Yemen’s main southern separatist group has declared that it now holds broad control over the country’s south, marking a significant shift in power in the region.
Amr al-Bidh, a senior official with the Southern Transitional Council (STC), told the Reuters news agency on Monday that the group had expanded its presence across all southern provinces including the port city of Aden, which has served as the base of the internationally recognised government for the past decade after launching a military operation called “Promising Future” last week.
The eight southern governorates “are under the protection of the Southern Armed Forces,” al-Bidh said in a text message.
“We are focusing on unifying the operational theatre of our armed forces to improve coordination and readiness, strengthen stability and security in the south, and confront the Houthis if we decide to move in that direction.”
The STC’s advance represents a major shift in power in southern Yemen.
The group seeks greater autonomy for the south, which was an independent state until it unified with the north in 1990.
The STC said that senior officials from other factions had left Aden, including the head of the eight-member council that acts in place of a president, as well as the prime minister.
The STC, previously backed by the United Arab Emirates during Yemen’s decade-long civil war, has frequently clashed with other groups in the Saudi-backed government, which moved to Aden after the Iran-aligned Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014.
Since 2022, the STC has participated in an administration that governs southern areas outside Houthi control under a Saudi-supported power-sharing arrangement.
Presidential Council chief Rashad al-Alimi, speaking to diplomats in Riyadh on Sunday, said in a statement on Monday that the STC’s activities across southern Yemen “undermine the legitimacy of the internationally recognized government” and breach existing power-sharing agreements.
A UAE official told Reuters on Monday that the country’s stance on Yemen “is aligned with Saudi Arabia in supporting a political process” based on Gulf-backed initiatives and United Nations resolutions.
The official did not directly comment on the STC’s recent actions in the south.
Saudi Arabia has not issued a response, and officials there did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
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