The Yemeni separatist group known as the Southern Transitional Council (STC) on Friday accused Saudi Arabia of launching airstrikes against their forces in the province of Hadramout, one of several provinces the STC seized control of last week. The Saudi government warned the STC to withdraw from Hadramout and the neighboring province of Mahra on Thursday.
The STC was aligned with the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) – the internationally-recognized government of Yemen – against the Iran-backed Houthi insurgents who control the northern half of the country, until the STC suddenly dispatched its fighters to take control of Hadramout and Mahra in early December.
In a bid for international support last week, the STC claimed it was more organized and combat-effective than the forces of the PLC, and aspired to dislodge the Houthis from the national capital of Sanaa as its next big play.
The STC also reminded observers that despite years of political and military alignment with the PLC, it had never given up on its long-term goal of breaking off South Yemen into an independent nation. South Yemen was a separate country from the end of British colonial rule in 1967 until the incorporation of the modern Republic of Yemen in 1990.
None of this sat well with Saudi Arabia, which led a coalition of Gulf states to intervene in the Yemeni civil war in 2015. The Saudis and their allies inflicted a great deal of damage with years of airstrikes, and were often criticized for inflicting massive civilian casualties, but they made little progress toward defeating the Houthis and restoring the PLC to power in Sanaa.
One of the Gulf allies involved in the intervention was the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The UAE strongly supports the STC rather than the PLC, and even helped to train the STC’s best combat unit, the Hadrami Elite Forces, with the ostensible goal of fighting the al-Qaeda cells infesting Yemen.
On Thursday, the Saudi Foreign Ministry called upon the STC to halt its “unjustified escalation that harmed the interests of all segments of Yemeni people, as well as the southern cause and the coalition’s efforts.”
“The kingdom stresses the importance of cooperation among all Yemeni factions and components to exercise restraint and avoid any measures that could destabilize security and stability,” the statement said.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry said it was “mediating” talks to have the STC pull back from Hadramout and Mahra, and surrender their military camps to the National Shield Forces (NSF), the primary armed force loyal to the PLC.
The STC gave little sign of heeding Saudi Arabia’s call. A sizable demonstration was held on Thursday in Aden, the port city that has served the PLC as a seat of power since Sanaa fell to the Houthis in 2014, to support the STC and its push for independence in South Yemen. The demonstrators called on STC president Aidarous al-Zubaidi to declare the independence of South Yemen immediately.
The Houthis also held a demonstration in Sanaa on Thursday, in the form of a ceremonial funeral for four Houthi military officers who were apparently killed by U.S. airstrikes in March.
On Friday, the STC accused Saudi Arabia of launching airstrikes against their forces in Hadramout. The STC said its fighters were fending off “multiple ambushes” from unidentified gunmen when the Saudi warplanes struck.
Eyewitnesses in Hadramout reported seeing the destruction of military vehicles that apparently belonged to the STC, but there were no immediate reports of fatalities. The strikes appeared to be a warning shot from the Saudis to pressure the STC into withdrawing from the territory it has conquered.
The STC posted video clips to social media on Friday that appeared to show air attacks hitting near its positions in the Hadramout town of Wadi Nahab.
The UAE took the news in stride, issuing a statement on Friday that it “welcomed the efforts undertaken by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to support security and stability” in Yemen. The UAE statement notably refrained from asking the STC to withdraw from the territory it has seized.
