The past few weeks have seen southern Yemen moving to the brink of a new conflict, pitting factions battling the Iran-backed Houthi movement in the country’s decade-long civil war against each other and deepening a rift between Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
STC-aligned forces have in recent years taken control of much of the south, which they want once again to be an independent state, by pushing out forces loyal to the government.
However, Saudi Arabia warned last week that the advances near the kingdom’s borders constituted threats to its national security as well as the security and stability of Yemen.
It also accused the UAE of “pressuring” its separatist allies to push into eastern Yemen and expressed support for a demand from the presidential council for all Emirati forces to leave.
At the same time, the Saudi-led coalition – which was formed in 2015 by Arab states, including the UAE, after Houthi rebels seized control of north-western Yemen – struck what it said was a shipment of weapons and military vehicles for the STC that had arrived from the UAE.
The UAE expressed “deep regret” at the Saudi accusations and denied there were any weapons, but agreed to pull its remaining forces out of the country.
Since then, forces loyal to the government have retaken control of Hadramawt and al-Mahra with the help of coalition air strikes.
Witnesses and government officials told Reuters news agency on Thursday that Aden was also now coming under the control of Saudi-backed forces.