terrorists as Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, both convicted in the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, and Mir Aimal Kansi, who killed two CIA employees that same year, were in the employ of the Yezmites. Delta Green insiders in the 'conventional' government have convinced the CIA to label the Sons of Yezm as one of the ten greatest threats to American national security (when they're discussed at all, that is).

The Sons' current operations in the Middle East are disguised as the activities of radical pro-Arab groups, such as the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The Sons also have insider agents in Israeli government. The assassination of Israeli President Yitzhak Rabin was the work of a Yezmite assassin.

NOTE: The Sons of Yezm originally appeared in The Flame Knife, by Robert E. Howard.