Saudi Airstrikes Reported Against UAE-Backed Separatists as Power Struggle Intensifies in Southern Yemen

BY EMMANUEL OGBONNA

Saudi warplanes carried out airstrikes on Friday against forces aligned with the United Arab Emirates in southern Yemen, according to leaders of the Southern Transitional Council, escalating a growing rift within the Saudi-led coalition and raising fears of renewed internal conflict in the war-torn country.

The reported strikes came amid a Saudi-led operation aimed at retaking military camps held by the STC in Yemen’s eastern governorate of Hadramout, a vast and strategically important region bordering Saudi Arabia. The STC, a powerful separatist movement backed by the UAE, has consolidated its presence in recent weeks by moving into Hadramout and the neighboring governorate of Mahra, seizing territory that includes oil-producing areas.

The advance displaced units of the Saudi-backed National Shield Forces, a formation aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognized government and the broader coalition fighting the Iran-backed Houthi movement. The STC’s expansion has sharply heightened tensions between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, longtime allies whose interests in Yemen have increasingly diverged.

Ahmed bin Breik, a senior STC figure and former governor of Hadramout, said Saudi-backed forces advanced toward STC-controlled camps on Friday but were met with resistance after separatist fighters refused to withdraw. He said the standoff appeared to trigger Saudi airstrikes against STC positions.

Mohamed al-Nakib, a spokesperson for the STC-aligned Southern Shield Forces, also known as Dera Al-Janoub, said the airstrikes caused casualties, though he did not provide specific figures. Independent verification of those claims was not possible. In a video statement posted online, al-Nakib accused Saudi Arabia of launching what he described as a large-scale assault using allied militias, including factions he labeled as extremist groups, claims that Saudi officials strongly deny.

Al-Nakib warned that the unfolding events echoed Yemen’s 1994 civil war, when southern attempts at secession were crushed by northern forces, saying that this time the conflict was unfolding “under the cover of Saudi aviation operations.”

Saudi-backed authorities rejected those accusations. Salem al-Khanbashi, the governor of Hadramout appointed by Yemen’s internationally recognized government and named Friday to oversee coalition forces in the governorate, dismissed the STC’s statements as inflammatory and misleading. Speaking to local media, he said the separatists’ rhetoric signaled a desire to escalate tensions rather than pursue a peaceful resolution.

Earlier in the day, al-Khanbashi described the operation to reclaim seized areas as nonviolent and preventative in nature. He said the goal was not war, but to restore order and prevent armed camps from being used to undermine security in Hadramout. He characterized the campaign as a preemptive step to remove weapons and avoid chaos in the governorate.

The Saudi-led coalition has demanded that STC forces withdraw from Hadramout and Mahra as part of broader de-escalation efforts. The separatists have so far refused to relinquish control of the camps or surrender their weapons, deepening the standoff.

Coalition spokesperson Brig. Gen. Turki al-Maliki said Saudi naval forces were also deployed across the Arabian Sea on Friday to conduct inspections and combat weapons smuggling, a move signaling heightened security concerns as tensions rise on multiple fronts.

Diplomatic friction has compounded the military confrontation. Saudi Ambassador to Yemen Mohammed al-Jaber said Riyadh had spent weeks attempting to mediate with STC leaders to halt the escalation and persuade them to withdraw from Hadramout and Mahra. He accused STC head Aidarous al-Zubaidi of intransigence and rejecting repeated initiatives aimed at calming the situation.

Al-Jaber said the dispute reached a new low when a Saudi mediation delegation was prevented from landing in the southern port city of Aden, despite prior coordination with some STC officials. He said the delegation had been dispatched to seek a solution that would serve the broader public interest and avert further violence.

The confrontation has also disrupted air travel. Yemen’s transport ministry, which is aligned with the STC, said Saudi Arabia imposed new requirements mandating inspections of flights traveling to and from Aden International Airport, reportedly routing them through Jeddah. The ministry condemned the move and expressed surprise at the decision. Saudi authorities have not publicly confirmed the measures.

A spokesperson for the ministry said flights between Aden and the United Arab Emirates were suspended pending a reversal of the reported restrictions, further underscoring the strain between coalition partners.

Yemen has been engulfed in conflict for more than a decade, with the Houthis controlling much of the north while the internationally recognized government, backed by a Saudi-UAE-led coalition, holds parts of the south. Despite their alliance against the Houthis, Saudi Arabia and the UAE support rival factions on the ground. Abu Dhabi has long backed the STC, which seeks to reestablish an independent South Yemen, a state that existed from 1967 until unification with the north in 1990.

As separatist flags once again fly across southern cities and rival coalition forces square off, analysts warn that the latest escalation risks fracturing the anti-Houthi camp and plunging southern Yemen into a new phase of instability, with implications that could reverberate across the wider Gulf region.