Yemen

The internationally recognised government of Yemen, known as the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), says its forces have recaptured two strategic southern provinces, reversing a month-long takeover by the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC).

In early December 2025, the STC, a UAE-backed secessionist force, seized the two oil-rich provinces of Hadramout and al-Mahra, which border Saudi Arabia, in a campaign that Riyadh described as a red line for its national security.

Saudi Arabia, which backs the PLC, responded with a series of air strikes on STC positions, including an attack on the southern Mukalla port, targeting what it described as United Arab Emirates (UAE) weapons shipments to the STC.

The PLC and STC have long been allies in the fight against the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels, who captured Yemen’s capital Sanaa in 2014. Recent clashes have intensified instability in the war-ravaged nation and heightened tensions between Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

In this visual explainer, Al Jazeera unpacks the various groups fighting for control in Yemen, detailing who controls what on the ground and what this means for the humanitarian situation of the country’s 42 million people.

Who are the key players in Yemen?

There are three key players in Yemen: The Saudi-backed PLC, the Emirati-backed STC and the Iranian-backed Houthis.

Presidential Leadership Council (PLC)

The PLC is Yemen’s internationally recognised, Saudi-backed governing body, based in Aden.

The group has been led by Rashad al-Alimi since 2022, after former President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi formally transferred his powers to the new eight-member body, which was established to unify the various factions fighting the Houthis.

The council is composed of a mix of northern and southern political and military leaders. While it included the STC at its founding in 2022 to unite anti-Houthi forces, that alliance collapsed on January 7, 2026, when the PLC expelled the STC leadership following their attempt to seize the country’s eastern oil provinces.

The PLC’s mandate is to manage Yemen’s political, security and military affairs during a transitional period and to steer negotiations towards a permanent ceasefire.

Southern Transitional Council (STC)

The UAE-backed STC has undergone major changes over the past few weeks, leaving its future uncertain.

The group, which initially supported Yemen’s internationally recognised government against the Houthi rebels in northern Yemen, is seeking an independent state in southern Yemen, much like South Yemen before the unification of the country in 1990, under former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

On January 7, Yemen’s internationally recognised government announced that the STC’s leader, Aidarous al-Zubaidi, had committed treason and was dismissed from the Presidential Leadership Council.

Instead of attending a meeting in Riyadh, al-Zubaidi dramatically fled the country on January 8, reportedly heading to the UAE through Somaliland.

On January 9, a delegation of STC members in Riyadh announced the group’s disbandment. However, an STC official in Yemen rejected this announcement, telling Al Jazeera that the delegation members in Riyadh were “coerced” into making the statement.

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

Houthis

Ansar Allah, commonly referred to as the Houthis, is an armed group trained and backed by Iran, and holds a considerable area in the north and west of the country, including the capital, Sanaa.

The Houthis emerged in the 1990s but rose to international prominence in 2014, when the group rebelled against Yemen’s government, forcing it to step down.

The group then spent years, with Iran’s backing, fighting a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia, which has largely been frozen since a United Nations-brokered truce in April 2022.

The Houthis control several strategic locations along the Red Sea, including the key port of Hodeidah, giving them leverage over the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which is vital to global shipping.

In November 2023, the Houthis began targeting civilian and military vessels in the Red Sea suspected of having Israeli ties, a campaign aimed at pressuring Israel to halt its genocidal war in Gaza, which began on October 7, 2023. They also launched multiple missile and drone assaults against Israel, with several strikes reportedly hitting their intended targets.

Who controls what on the ground?

The Houthis control the northwestern regions of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, while the Yemeni government controls most of the rest of the country. The map below highlights who controls what in Yemen based on data from the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies, an independent think tank focused on Yemen and its surrounding region.

The government claims to have control of Aden and other parts of southern Yemen, but STC forces remain in some areas. The government has also declared that all anti-Houthi military forces, including the National Resistance Forces, will now be integrated into the Yemeni military, but that process has not yet begun.

Yemen’s humanitarian situation

Yemen still suffers one of the worst humanitarian emergencies in the world, with acute malnutrition, food shortages, and infrastructure collapse affecting millions.

A decade of conflict, economic crisis and lack of social services and ability to work has pushed millions of children into acute malnutrition and scores of diseases, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Despite the fragile truce in 2022, which has reduced civilian deaths, access to the most vulnerable has been limited.

According to the United Nations, at least 17 million people, about half of Yemen’s population of 42 million, face acute food shortages.

In May 2025, the UN reported that 4.95 million people are facing Phase 3, crisis-level food insecurity, which includes 1.5 million people facing emergency-level food insecurity, Phase 4.

There are about 11 million children in need of humanitarian assistance, and nearly 20 million people in desperate need of help, along with nearly 4.8 million people displaced from their homes since 2015.

After years of being at the forefront of developments in Yemen – and the wider region – the Houthis have been watching recent events from the sidelines.

The Yemeni rebel group, which is backed and funded by Iran, has controlled the capital Sanaa and much of the country’s northwest since 2014. Many see it as being in part successful for the past decade because its opponents have been so divided.

The Yemeni government has been weak, unable to rule all of the areas that were nominally under its control, let alone retake territory from the Houthis.

But an ongoing Saudi-backed campaign against the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) now sees the government claiming control of all territory not under Houthi domination.

For the first time in years, the government, led by President Rashad al-Alimi, is exuding confidence. Al-Alimi has announced the formation of a Supreme Military Committee (SMC) that will integrate all the disparate anti-Houthi forces into the Yemeni military.

In a speech on Saturday, al-Alimi said that the SMC would “prepare for the next phase if the militias refuse peaceful solutions”, in a clear threat to the Houthis.

The Houthis appear to have recognised the threat, with several high-ranking officials expressing the need to be prepared to fight.

Survival is victory

The Houthis currently feel emboldened in their ability to withstand attacks, having become an influential regional player with their strikes on shipping in the Red Sea and Israel.

They have also held out against attacks from the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel since 2023, and prior to that, the Saudi-led coalition that backs the Yemeni government.

The Houthis see their very survival as a victory. Emerging from the mountains of Yemen’s far north, they have come back from near total defeat against the Yemeni military in the late 2000s to their current position as the de facto authority in Yemen’s most populous regions.

Fired by religious zeal and devotion to a leader, Abdel-Malik al-Houthi, who they believe to be divinely appointed, the group still thinks they are in a strong position, even if the Yemeni government is showing signs of life.

The central issue that prevented a peace deal in Yemen – the belief on both sides that total victory is achievable – remains.

For the Houthis, the Yemeni government is a mere puppet in the hands of Saudi Arabia and the West, and not worth talking to.

Instead, they are of the opinion that real negotiations can only be had with Riyadh, and are firm that the end result will be their continued presence in Sanaa.

The Houthis also think that previous attacks against Saudi Arabia have eventually led to negotiations, with missile attacks on targets like an oil storage facility in Jeddah in 2022 damaging the kingdom’s image as a safe and business-friendly country.

The Houthis, therefore, know that they retain a threat towards Saudi Arabia and the Gulf – a threat that may prevent a full-throated campaign to retake Sanaa. That means the Houthis have no need to make any rash moves, and are instead able to wait and observe the fallout from events in southern and eastern Yemen.

Houthi gamble

And yet, Saudi Arabia’s willingness in December to openly militarily confront the allies of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Yemen may indicate a change of mentality in Riyadh.

The STC launched an offensive against Saudi-backed government troops in December, seeking an independent state in the south.

Their advance aimed to control broad swaths of southern Yemen, including the Hadramout and Mahra provinces, in defiance of warnings from Riyadh. Hadramout borders Saudi Arabia, while Mahra is close to the border.

The conflict between the Houthis and their opponents has been largely frozen since a ceasefire in 2022. During that time, negotiations between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia have taken place periodically, indicating an openness from the latter to close the chapter of its involvement in Yemen’s war.

Do the Houthis now think they are at risk of renewed attack from the Yemeni government and Saudi Arabia? Or do they feel confident that they are strong enough to deter any such attack?

A reorganised and united anti-Houthi force would be a much greater threat than the Houthis have faced since at least 2018. Then, the Houthis almost lost their most important port – Hodeidah on the Red Sea coast – before international pressure stopped the anti-Houthi advance.

Hodeidah seems to be the most obvious choice for the Yemeni government if it does decide to move militarily against the Houthis. It is easier to fight the Houthis on the coastal plain than it is in the mountains, and the international community may be less willing to step in to stop an attack after the Houthis’ conduct in the Red Sea.

Losing the port city would also be a vital blow to the Houthis economically, particularly with the group’s main backer, Iran, going through its own economic problems, and likely unable to provide the same level of support as it has previously.

The Houthis face a dilemma. Do they attack first, or do they hope that they have established enough of a deterrence to stop any Saudi-backed moves against them?

Yemen’s frozen conflict may be about to thaw – and the Houthis, increasingly alone in the region, will have to gamble on what their move will be soon.

The internationally recognised government of Yemen says its forces have taken full control of the south from the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC), which was aligned with the Saudi-backed government until recently.

“As the president of the country and the high commander of the armed forces, I want to assure you of the recapture of Hadramout and al-Mahra,” Rashad al-Alimi, the head of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), said on Saturday.

Last month, Saudi Arabia intervened militarily in support of the PLC after the STC captured the two border provinces, which Riyadh said was a threat to its national security. The STC along with the PLC fought against the Houthis, who control northwest of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa.

On Friday, the STC was dissolved, and its leader, Aidarous al-Zubaidi, fled the country after forces loyal to the PLC took control of most of the south and eastern Yemen.

The future of the STC, which is backed by the United Arab Emirates, remains uncertain amid internal divisions and the exile of its leader.

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

So what’s the latest political and security situation in Yemen, and what are the challenges in uniting Yemen?

What did the PLC chief al-Alimi say?

In his televised address on Saturday, al-Alimi called on all parties to unite ranks to restore state institutions.

He announced the formation of a Supreme Military Committee, which has been tasked with preparing military forces for the next phase of the conflict and readying them if the Houthis reject peaceful solutions.

The Yemeni leader warned armed groups to surrender their weapons and rejoin the ranks of the state, underlining “the importance of strengthening security, protecting social peace and working closely with the [governing] coalition and the international community to combat terrorism”.

He accused the Houthis of refusing to engage in dialogue and blamed the Iran-linked group for prolonging Yemen’s suffering because of their “coup against constitutional legitimacy”.

“South Yemen has for the first time in 10 years one political and military authority. No more military factions, no more divisions over ethnic and sectarian lines for the time being. There is going to be one Supreme Military Committee under the control of President Al-Alimi,” Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra said, reporting from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

“Rashad al-Alimi has told the Houthis that they have two options: negotiate a settlement or face repercussions, including the potential for a military offensive,” he said.

Al-Alimi is a successor of Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, the leader of a United Nations-backed government who was evicted by the Houthis in 2014. The Houthis insist they are the legitimate authority across Yemen and do not recognise the PLC, which was formed in 2022.

“Now the PLC, backed by Saudi Arabia, is reforming institutions, disbanding STC institutions, and they are saying that their focus in the near future would be confrontation with the Houthis,” Ahelbarra said.

The president said the issue of self-determination in southern Yemen would remain a top priority, backing a southern dialogue conference under Saudi Arabia’s sponsorship.

What’s the status of the STC?

As the Saudi-backed military campaign against STC forces intensified in Hadramout and al-Mahra provinces, the southern separatist movement announced plans to hold a referendum on independence from the north on January 2.

But days later, the southern separatist force suffered major territorial losses at the hands of the PLC forces, who expanded their control over most of southern Yemen, where the STC had sway for more than a decade. The group’s now-exiled leader remains defiant, but some of its other leaders have switched loyalties.

On Friday, STC Secretary-General Abdulrahman Jalal al-Subaihi said in a broadcast on Yemeni television 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, STC spokesman Anwar al-Tamimi, who is in Abu Dhabi, rejected the announcement coming out of Saudi Arabia, calling it “ridiculous news”.

On Saturday, thousands of STC supporters poured onto the streets of Aden, the capital of anti-Houthi forces in southern Yemen.

“The STC members who joined Riyadh say they are waiting to see what happens next when it comes to details of the Riyadh conference,” Ahelbarra said, referring to talks between the PLC and STC in the Saudi capital.

“I think the consensus is that everybody is willing to talk about federal system, some sort of autonomy. But the very notion of separatism is over.

“Will people in the south willing to accept the notion of autonomy or federalism, that remains to be seen,” he said.

The disenfranchisement of southern Yemen after the region was merged with the north to form a united Yemen in 1990 has also been one of the grievances.

“Al-Alimi said these are genuine concerns which are going to be taken into account at the conference. Whether he will be able to address some of those concerns remains to be seen,” the Al Jazeera correspondent said. The date of the conference is yet to be announced.

Since its formation in 2017, the STC’s goal has been separation from the rest of Yemen. Two years later, it took control of Aden and other areas in the south from the Yemeni government.

Al-Zubaidi later joined the PLC as vice president, but he continued to nurse the ambition for a “two-state solution” as STC fighters continued to expand their control in the south, weakening the fight against the Houthis.

The current conflict was triggered after the STC forces captured Hadramout and al-Mahra, drawing the Saudi intervention.

Al-Zubaidi has since been removed from his post as a PLC member, stripped of his immunity, and charged with “high treason” and “inciting internal strife”.

The Saudi military said in a statement on Thursday that al-Zubaidi fled by boat to Somalia and then flew to Abu Dhabi.

What happened in recent weeks?

In November, a Saudi-backed umbrella group of tribes from the Hadramout region seized the PetroMasila oil facility, seeking a bigger share of oil revenues and an improvement of services for Hadramout residents.

The STC used the seizure as a pretext for advancing in Hadramout and al-Mahra. These two regions hold nearly all of Yemen’s oil reserves.

Tensions soared after Saudi-backed forces attacked the Yemeni port city of Mukalla in the south, alleging incoming shipments of arms from the UAE for the STC.

The UAE said it had been surprised by the Saudi air strikes and the shipments in question did not contain weapons and were destined for Emirati forces, not the STC.

Less than two weeks later, Yemen’s Saudi-backed government had taken control of the south and east of the country from STC forces.

Hesham Alghannam, a Saudi scholar with the Malcolm H Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center, said the kingdom’s move “made it very clear” that it views Yemen’s eastern provinces, especially Hadramout, as a “core national security matter”.

Riyadh views the region as critical, Alghannam said, because of its geography and strategic oil and port assets. “From Riyadh’s view, losing influence there would be more than a local setback,” he told Al Jazeera. “It would create a major security gap. It would weaken energy resilience and open space for hostile or competing powers to position themselves directly south of the kingdom.”

The Saudi-backed governing coalition then asked the UAE to withdraw its forces from Yemen within 24 hours.

The UAE withdrew all its “counterterrorism” units from Yemen. The UAE’s Ministry of Defence said it carried out a “comprehensive assessment” of its role in Yemen and decided to end its mission there.

The episode has strained ties between Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

What next?

The STC will find it hard to bounce back without military support from the UAE while many of its leaders have shown a willingness to participate in the Saudi-led dialogue.

However, it is believed to still hold influence in the region.

Abdulaziz Alghashian, an adjunct professor at Naif Arab University, said the dissolution of the STC was inevitable.

“I think the legacy of the STC has now become just too poisonous. I think the recent developments have just illustrated the fact that there is probably no goodwill for the STC to be part of a genuine political process,” Alghashian told Al Jazeera.

“The dissolution of the STC suggests clearly there is a clear restructuring of the political process within Yemen. And the political framework that Saudi Arabia is trying to work with is also being redeveloped and restructured in a manner that creates a lot of confidence for Saudi to get involved in,” he said.

But some experts said the Saudi goal of a united Yemen would be difficult to achieve due to southern divisions and the Houthis’ control of northwest Yemen.

Yousef Mawry, a journalist based in Sanaa, said Yemen’s conflict will shift from the south to the north and a showdown is expected between PLC forces and the Houthis.

He added that both sides believe in a unified Yemeni state but each side believes they are the ones who should be ruling over the affairs of both the north and the south.

“The big question: Is there a common ground that al-Alimi’s government and the Houthis can agree on?” he said.

“The Houthis believe that al-Alimi’s government is nothing but a Saudi proxy that is working on behalf of the US and Saudi interests over Yemeni land. Al-Alimi has pointed fingers at the Houthis, accusing them of being an Iranian proxy,” he told Al Jazeera.

The Saudi-led military coalition, which included the UAE, intervened in support of Hadi’s UN-recognised government in 2015 but failed to defeat the Houthis. The war ended in a deadlock with the Houthis still in control of Sanaa and the regions around it.

Saudi Arabia and the Houthis agreed to release prisoners and pledged not to attack each other’s territory. But the larger political questions remain to be resolved.

“What we are seeing is that al-Alimi is taking over full control of the south. Once they have full control, whatever political framework that works in, the Houthis are not going to accept it,” Mawry said.

There is mistrust between the two sides with the Houthis accusing the PLC of catering to the interests of foreign powers while the PLC accuses the Houthis of running Iranian propaganda. Saudi Arabia has historically maintained influence in its southern neighbour – Arab region’s poorest country. Houthis challenged Riyadh’s traditional role in the country.

Mawry fears the conflict will likely grow as both sides have drawn red lines. “They want full control of Yemen,” he said.

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

Southern Transitional Council faces uncertain future amid internal divisions over plans to disband with its leader in exile.

Thousands of Yemenis have taken to the streets in Aden to show support for the Southern Transitional Council (STC) amid conflicting reports about the separatist group’s purported plans to disband following deadly confrontations with Saudi Arabia-backed forces.

STC supporters chanted slogans against Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s internationally backed government in demonstrations on Saturday in Aden’s Khor Maksar district, one of the group’s strongholds.

The crowd waved the flag of the former South Yemen, which was an independent state between 1967 and 1990.

“Today, the people of the south gathered from all provinces in the capital, Aden, to reiterate what they have been saying consistently for years and throughout the last month: we want an independent state,” protester Yacoub al-Safyani told the AFP news agency.

The public show of solidarity came after a successful Saudi-backed offensive to drive the STC out of parts of southern and eastern Yemen that it had seized towards the end of last year.

The confrontations exposed heightened tensions between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, a top ally that the Saudi authorities have accused of backing the STC.

The group had taken over the provinces of Hadramout, on the border with Saudi Arabia, and al-Mahra, a land mass representing about half the country.

After weeks of Saudi-led efforts to de-escalate, Yemeni government forces, backed by the Gulf country, launched an attack on the STC, forcing the separatists out of Hadramout, the presidential palace in Aden and military camps in al-Mahra.

On Friday, an STC delegation that travelled to Riyadh for talks had announced the dissolution of the group in an apparent admission of defeat.

Secretary-General Abdulrahman Jalal al-Sebaihi said the group would shut down all of its bodies and offices inside and outside of Yemen, citing internal disagreements and mounting regional pressure.

However, Anwar al-Tamimi, an STC spokesman, contested the decision, writing on X that only the full council could take such steps under its president – highlighting internal divisions within the separatist movement.

During Saturday’s protest in Aden, STC supporters held up posters of the group’s leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi, who was smuggled from Aden to the UAE this week after failing to turn up to the talks in the Saudi capital.

Saudi-backed forces have accused the UAE of helping him escape on a flight that was tracked to a military airport in Abu Dhabi.

Authorities in Aden that are aligned with Yemen’s Saudi-backed government on Friday had ordered a ban on demonstrations in the southern city, citing security concerns, according to an official directive seen by Reuters.

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…

Jan. 8 (UPI) — Separatist leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi exited Yemen with the help of the United Arab Emirates after he was charged with treason and expelled from Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council.

Al-Zubaidi led the Southern Transitional Council in Yemen, which is supported by the UAE, and a Saudi-led coalition said he left the port city of Aden while aboard a boat on Tuesday night, the BBC reported.

The vessel carried him to the UAE-owned port of Berbera in Somaliland, where he boarded a cargo aircraft that flew him to Mogadishu, Somalia, and then a military airport in Abu Dhabi, according to The Guardian.

Neither the UAE nor the STC commented on the matter, which has raised tensions between officials in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The PLC expelled al-Zubaidi on Wednesday and accused him of treason when he did not arrive in the Saudi capital of Riyadh for peace talks.

The STC had sought to have southern Yemen declared an independent state and re-establish a north-south divide within Yemen that existed before the nation was unified in 1990.

The STC has controlled Aden for many years, and its leaders recently vowed to wage a guerrilla campaign while al-Zubaidi and many of his supporters remain safely in the UAE.

The STC, though, is undergoing an internal divide that has weakened it and prompted al-Zubaidi and others to leave Yemen.

Saudi-backed forces have regained territory previously held by the STC.

Tensions between Saudi Arabia and the UAE grew after separatists supported by the UAE captured territory in Yemen that reached the border with Saudi Arabia.

Saudi officials called the action a threat to their national security after earlier opposing Houthi forces in Yemen that are supported by Iran.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia had jointly opposed the Houthis, which gained control of northwestern Yemen in a 2022 cease-fire agreement.

Since then, the Saudis have backed Yemen’s PLC, which is in charge of the internationally recognized government of Yemen, while the UAE supports the separatist STC.

Saudi-backed “National Shield Forces” were seen deploying in Aden a day after separatist leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi fled Yemen for the United Arab Emirates. The city has been at the centre of al-Zubaidi’s Southern Transitional Council (STC).

Landing at Aden International Airport on a trip in late 2017, the plane had two flags visible as it moved along the tarmac. One was the flag of the former South Yemen, resurrected as a symbol of Yemen’s secessionist southern movement. The other was of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the movement’s primary backer.

Passing one checkpoint after another on the road out of Aden, the flag of the actual Republic of Yemen wasn’t visible, and only made an appearance towards the city of Taiz, to the north.

The UAE-backed secessionist Southern Transitional Council (STC) had been formed a few months earlier, in May 2017. Headed by Aidarous al-Zubaidi, it made clear that its ultimate goal was separation from the rest of Yemen, even if it found itself on the same side as the Yemeni government in the fight against the Houthi rebels occupying the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

By 2019, the STC and the Yemeni government fought in Aden and other areas of the south. The STC emerged on top, forcing the government out of Aden – the former capital of South Yemen and the city the government had designated as a temporary capital during the conflict against the Houthis.

Momentum continued to be on the STC’s side for the next few years, as it seized more territory. Even after al-Zubaidi joined the Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) as a vice-president, officially making him a member of the Yemeni government, it was clear that on the ground, the STC had de facto control over much of the former South Yemen.

Al-Zubaidi must have felt close to achieving his goals when he found himself at the United Nations General Assembly in September. Speaking to the international media, he said that the “best solution for Yemen” was a “two-state solution”.

But then he went too far. His move last month to push STC forces into the eastern governorates of Hadhramout and al-Mahra, effectively securing control over all of the former South Yemen, was a red line for Saudi Arabia.

The STC leader is on the run, forces now loyal to the Yemeni government are in control of the majority of southern Yemen, and many of his allies have changed sides.

The UAE, meanwhile, appears to have accepted that Saudi Arabia is the primary foreign actor in Yemen, and has taken a step back – for now.

What now for South Yemen?

In a matter of weeks, secession has gone from a de facto reality to seemingly further away than it has been since the early days of Yemen’s war in the mid-2010s.

It was only last Friday that al-Zubaidi announced a two-year transitional period before a referendum on the independence of southern Yemen and the declaration of the state of “South Arabia”.

A week later, the STC looked divided – with Abdul Rahman al-Mahrami, a PLC member also known as Abu Zaraa, now in Riyadh, appearing to position himself in the Saudi camp.

The Yemeni government, with Saudi support, is attempting to reorganise the anti-Houthi military forces, with the aim of moving them away from being a divided band of groups under different commands to a force unified under the umbrella of the government.

Nods to the “southern issue” – the disenfranchisement of southern Yemen since the country’s brief 1994 north-south civil war – continues, with plans for a conference on the issue in Riyadh.

But the ultimate goal of hardline southerners – secession – is off the table under current circumstances, with consensus instead forming around the idea of a federal republic allowing for strong regional representation.

The Yemeni government also sees an opportunity to now use the momentum gained in the recent successes against the STC to advance against the Houthis, who control Yemen’s populous northwest – even if that remains an ambitious goal.

Of course, this is Yemen, and the winds can always change once again.

Support for the secession of southern Yemen remains strong in governorates like Al-Dhale, where al-Zubaidi is from. Hardcore STC supporters, those who have not been coopted, will be unlikely to simply give up, sowing the seeds for a potential insurgency.

And President Rashad al-Alimi will have to show that his power does not simply rest on Saudi Arabia’s military strength. One of the major tests of his legitimacy is whether he will be able to return with his government to Aden, and finally be based in Yemen for the first time in years.

That will be the ultimate challenge for the Yemeni government. Is it truly capable of being in control once again? Or are current events just a temporary setback for the STC and the cause of southern secession, waiting for the opportunity to rise up again?

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

Secessionist leader took a boat to Berbera and then boarded a pane that flew to Abu Dhabi via Mogadishu, coalition says.

The Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen has announced that the leader of the secessionist Southern Transitional Council (STC) has fled to the United Arab Emirates via Somaliland after skipping planned peace talks in Riyadh.

In a statement on Thursday, the coalition said Aidarous al-Zubaidi “escaped in the dead of night” on Wednesday aboard a vessel that departed Aden in Yemen for the port of Berbera in Somaliland.

Al-Zubaidi then boarded a plane along with UAE officers and flew to Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu. “The plane turned off its identification systems over the Gulf of Oman, then turned it back on ten minutes prior to arrival at Al reef military airport in Abu Dhabi,” the statement said.

There was no immediate comment from the STC or UAE.

If confirmed, the move could deepen the feud between Saudi Arabia and the UAE that came to light after the Abu Dhabi-backed STC launched an offensive against the Riyadh-backed Yemeni government troops in December.

The STC – which initially supported Yemen’s internationally recognised government against the Houthi rebels in northern Yemen – is seeking an independent state in southern Yemen. It seized the provinces of Hadramout and Mahra, which border Saudi Arabia, in a campaign that Riyadh described as a red line for its national security.

The Saudi-led coalition responded with air strikes on the Yemeni port of Mukalla on December 30, targeting what it called a UAE-linked weapons shipment, and backed a call by Yemen’s internationally recognised government for Emirati forces to withdraw from the country.

For its part, Abu Dhabi denied that the shipment contained weapons and expressed a commitment to ensure Riyadh’s security. On the same day, it announced an end to what it called its “counterterrorism mission” in Yemen.

Yemeni government troops, backed by Saudi Arabian air attacks, went on to reclaim Hadramout and Mahra, and the STC said on Saturday that it would attend peace talks hosted by Saudi Arabia.

But al-Zubaidi was not on board the Yemeni Air flight that took the STC delegation to Riyadh on Wednesday, the coalition said.

The head of the internationally recognised government’s Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, has meanwhile announced that al-Zubaidi has been removed from the council for “committing high treason”.

Al-Alimi said he has asked the country’s Attorney General to launch an investigation against al-Zubaidi and take legal action.

The Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen launched air strikes against secessionist forces in the south, after their leader failed to attend peace talks in Riyadh. Yemen’s internationally recognised government has accused Aidarous al-Zubaidi of “high treason.”

For years, Aidarous al-Zubaidi has been the undisputed strongman of southern Yemen, a former air force officer who transitioned from a rebel leader to a statesman courted by Western diplomats.

But on Wednesday, his political trajectory took a drastic turn.

In a decree that has shaken the country’s fragile power-sharing arrangement, the chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), Rashad al-Alimi, removed al-Zubaidi from his post as council member, stripping him of his immunity and referring him to the public prosecutor on charges of “high treason”.

The decree accuses al-Zubaidi of “forming armed gangs”, “harming the Republic’s political and military standing”, and leading a military rebellion.

Simultaneously, the Saudi-led coalition announced that al-Zubaidi had “fled to an unknown destination” after failing to answer a summons to Riyadh—a claim the Southern Transitional Council (STC) vehemently denies, insisting their leader remains in Aden.

So, who is the man at the centre of these rapid developments in Yemen?

The ‘rebel’ officer

Born in 1967 in the Zubayd village of the mountainous Al-Dale governorate, al-Zubaidi’s life has mirrored the turbulent history of southern Yemen.

He graduated from the air force academy in Aden as a second lieutenant in 1988. However, his military career was upended by the 1994 civil war, in which northern forces under then-President Ali Abdullah Saleh crushed the southern separatist movement.

Al-Zubaidi fought on the losing side and was forced into exile in Djibouti.

He returned to Yemen in 1996 to found Haq Taqreer al-Maseer (HTM), which means the Movement of Right to Self-Determination, an armed group that carried out assassinations against northern military officials. A military court sentenced him to death in absentia, a ruling that stood until Saleh pardoned him in 2000.

After years of a low-level rebellion, al-Zubaidi re-emerged during the Arab Spring in 2011, when his movement claimed responsibility for attacks on Yemeni army vehicles in Al-Dale.

From governor to secessionist chief

The Houthi takeover of Sanaa in 2014 and their subsequent push south in 2015 provided al-Zubaidi with his biggest opening.

Leading southern resistance fighters, he played a pivotal role in repelling Houthi forces from Al-Dale and Aden. In recognition of his influence on the ground, President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi appointed him governor of Aden in December 2015.

However, the alliance was short-lived. Tensions between Hadi’s government and southern separatists boiled over, leading to al-Zubaidi’s dismissal in April 2017.

Less than a month later, al-Zubaidi formed the Southern Transitional Council (STC), declaring it the legitimate representative of the southern people. Backed by the United Arab Emirates, the STC built a formidable paramilitary force that frequently clashed with government troops, eventually seizing control of Aden.

In April 2022, in a bid to unify the anti-Houthi front, al-Zubaidi was appointed to the eight-member Presidential Leadership Council (PLC).

A vision of ‘South Arabia’

Despite joining the unity government, al-Zubaidi never abandoned his ultimate goal: the restoration of the pre-1990 southern state.

In interviews with international media, including United Arab Emirates state-run newspaper The National and Al Hurra, al-Zubaidi outlined a vision for a federal “State of South Arabia”. He argued that the “peace process is frozen” and that a two-state solution was the only viable path forward.

He also courted controversy by expressing openness to the Abraham Accords.

“If Palestine regains its rights … when we have our southern state, we will make our own decisions and I believe we will be part of these accords,” he told The National in September 2025.

Most recently, on January 2, 2026, al-Zubaidi issued a “constitutional declaration” announcing a two-year transition period leading to a referendum on independence – a move that appears to have triggered his dismissal.

The final rupture

The events of January 7 mark the collapse of the fragile alliance between the internationally recognised government and the STC.

Brigadier General Turki al-Maliki, spokesperson for the coalition, stated that al-Zubaidi had been distributing weapons in Aden to “cause chaos” and had fled the country after being given a 48-hour ultimatum to report to Riyadh.

Al-Maliki also confirmed “limited preemptive strikes” against STC forces mobilising near the Zind camp in Al-Dale.

The STC has rejected these accounts. In a statement issued on Wednesday morning, the council claimed al-Zubaidi is “continuing his duties from the capital, Aden”.

Instead, the STC raised the alarm about its own delegation in Riyadh, led by Secretary-General Abdulrahman Shaher al-Subaihi, claiming they have lost all contact with them.

“We demand the Saudi authorities … guarantee the safety of our delegation,” the statement read, condemning the air strikes on Al-Dale as “unjustified escalation”.

With “high treason” charges on the table and air strikes reported in the south, al-Zubaidi’s long game for independence appears to have pushed Yemen into a dangerous new phase of conflict.

Leader of Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council removed from government with the Saudi-led coalition saying he ‘fled to unknown location’.

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.

Hadramout governor says ports and airports will soon be operational after Saudi-backed government forces ousted secessionists from the south.

About 400 tourists are stuck on the Yemeni island of Socotra after flights were grounded because of clashes on the mainland between government troops backed by Saudi Arabia and secessionists with links to the United Arab Emirates.

Over the past few days, flights in and out of Yemen have been largely restricted during heavy fighting between rival armed factions loosely grouped under the Yemen’s fractious government, which is based in the southern port city of Aden.

The Socotra islands, 380km (236 miles) south of the mainland, are under the control of the United Arab Emirates-backed Southern Transitional Council, which has clashed with Yemen’s Saudi-backed government in the provinces of Hadramout and al-Mahra.

Yahya bin Afrar, the deputy governor for culture and tourism on Socotra, the largest island in the Socotra archipelago, said that “more than 400 foreign tourists” are stranded after their flights were “suspended”.

A local official, who spoke to the AFP news agency on condition of anonymity, said that 416 people of different nationalities were stranded on Socotra, including “more than 60 Russians”.

An unnamed Western diplomat said that “British, French and American” nationals were also among the stranded tourists.

Highly unstable region

In a post on X on Sunday, Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Maciej Wewior, said Polish tourists were stuck too, adding that flights to Socotra by an Emirati airline had been suspended until Tuesday.

“Socotra is located in a highly unstable region, where an armed conflict has been ongoing for years. Currently, the security situation has further deteriorated. Due to the intensification of military operations, airspace has been closed,” the post said.

A travel agent in Socotra said at least two Chinese nationals were also there.

Tourists stuck on the island, many of whom went there to for New Year’s celebrations, are now reaching out to their embassies for help to be evacuated, according to another Western diplomat.

“Their relevant embassies have reached out to the Saudi and Yemeni governments to seek their evacuation,” said the diplomat.

The airport in Aden has been functional since Sunday, after disruptions that lasted for several days.

Pledge to restore order

Yemen’s civil war entered a new phase last month when secessionists with the UAE-backed STC extended its presence in southeastern Yemen with the aim of establishing an independent state.

But this week, the Saudi-backed “Homeland Shield” forces took back the oil-rich southern governorates of Hadramout and al-Mahra, which make up nearly half of Yemen’s territory, from the STC rebels.

In the past, the opposing forces were allied under the umbrella of the Aden-based  Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) – the governing organ of the internationally recognised government – against the Houthis, who control most of northwestern Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa.

On Friday, Salem al-Khanbashi, the governor of Hadramout, was chosen by the government to command the Saudi-led forces in the governorate.

In an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic on Monday, al-Khanbashi said that ports and airports in the governorate would soon be operational, stressing the need to restore service at the Seiyun airport in northern Hadramout.

He pledged to re-establish security and stability, saying meetings will be held with all political and tribal groups to form a united front to protect the governorate against future attacks.

Compensation will be extended for damage to public and private property caused during the STC’s advance. The authorities are focused on getting electricity, water and health services up and running again, al-Khanbashi said.

Events in Yemen are escalating quickly and dramatically, reaching the point of armed clashes erupting between the Arab coalition supporting the internationally recognised government in Yemen, led by Saudi Arabia, and the so‑called “Southern Transitional Council” (STC), backed by the United Arab Emirates.

Many view these developments as a natural outcome of a long, cumulative trajectory of complexities the country has experienced since the civil war erupted in late 2014, and the humanitarian and economic repercussions that followed.

External interventions had a profound impact in creating political and administrative chaos that intensified internal divisions and exposed what remained of the legitimate state to further weakness, culminating in the loss of its most important sovereign tools: unity of territory and decision-making. These developments and events add further complexity to an already complex picture, and Yemen will not be safe from their future repercussions.

On the other hand, others view the situation from another, less bleak angle. The strong reaction to the STC’s moves — on the part of the Yemeni president (chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council, or PLC) and, behind him, the Saudi‑led Arab coalition — is a new and important variable, completely different from the usual approach to many similar events. So, there is hope that these events and changes will mark a new phase that works to correct the imbalances and deviations that accompanied the Arab coalition’s intervention over more than a decade.

Watching carefully are the Houthi rebels in northern Yemen, who have remained silent, apparently waiting to see what these events will produce as they continue to strike at the unity of the components of the Arab coalition’s leadership and undermine the legitimate government. In any case, they realise that the eventual outcome will ultimately be in their favour. Therefore, the Houthis, according to multiple reports, are currently intensifying their military preparations, redeploying and dispersing their forces along the theatre of operations adjacent to contact points on the fronts: the northeast (Marib), and the southwest in Taiz and Bab al-Mandeb, preparing for zero hour.

So, what is the nature and background of this bilateral conflict between allies? Where have these events and developments led Yemen, and where will they lead it? And what are their implications for the future of the country and the region?

There is broad agreement that what is happening today is merely an initial result of a deep internal conflict of interests between the two main coalition states — Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Although most of this conflict remained hidden, its accumulations continued to roll and grow like a snowball.

To understand how matters reached this point of an explosion of conflict between allies, we must first understand the background of this rivalry and conflict.

In late March 2015, Saudi Arabia led a coalition of 10 Arab and Muslim countries to intervene militarily in Yemen — later it was called the Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen, with the aim of restoring the authority of Yemen’s former legitimate president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, from the grip of the Houthi coup forces.

At the outset, the coalition achieved major, tangible successes on the ground before differences began to emerge between the two main allies, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

There is a widespread and well‑grounded belief that the UAE entered this war with a plan to achieve purely geopolitical and strategic interests. Some argue, however, that this was not necessarily the case at the beginning, but that it may later have turned to exploiting weakness, vacuum, and internal divisions in order to redraw its strategy anew in light of that.

On the ground, the UAE formed, trained, and financed local forces loyal to it, using them to achieve its own objectives, away from the coalition and the legitimate government. Within just two years of its intervention, it managed — through its own local forces — to impose control over all strategic maritime outlets along southern and eastern Yemen, reaching the western coast of Taiz governorate in the country’s southwest, where the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait lies.

Over 10 years of the coalition’s intervention, the UAE established and built a hard-hitting army of its own militias, becoming the strongest force on the ground and the greatest threat to the interests of its ally (Saudi Arabia) in Yemen, including the system and the legitimate government that it had supported and sponsored from the outset. It can be affirmed that Riyadh committed fatal strategic mistakes in dealing with these deviations, remaining silent and failing to take decisive action on the ground to curb its ally’s overreach — perhaps settling for minor protective measures, and often acting merely as a “mediator” to resolve disputes that flared up from time to time — until the axe finally struck the head.

Military escalation

In early December, the STC, which was founded and backed by the UAE, triggered a military escalation by seizing control of the governorates of Hadramout and al-Mahra in eastern Yemen. This angered Saudi Arabia and pushed it out of its usual diplomacy and calm. Many may interpret this major shift in its policy as stemming from the fact that it views these two eastern governorates bordering it as a geographic extension of its national security, and that any compromise to their security constitutes a direct threat to its national security, something Riyadh stated explicitly in its recent statements issued in the wake of the crisis.

Accordingly, the head of the PLC dealt with these developments with great seriousness, describing them as unacceptable “unilateral measures”. Under the authority granted by the Power Transfer Declaration (April 2022), he called on the Saudi-led Arab coalition to intervene militarily.

The next day, coalition aircraft struck military equipment that had arrived on two ships from the UAE’s Fujairah port to the port of Mukalla in Hadramout. In response, Yemeni President Rashad al-Alimi declared a state of emergency and called on the UAE to end its presence in Yemen. Later that day, the UAE Ministry of Defence announced the withdrawal of what remained of its forces in Yemen (the UAE had previously announced in October 2019 that it was withdrawing its forces from Yemen).

The military escalation led to major, rapidly unfolding military and political repercussions, particularly after the STC continued to refuse to heed calls and threats by the coalition leadership and the Yemeni president to withdraw its forces from the two governorates.

Someone could ask: Why does the STC refuse to withdraw its forces despite the threats and successive strikes? The answer is that doing so would deal a powerful blow to its secessionist project. Clearly, the council’s takeover of these two governorates — both of which reject its project — raised broad hopes among southern separatists of declaring their state, but Saudi Arabia’s decisive intervention (in the name of the Arab coalition) dealt a crushing blow to that project.

Escalation and repercussions

With the start of the new year, government ground forces — formed by the Yemeni president through a presidential decision on January 27, 2023 under the name Homeland Shield, with Saudi support — began moving towards Hadramout and al-Mahra (east) to liberate them from STC forces, under air cover and support from coalition aircraft, and liberation and control operations began. In response, forces from the UAE-backed Giants Brigades, coming from Taiz’s western coast, moved towards Hadramout governorate to reinforce and support STC forces.

Amid the accelerating escalation and its repercussions, the head of the STC, Aidarous al-Zubaidi — also a member of the PLC — moved quickly to issue what he called a “constitutional declaration” (January 2, 2026), in which he announced what he termed the independent “State of the Arab South”, during a two-year transitional period.

While the country’s official institutions at the national, regional, and global levels have so far ignored this declaration, many Yemenis dealt with it ambivalently, each according to their affiliations and loyalties.

For the Southern separatists, they expressed overwhelming joy at the announcement of their state, while their opponents mocked the move as a leap over reality, an attempt to escape forward over facts and local and international laws and regulations. Some considered it merely a desperate attempt to rid the council of the pressure of promises it had made to those dreaming of secession, at a time when it became evident that secession was no longer easy after the recent events and developments.

Regardless of interpretations, even if this declaration has no legal effect, its political, economic, and administrative impacts will not be easy, whether in terms of deepening divisions among Yemen’s elite and the public (North-South), preserving the legal standing of the Yemeni state, or even the continuity of managing the fragile state.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, its dangerous repercussions for the main battle to restore the state and relieve Yemenis from the consequences of a decade of war and state collapse.

Clearly, the Yemeni scene is becoming more complex, with events accelerating, positions erupting, and reactions escalating. No one knows precisely where developments in Yemen are headed.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

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.

Jan. 2 (UPI) — Saudi Arabia’s military struck United Arab Emirates-backed separatists in Yemen on Friday, prompting an unofficial declaration of “war” from the Southern Transitional Council.

Representatives of the separatist Southern Transitional Council in Yemen’s Hadramout Governorate accused Saudi forces of bombing their fighters while they were near Yemen’s border with Saudi Arabia.

They say a state of war exists in the province, but no casualty reports were provided for the military strike that involved Saudi ground and air forces.

The Hadramout province is situated in eastern Yemen and about 500 miles east of Yemen’s capital city of Sanaa, with Saudi Arabia to its north and the Gulf of Aden to its south.

Hadramout Gov. Salem al-Khanbashi dismissed the STC’s war declaration and said the military operation by Saudi Arabia sought to “peacefully and systematically” regain military bases controlled by the STC, Al Jazeera reported.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia have become involved in the internal conflict in Yemen, with the Saudis backing the Yemeni government and the UAE the STC.

Saudi and Yemeni officials have accused the UAE of arming STC separatists and encouraging them to seize parts of southern Yemen’s Hadramout and al-Mahra provinces.

STC representatives have said they intend to hold a voter referendum in two years to decide if an official declaration of an independent state will be delivered.

Yemen already is in a deadly civil war that started in 2014, and the STC’s planned vote could make the fighting more frequent and intense and worsen conditions in what is considered one of the world’s most impoverished nations.

The civil war has created famine conditions within the nation that already has experienced many deadly conflicts since the civil war began.

Saudi-backed Hadramout governor says move under way to ‘peacefully’ take over military sites from STC.

Fighting broke out on Friday in Yemen’s Hadramout province that borders Saudi Arabia, between forces loyal to the region’s Saudi-backed governor and the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC).

The STC accused Saudi Arabia of bombing its forces near the border on Friday.

Seven people were killed and than 20 people were also wounded as seven air strikes hit a camp in Al-Khasah, said Mohammed Abdulmalik, head of the STC in Wadi Hadramaut and Hadramaut Desert.

But Hadramout’s governor Salem al-Khanbashi said on Friday that the efforts to take back bases from the STC were meant to “peacefully and systematically” reclaim military sites in Yemen’s southern province.

“The operation is not a declaration of war or an escalation, but rather a precautionary measure to protect security and prevent chaos,” he said in a statement.

Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Al Attab, reporting from Sanaa, said fighting was reported to be taking place on Friday in positions where STC forces are located along the Saudi border.

But, he added, “we are still waiting for confirmation about what is going on there,” saying that the latest information available from the area suggested the STC had maintained control of its positions.

The outbreak in fighting comes after Yemen’s Saudi-backed government said it ‍had appointed al-Khanbashi to take overall command of the National Shield forces in the eastern province, granting him full military, security and administrative authority in what it said was a move to restore security and order.

Saudi Arabia and the internationally recognised Yemeni government that it backs have accused the United Arab Emirates of arming the STC and pushing it to seize parts of the Hadramout and al-Mahra provinces in southern Yemen last month. Riyadh has warned that it views the STC’s growing presence in these provinces — which border Saudi Arabia — as a threat to its national security. The UAE has rejected these allegations and said that it is committed to Saudi Arabia’s security.

Last week, the UAE said it was pulling its remaining forces out of Yemen after Saudi Arabia backed a call for its forces to leave within 24 hours.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the STC are all part of a military coalition that Riyadh pulled together a decade ago to confront the Houthis. But the STC’s increasingly aggressive secessionist acts, and allegations that the UAE is assisting the group, have fostered tensions within the coalition.

The head of the Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, warned against any attempt to oppose the government’s decisions to prevent the country from sliding into a new cycle of violence.

“The decision to end the Emirati military presence came within the framework of correcting the course of the [coalition] and in coordination with its joint leadership, and in a way that ensures the cessation of any support for elements outside the state,” al-Alimi said in a statement.

Tensions escalate

The STC has insisted its fighters will remain in place in the southern provinces that Saudi Arabia and the official Yemeni government want them to withdraw from.

On Friday, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Yemen blamed STC leader Aidarus al-Zubaidi for refusing to grant landing permission the previous day for a plane carrying a Saudi delegation to Aden.

“For several weeks and until yesterday, ‌the Kingdom sought to make all efforts with the Southern Transitional ⁠Council to end the escalation … but it faced continuous rejection and stubbornness from Aidarus Al-Zubaidi,” the Saudi ambassador, Mohammed Al-Jaber, said on X.

A halt in flights at Aden International Airport ‌on Thursday continued into Friday as both sides traded blame for the air traffic shutdown.

In a statement on Thursday, the STC-controlled Transport Ministry accused Saudi Arabia of imposing an air blockade, saying Riyadh required ‍all flights to go via Saudi Arabia for extra checks. A Saudi Arabian source, however, denied the allegation, saying Yemen’s internationally recognised government, led by the Presidential Leadership Council, was behind the requirement for UAE-bound flights to land for inspection in Jeddah.

Yemeni presidential adviser Thabet al-Ahmadi confirmed to Al Jazeera that it had imposed a requirement that applied to one flight route departing from Aden airport. He said the move was meant to prevent STC money smuggling.

Saudi-backed coalition forces in Yemen have launched air strikes targeting southern separatists, whose recent advances changed the map of control in the country. Al Jazeera’s Aksel Zaimovic explains which groups are competing for territory.

The separatist Southern Transitional Council accuses Saudi Arabia of bombing its forces near the border.

STC separatists accuse Saudi Arabia of requiring flights to UAE to land in Jeddah; Saudi source rejects claim.

Flights from Aden international airport in Yemen were halted on Thursday amid continuing tensions between the Southern Transitional Council (STC) separatist group and the Saudi Arabia-backed internationally recognised government in Yemen.

Reuters news agency reported that all flights were suspended at the airport on Thursday, although further details of flight operations and possible resumptions remained unclear.

The STC has formally been a part of the Saudi-led coalition that, since 2015, has been fighting the Houthi takeover of large parts of Yemen. But the STC also seeks to carve out a separate nation in southern Yemen, and in December, expanded its military operations in Hadramout and al-Mahra provinces that border Saudi Arabia, setting off a rapid escalation in tensions.

Saudi Arabia has accused the United Arab Emirates – also a part of the anti-Houthi coalition – of arming the STC and of encouraging the separatist group to expand into Hadramout and al-Mahra, which Riyadh has said threatens its national security. The UAE has denied those allegations, insisting that it supports Saudi Arabia’s security.

However, while the UAE has since agreed to demands from Yemen’s Riyadh-backed Presidential Leadership Council and Saudi Arabia to withdraw its troops from Yemen, the STC has refused to pull back from Hadramout and al-Mahra.

On Thursday, the STC-aligned Transport Ministry within the internationally recognised government claimed that the stoppage at the airport was a result of Saudi Arabia imposing new requirements mandating that flights to and from Aden airport undergo inspection in Jeddah.

The ministry said it was “shocked” by the move, adding that Saudi authorities later clarified the restriction only applied to flights operating between Aden and the United Arab Emirates.

A Saudi source denied to the Reuters news agency that it was involved in restricting flights, saying Yemen’s internationally recognised government, led by the Presidential Leadership Council, was behind the requirement for UAE-bound flights.

Yemeni presidential adviser, Thabet al-Ahmadi, confirmed to Al Jazeera that it had imposed a requirement that applied to one flight route departing from Aden airport. He said the move was meant to prevent STC money smuggling.

Al-Ahmadi said the government did not support a complete halt to flights, adding it wanted to ensure air traffic continued unimpeded.

Earlier this week, the UAE announced it was voluntarily withdrawing its remaining “counterterrorism” forces from Yemen. That came after Riyadh struck what it claimed to be a UAE-linked weapons shipment in the southern port city of Mukalla.

On Wednesday, Rashad al-Alimi, the head of the internationally recognised government in Yemen, warned that any moves by the STC to further entrench their position in the provinces would have severe consequences.

The STC has, however, remained defiant, saying it would remain in the provinces.

However, STC spokesperson Mohammed al-Naqeeb said the group was coordinating its movements with the Homeland Shield forces, which had been the main security force in the provinces prior to the STC offensive. The Homeland Shield is affiliated with the Yemeni government and the Saudi-led coalition.

Yemen has been embroiled in a civil war since Houthi forces took control of the capital Sanaa in 2014. The group continues to control large swaths of the country’s northwest, with the STC and government contesting the southern and eastern flanks.