Southern

For almost a decade, the Southern Transitional Council has been the main player in southern Yemen while the country reeled from division and civil strife.

But in a matter of hours, the separatists lost control of all the territory they had previously held.

The developments followed a military intervention by Saudi Arabia to stop what it called a threat to its national security.

Earlier this week, in a statement issued in Riyadh, the STC announced the movement’s dissolution.

Saudi Arabia is now planning a conference of the main political factions to shape the future of the south.

Will the outcome serve its long-term goals in Yemen?

Presenter: James Bays

Guests:

Khaled Batarfi – Political analyst

Farea Al Muslimi – Research fellow at Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa programme

Matthew Bryza – Adviser to the Southern Transitional Council and a former US ambassador

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

The STC, which Saudi Arabia says is backed by the UAE, launched an offensive against Yemeni gov’t troops in December.

Yemen’s main southern separatists ‍have decided to disband following talks in Saudi Arabia, the secretary-general of the organisation has announced.

The Southern Transitional Council (STC) Secretary-General Abdulrahman Al-Subaihi said in a broadcast on Yemeni television on Friday that the dissolution of the group was taken to preserve peace and security in the south and in neighbouring countries.

He praised “the measures taken by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the solutions it has provided that meet the needs of the people of the South”.

However, there was no immediate ‍comment from those members of the separatist group who are not taking part in the ‍talks in Riyadh.

The STC had said it had lost contact with all members ‍of the delegation in Riyadh, indicating a split was emerging within the group.

A feud between Saudi Arabia and the UAE that came to light after the STC, which Riyadh says is backed by Abu Dhabi, launched an offensive against Saudi-backed Yemeni government troops in December.

On Thursday, the Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen said the STC leader Aidarous ‌al-Zubaidi had fled to the UAE via Somaliland after skipping the talks in Riyadh, accusing the UAE of smuggling him out of the country.

More to come…

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The forum, which comes after government forces retook two governorates, could help end the conflict with separatists.

Yemeni government troops backed by Saudi Arabia have completed the handover of all military sites in Hadramout and al-Mahra governorates, which they successfully reclaimed from the United Arab Emirates-backed secessionist Southern Transitional Council (STC) in recent days, according to Yemeni media.

A delegation led by STC leader, Aidarous al-Zubaidi, was meanwhile expected to travel to Saudi Arabia for a peace forum, the Reuters news agency reported – a potential sign of progress towards ending the conflict that has rocked war-torn Yemen and spiked tensions between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.

Over the last two days, STC troops have withdrawn from the city of Mukalla, the key eastern port and capital of Hadramout, which Saudi Arabia bombed last week in a limited coalition operation targeting cargo and weapons.

Civilian life has started to return to normal, local sources told Al Jazeera Arabic. Shops have opened their doors, while traffic has gradually picked up again in city streets.

The fractured country has seen soaring tensions since early December, when STC forces took over Hadramout and al-Mahra. The two provinces make up nearly half of Yemen’s territory and share a border with Saudi Arabia.

Last week’s new round of fighting saw Yemen’s Saudi-backed Homeland Shield forces achieve “record success” in clawing back “all military and security positions”, said Rashad al-Alimi, head of the internationally recognised government’s Presidential Leadership Council (PLC).

By Friday, the Yemeni government said it had asked Saudi Arabia to host talks with separatists. The STC welcomed the offer, though the timing and details of the talks remain unclear.

Renewed tensions

At least 80 STC fighters had been killed as of Sunday, according to an STC official, while another 152 were wounded and 130 were taken captive.

Skirmishes broke out two days earlier in Hadramout after the STC accused Saudi Arabia of bombing its forces near the border, killing seven people and wounding 20.

An STC military official separately told the AFP news agency that Saudi warplanes had carried out “intense” air raids on one of the group’s camps at Barshid, west of Mukalla.

As fighting was under way, the STC announced the start of a two-year transitional period towards declaring an independent state, warning it would declare independence “immediately” if there was no dialogue or if southern Yemen again came under attack.

The Yemeni government defended the military actions, with Hadramout Governor Salem al-Khanbashi saying efforts to take back bases from the STC were “not a declaration of war” but meant to “peacefully and systematically” reclaim the sites.

The government also accused the separatists of preventing civilian travellers from entering Aden and called the STC’s restrictions on movement “a grave violation of the constitution and a breach of the Riyadh Agreement”, which was intended as a peace deal between separatists and the government.

Outside Yemen, the crisis has continued to upset relations between the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and the STC are part of a decade-old military coalition that Riyadh convened to confront the Houthis, who continue to control parts of northern Yemen and Sanaa, the capital.

But the STC’s increasingly separatist approach – along with tit-for-tat accusations of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi-backed escalations – have stoked tensions among the trio.

Late on Friday, Abu Dhabi said all Emirati forces would withdraw from Yemen. Riyadh officially called for a peace forum early Saturday.

Israel claims the drone attack on a car targeted a Hezbollah member.

An Israeli drone attack on a car has killed two people in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Ministry of Health has said.

Al Jazeera’s Ihab al-Aqdi, reporting from Lebanon, said the attack took place on Sunday in the Ayn al-Mizrab area north of the town of Bint Jbeil. He added that the targeted car was destroyed and that nearby buildings were damaged.

The Israeli military said the attack targeted a Hezbollah member, accusing the Lebanese group of not adhering to a ceasefire that began in November 2024.

Israel has repeatedly struck Lebanon since the ceasefire, despite the agreement, which ended a yearlong conflict that devastated Lebanon as well as Hezbollah’s leadership. Israel also continues to occupy five sites on the Lebanese side of the border.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 300 people in Lebanon since the ceasefire, including at least 127 civilians.

Israel, backed by the United States, expects Hezbollah to disarm. The Lebanese group has refused, however, leaving the Lebanese government and army in the difficult position of attempting to placate Israel and the US, while also avoiding a military confrontation with Hezbollah, which remains powerful despite the losses it has sustained at the hands of Israel.

The losses include the killing of its longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in September 2024, in an Israeli attack on Beirut.

The Lebanese government is expected to meet on Tuesday to discuss the army’s progress in disarming Hezbollah, beginning in southern Lebanon. It had previously set a deadline for the end of 2025 to do so, before continuing the disarmament process in the rest of the country. However, the plan has been dismissed by Hezbollah.

A ceasefire monitoring committee, including peacekeepers from Lebanon, Israel, France, the United States and the United Nations, is also set to meet in the upcoming week.

Highlighting Israel’s uncompromising position, the country’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, said that the Lebanese government’s efforts to disarm Hezbollah were “far from sufficient”, and that the group was aiming to rearm “with Iranian support”.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry has welcomed a request from Yemen’s Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) for a forum in Riyadh to resolve a deadly factional rift in the country’s south that has stoked armed conflict there and triggered tensions between Gulf Arab nations.

In a statement on Saturday, the Saudi foreign ministry called on southern factions to participate in the forum in the Saudi capital to “formulate a comprehensive vision for fair solutions to the southern cause”.

Earlier on Saturday, PLC Chairman Rashad al-Alimi appealed to the different groups and figures in southern Yemen to come together for a meeting in Riyadh, according to Saba News Agency.

Saba quoted al-Alimi as underlining the “justness and centrality of the southern cause” and “rejected any unilateral or exclusionary solutions” to resolve the ongoing conflict.

Deadly tensions have erupted in recent days, after the separatist group Southern Transitional Council (STC) launched a major offensive in Yemen’s Hadramout and al-Mahra provinces, which make up nearly half of Yemen’s territory.

Oil-producing Hadramout borders Saudi Arabia, and many prominent Saudis trace their origins to the province, lending it cultural and historical significance for the kingdom. Its capture by the STC last month was regarded by the Saudis as a threat.

The STC is part of the anti-Houthi coalition in Yemen’s south. But it is said to harbour plans to carve out its own nation in southern Yemen, causing conflict with its partner, the internationally recognised Yemeni government led by the PLC.

The Saudis have accused its coalition partner, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), of arming the STC, whose military operation is now threatening to split Yemen into three, while also posing problems to Riyadh’s own national security.

The UAE has denied those allegations, insisting that it supports Saudi Arabia’s security.

In a statement on Saturday, the UAE expressed its “deep concern” over the ongoing escalation and called on the Yemenis “to prioritise wisdom and exercise restraint to ensure security and stability in the country”.

The Saudi-backed coalition was formed in 2015 in an attempt to dislodge the Iran-backed Houthi rebels from Yemen’s north.

But after a brutal, decade-long civil war, the Houthis remain in place while the Saudi and Emirati-backed factions attack each other in the south.

On Friday, air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition killed 20 people, according to the STC.

Late on Friday, the UAE announced the return of all Emirati armed forces personnel from Yemen, signalling a possible detente with Saudi Arabia.

The UAE’s defence ministry said that the withdrawal of its forces from Yemen is in accordance with its decision “to conclude the remaining missions of counter-terrorism units”.

“The process has been conducted in a manner that ensured the safety of all personnel and carried out in coordination with all relevant partners,” the ministry said in a statement published on the Emirates News Agency website.

Amid the UAE’s announcement of a withdrawal, the STC unilaterally declared that it aims to hold a referendum on independence from the north in two years.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, former Yemeni diplomat and parliament member Ali Ahmed al-Amrani, however, dismissed the idea of secession as a solution to the Yemeni crisis, saying it “does not reflect a national consensus”.

Meanwhile, Hisham Al-Omeisy, a political and conflict analyst focusing on Yemen with the European Institute of Peace, warned that if not resolved, the latest violence in the south could mark the start of a dangerous new phase in the war, with rival forces seeking to reshape control on the ground.

“We’re going to be basically seeing a bloody conflict, at least in the coming few days, to draw a new map in the south,” he added.

“This is prolonged fighting,” Al-Omeisy told Al Jazeera, describing a situation in which “warring factions are trying to gain territory and secure the upper hand.

“This is a proxy war within a proxy war,” he said, adding that the consequences could extend far beyond Yemen’s borders.

Dec. 29 (UPI) — At least 13 people were killed and 98 injured after a train came off the tracks in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, authorities said.

The train, which was en route from Salina Cruz on the Pacific coast to Coatzacoalcos on the Gulf coast, derailed on a bend near Nizanda on Sunday.

President Claudia Sheinbaum said in an update on X early Monday that the injured, five of whom were in a serious condition, were being treated at four area hospitals, adding that she had instructed the Secretary of the Navy and the deputy interior minister to travel to the site and “personally attend to the families” of victims.

In an online post, Oaxaca Gov. Salomon Jara Cruz said of the 250 passengers and crew onboard, 139 were safe and 36 were continuing to receive medical treatment.

Expressing “deep regret,” Jara Cruz said that state authorities were working with federal agencies to assist those affected and pledged his administration would do all it could to help those caught up in the accident.

Attorney General Ernestina Godoy Ramos confirmed an investigation was underway.

The train comprising two locomotives and four passenger cars was on the Interoceanic Corridor route across the Tehuantepec Isthmus, the narrowest part of Mexico, connecting the Gulf coast with the Pacific, according to the Mexican Navy, which is responsible for Mexico’s railways.

The Interoceanic Train began operating in 2023 under former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador as part of an effort modernize passenger and freight links across the isthmus.

The long-term goal is to expand ports, railways and industrial infrastructure, stimulating development in the region to eventually create a global trade route to rival the Panama Canal.

Mexico’s Navy says the train was carrying 250 people when it derailed partially near the town of Nizanda in Oaxaca.

A train carrying 250 people has derailed partially in southern Mexico, killing at least 13 people and injuring 98, according to officials.

The Mexican Navy said that the Interoceanic Train linking the states of Oaxaca and Veracruz went off the rails on Sunday as it passed a curve near the town of Nizanda.

It said that 98 people were injured and that, “unfortunately, 13 people lost their lives”.

The train was carrying nine crew members and 241 passengers at the time of the accident. Of those on board, 139 were reported to be out of danger, while 36 of the 98 injured were still receiving medical assistance.

In a statement posted on X, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that at least five of those injured were in “serious” condition.

Sheinbaum said she has directed the secretary of the navy and other senior personnel to travel to the area and assist the families of those affected. She added that the Ministry of Interior is coordinating the response to the incident.

Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office said it was opening an investigation to determine the cause of the accident.

Uno Noticias Television, a Mexican channel, reported that emergency units were near the site of the accident but faced difficulty in accessing the area.

Images circulating on social media and posted by Mexican news outlets showed one of the carriages of the train on its side, while another was completely separated from the train tracks.

Translation: Passenger train derailed. Interoceanic in the Isthmus. This Sunday, the Interoceanic passenger train derailed, 5 kilometres south of Nizanda, belonging to Asuncion Ixtaltepec, Oaxaca. Injuries have been reported; the train had departed from Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, and was heading to Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz. Emergency units are near the area, but the difficult access to the site is complicating rescue efforts.

Video clips posted online also showed some of the passengers trapped in the derailed carriages.

A passenger was quoted by Mexico’s La Razon newspaper as saying that before the derailment, the train “was coming very fast”.

“We don’t know if it lost its brakes,” the passenger told La Razon.

In a statement posted on X, Oaxaca Governor Salomon Jara Cruz expressed his government’s “heartfelt condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in this unfortunate accident”.

The train runs between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, and carries both passengers and freight.

On December 20, a train on the same route collided with a cargo truck attempting to cross the tracks, although the incident did not result in any deaths.

The line was inaugurated in 2023 as a major infrastructure project under then-President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to develop southeast Mexico.

The initiative was designed to modernise the rail link across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a land bridge connecting Mexico’s Pacific port of Salina Cruz with Coatzacoalcos on the Gulf Coast.

The Mexican government has sought to develop the Isthmus into a strategic trade corridor, expanding ports, railways and industrial infrastructure with the goal of creating a route that could compete with the Panama Canal.

Dec. 24 (UPI) — High winds, torrential rains and localized river flooding could make the Christmas holiday particularly challenging across much of Southern California.

A storm system is forecast to bring between 4 and 7 inches of rainfall to valleys and coastal areas located south of Santa Barbara County’s Point Conception on Thursday and Friday before dissipating on Saturday, KTLA reported.

Further east in San Bernardino County, heavy rainfall caused flash flooding and debris fields early Wednesday.

The potential for heavy rainfall and localized flooding caused the National Weather Service in Los Angeles-Oxnard to issue a flash flood warning for Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties from 4:02 a.m. to noon PST on Wednesday.

“Turn around, don’t drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles,” NWS forecasters said. “Be especially cautious at night when it is harder to recognize the dangers of flooding.”

NWS forecasters also advise holiday travelers and others to be aware of their surroundings and to avoid driving on flooded roads.

“In hilly terrain, there are hundreds of low water crossings, which are potentially dangerous in heavy rain. Do not attempt to cross flooded roads. Find an alternate route,” NWS forecasters advised.

Small creeks and streams, urban areas, highways, streets and underpasses are particularly vulnerable to flash flooding, according to the NWS. So are low-lying areas and others with poor drainage.

“Some locations that will experience flash flooding include: Santa Barbara, Lompoc, Santa Ynez, Montecito, Point Conception, Carpinteria, Solvang, Isla Vista, El Capitan State Beach, Refugio State Beach, Highway 101 through Gaviota State Park, Summerland, Rincon Point, La Conchita, Goleta, Buellton, Lake Cachuma, Highway 154 over San Marcos Pass, Santa Barbara Airport and Hope Ranch,” NWS forecasters warned.

Areas north of Point Conception are expected to get between 2 and 4 inches of rainfall in coastal and valley areas and between 4 and 7 inches in foothills and mountains through Friday.

Those south of Point Conception are expected to see heavier rainfall amounts of between 4 and 7 inches in coastal and valley areas and between 6 and 14 inches in foothills and mountains through Friday.

Heavy rainfall would become especially dangerous and destructive in local burn areas, where flooding and debris flows are more likely.

The rainfall could be accompanied by strong and gusty southeast and south winds on Wednesday and Thursday, with gusts of between 60 and 80 mph predicted across Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties, in the Ventura and Los Angeles mountains and Antelope Valley.

Winds gusting to between 35 and 55 mph are predicted in other areas, and high wind warnings and wind advisories remain in effect until the storm system passes on Saturday.

Deadly Israeli air strike is latest in Israel’s near-daily violations of 2024 ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah.

At least three people have been killed in an Israeli attack near the southern Lebanese city of Sidon, the country’s National News Agency (NNA) is reporting, in the latest Israeli breach of a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah.

Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said on Monday that the three people were killed in an Israeli air strike on a vehicle on Quneitra Road in the southern Sidon district, according to NNA.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it had targeted Hezbollah members in the Sidon area, without providing further details.

The deadly strikes come a day after another Israeli attack on southern Lebanon on Sunday killed one person and wounded two others. The Israeli army said it killed a Hezbollah member in that attack.

Israel has repeatedly violated the November 2024 ceasefire agreement with the Lebanese group, carrying out near-daily attacks across Lebanon, particularly in the south, that have drawn widespread condemnation.

Between January and late November, Israeli forces carried out nearly 1,600 strikes across Lebanon, according to data compiled by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED).

Late last month, the United Nations said at least 127 civilians had been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since the ceasefire took effect, prompting a call from the United Nations human rights office for a “prompt and impartial” investigation.

Delegations meet in southern Lebanon

Israel’s attacks have continued despite the November 2024 ceasefire agreement, which includes provisions for Hezbollah’s disarmament in parts of southern Lebanon and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Lebanon was close to completing the disarmament of Hezbollah in the area south of the Litani River.

That is a key provision of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which designates the zone between the Litani River and the Israeli border as an area where only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers are permitted to operate.

Hezbollah has long rejected calls for full disarmament, saying its weapons are necessary to defend Lebanon against Israeli attacks and occupation.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem has consistently said the group will end its military presence south of the Litani River in line with the ceasefire, but insists it will retain its weapons elsewhere in Lebanon.

Under the 2024 ceasefire agreement, Israeli forces were also required to withdraw fully from southern Lebanon, south of the Litani River, by January. But Israeli troops have only partially pulled back and continue to maintain a military presence at five border outposts inside Lebanese territory.

Hezbollah officials have previously said the group would not fully implement its commitments under the ceasefire while Israeli forces remain deployed in southern Lebanon.

Meanwhile, a committee overseeing the ceasefire agreement continues to hold talks in southern Lebanon as Israel and the United States increase pressure on Hezbollah to disarm.

Civilian and military delegations from Israel and Lebanon met in the southern town of Naqoura on Friday in closed-door discussions.

Following the talks, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun met with diplomat Simon Karam, who has been appointed as Lebanon’s chief civilian negotiator.

Hezbollah has been critical of the appointment of Karam, who has previously served as the ambassador of Lebanon to the US.

In a statement, the Lebanese presidency said Aoun stressed that enabling tens of thousands of displaced Lebanese civilians to return to their villages and homes was “an entry point for addressing all other details” of the agreement.

Aoun said the committee’s next meeting is scheduled for January 7.

He also welcomed a separate diplomatic agreement reached in Paris between the US, France and Saudi Arabia to organise an international conference in early 2026 to support the Lebanese army and internal security forces.

Cazzu made a special announcement Monday: Come 2026, she will be touring in the U.S. for the first time.

The Argentine singer will kick off her seven-show U.S. tour April 30 with a performance at the San Jose Civic in San José. Her jaunt across the country will end May 10 at the 713 Music Hall in Houston.

Along the way, the “Loca” artist will stop at the Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theater in San Diego on May 1 before performing at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood on May 2.

Her debut U.S. tour is an extension of her ongoing Latin American tour, which just wrapped up its most recent leg earlier this month with a concert in her native Argentina.

Before landing in the U.S., Cazzu will play a handful of shows in Argentina in January and February, and will also perform at the Isle of Light Music Festival in the Dominican Republic on March 7.

All her previous and upcoming shows are in promotion of her fifth studio album, “Latinaje,” which was released April 24. The project infused a unique blend of the sounds of South America that helped inform Cazzu’s musical tastes, including Argentine chacareras, cumbias santafesinas, tango and Brazilian funk.

Following the release of her LP, the Latin Grammy-nominated artist spoke with The Times in April about her influences and the work that went into making the project.

Inspired by Puerto Rican and Mexican musicians who have incorporated regionally specific sounds into their music, Cazzu aimed to highlight elements of Argentine folk music in her latest offering. “Perhaps there is a space where us Argentines can showcase our roots to the world,” she told The Times.

Hailing from the environmentally diverse Jujuy region of Argentina, Cazzu said her hometown of Fraile Pintado is a far cry from the metropolitan life of Buenos Aires.

“It’s a region that has a mixture of cultures,” Cazzu noted. “It’s my identity as a person but also as an artist. The folklore is alive there, [as well as] Andean folklore.”

Her homages to several traditional Indigenous and Argentine songs connect the new-age sounds that Cazzu has frequently employed to the lush history of a country with a rich musical background.

“It’s beautiful to give these songs a second life,” Cazzu said. “In 80 years, when I am no longer here, it would be beautiful if someone would revive something of mine.”