Yemen separatists – Artifex.News

Southern Transitional Council | Yemen’s separatists

admin — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 20:14:00 +0000

Supporters of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), a coalition of separatist groups seeking to restore the state of southern Yemen, hold South Yemen flags during a rally, in Aden, Yemen.
| Photo Credit: AP

On January 3, the Southern Transitional Council (STC) in Yemen announced a new Constitution for the “State of South Arabia”.

Nearly a decade since its formation, the STC appears closer than ever to achieving its goal of a separate southern Yemen, — or “South Arabia” as it calls the region — independent from the North. However, the subsequent days revealed the group’s struggle to maintain its gains.

The STC credits its emergence to the pre-Arab Spring movement in southern Yemen known as “Al-Hirak al-Janoubi”, or “Hirak”, which led demonstrations demanding autonomy from the Ali Abdullah Saleh-led north.

A key figure among them was Aidarous Qassem al-Zubaidi, who, with the support from the UAE, was successful in countering Houthi advancement in Al Dhale and Lahij in 2015. The UAE, subsequently, persuaded then-President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi to appoint Mr. al-Zubaidi as Governor of Aden.

Over the next two years, however, Mr. al-Zubaidi and Mr. Hadi clashed on several occasions. Tensions reached breaking point over control of Aden’s airport in February 2017, prompting Mr. Hadi to sack him. Three months later, on May 11, 2017, Mr. al-Zubaidi announced the formation of a 26-member STC, with the goal of making “South Arabia” a geo-political reality.

Mr. al-Zubaidi moved quickly to legitimise the STC. He installed himself as the chair of the Presidium, and unified various UAE-backed armed groups under the “Southern Armed Forces”. This proved crucial in the STC’s eventual takeover of Aden’s presidential palace in 2019. Saudi Arabia subsequently brought Mr. al-Zubaidi and Mr. Hadi to the negotiating table for the Riyadh Agreement, which provided for the STC’s inclusion in the Yemeni government. Dissatisfied with the Agreement’s implementation, the STC recaptured Aden and declared self-rule in April 2020.

In 2022, after Mr. Hadi ceded power to the Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), the STC joined the body, with Mr. al-Zubaidi appointed as a Vice-President under Rashad al-Alimi. Barely a year later, with the Houthis launching attacks against Western vessels in the Red Sea, the STC reaffirmed its allegiance to the U.S-led anti-Houthi efforts.

On the domestic front, Mr. al-Zubaidi continued to work on increasing STC’s autonomy.

In September 2025, Mr. al-Zubaidi set the ball rolling with the announcement of 13 decrees that placed Southern leaders in various government positions, as the STC accused the PLC of “undermining the legitimate rights of the people of the South”. Later, in an interview, he ruled out any possibility of negotiations, and claimed that “the best solution for Yemen [against Houthis] and the best path to stability is the two-state solution”.

In December 2025, the STC launched Operation Promising Future and took over control of the Hadramout and Al-Mahra Governorates. The STC claimed that the operation was necessitated to liberate these regions from Houthis, al-Qaeda and ISIS. Hadramout’s conquest marked the biggest gain for STC yet, with the group now in control of 80% of the country’s oil reserves.

This, however, barely lasted a month with Saudi Arabia launching strikes first against STC positions and then targeting a UAE vessel it said was delivering more weapons to the group. On ground, Saudi-backed forces swiftly recaptured lost territories. The STC’s December actions deepened tensions between the Saudi and the Emirati governments. As Riyadh set about to host another dialogue to resolve the tensions, the STC found itself leaderless. Aden had fallen, Mr. al-Zubaidi was removed from the Presidential Council and declared a traitor, and as per Mr. Alimi had fled to the UAE.

Over the years, the STC fought to keep alive the possibility of a separate southern Yemen, but found it increasingly difficult to replicate the pre-1990 realities in 2026. Its reliance on the UAE and Yemen’s GCC-controlled government, for now, has kept the STC apart from “South Arabia”.

Published – January 11, 2026 01:44 am IST

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Yemen’s southern separatists lose contact with delegation that travelled to Riyadh for talks

admin — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 19:05:00 +0000

A separatist group in southern Yemen said Wednesday (January 7, 2026) that it was urgently trying to contact a delegation that travelled to the Saudi capital, Riyadh, for talks on de-escalating tensions between rival forces on the ground.

Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council said a 50-member delegation arrived in Riyadh in the morning. One of its members posted a message on X, but then the delegation went silent, their phones switched off and their whereabouts unknown.

The announcement came after a Saudi-backed council — the Presidential Leadership Council, or PLC, which is fighting against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels — said that it had expelled the leader of the separatist movement from the council and charged him with treason after he reportedly declined to travel to Saudi Arabia for the talks.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia also launched new airstrikes against the southern Yemen separatists, who have recently received arms from UAE.

“We went to Riyadh to talk. What we received was bombing,” said Amr al-Bidh, an STC representative who briefed international media on Wednesday (January 7) afternoon. “This is unjustified and unfortunate.”

The Saudi foreign ministry didn’t immediately respond to request for comments.

A coalition that has been unravelling

In recent years Saudi Arabia and the UAE and their allies on the ground in Yemen have all been part of a Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis, who control the north in the country’s decade-long civil war.

The coalition’s professed goal has long been to restore the internationally recognised government, which was driven out of the north by the Houthis. But tensions between the factions and the two Gulf nations have grown, threatening to throw them into outright conflict and further tear apart the Arab world’s poorest country.

The Southern Transitional Council seeks the restoration of the pre-1990 southern state in Yemen — something that Saudi Arabia sees as a violation of its own national interest.

The crisis escalated in December, when separatists seized control of two southern governorates from Saudi-backed forces and took over the Presidential Palace in the south’s main city, Aden. Members of the internationally recognised government — which had been based in Aden — fled to the Saudi-capital Riyadh.

Saudi forces then carried out airstrikes on the port city of Mukalla, saying they were aiming at weapons and military equipment that had been delivered from UAE to the separatist group. Last week, the separatists announced a constitution for an independent nation in the south and demanded other factions in the war-torn country accept the move.

The separatist leader refused a Saudi summons

The Presidential Leadership Council, or PLC, headed by Rashad al-Alimi, accused the Southern Transitional Council head Aidarous al-Zubaidi in a Facebook statement of “damaging the republic’s military, political and economic standing,” as well as “forming an armed gang and committing the murder of officers and soldiers of the armed forces.”

Maj. Gen., Turki al-Malki, a spokesperson for a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, said Wednesday (January 7) that al-Zubaidi had been due to take a flight to Saudi Arabia with other council officials but did not join them.

“The legitimate government and the coalition received intelligence indicating that al-Zubaidi had moved a large force — including armoured vehicles, combat vehicles, heavy and light weapons, and ammunition,” al-Malki said. Al-Zubaidi, he said, “fled to an unknown location.”

Al-Bidh said al-Zubaidi, remained in Aden, the interim capital where the internationally recognised government is based, in order to carry out his duties, and because an environment conducive to dialogue doesn’t exist now. He said the message his group received from the Saudis was: “either you come or we’ll bomb you.”

Saudis launch new airstrikes

More than 15 Saudi airstrikes overnight hit the al-Dhale governorate, where al-Zubaidi’s village is located, targeting STC camps, according to STC leader Salah bin Laghir.

There were two civilians dead and 14 injured, according to al-Bidh.

Witnesses told The Associated Press that they saw armoured vehicles affiliated with the STC leaving Aden overnight heading to al-Dahle, as well as drones in the sky and flames rising as explosions shook neighbourhoods in al-Dahle and its surrounding areas.

The STC said it condemned “these unjustified airstrikes.”

The anti-Houthi leadership group, the PLC, formed in April 2022 after President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi of Yemen’s internationally recognised government stepped down.

Its members have often pursued competing agendas and relied on different foreign backers, leaving the council fragmented and unable to mount a unified campaign against the Houthis — even when the United States and Israel launched bombing campaigns targeting the rebels.

The war’s death toll keeps growing

On Sunday (January 4), Saudi-backed forces spread across Mukalla, retaking the capital of Hadramout governorate following days of Saudi airstrikes.

Saudi Arabia in recent weeks has bombed STC positions and struck what is said was a shipment of Emirati weapons. After Saudi pressure and an ultimatum from anti-Houthi forces to withdraw from Yemen, the UAE said Saturday (January 3) it had withdrawn its forces.

Yemen, on the southern edge of the Arabian Peninsula off East Africa, borders the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The war there has killed more than 1,50,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.

Al-Bidh said Wednesday (January 7) that around 80 people affiliated with the STC were killed since the Council’s operations began in December, with most dying in Saudi bombings.

Published – January 08, 2026 12:35 am IST

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